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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Monday, October 04, 2010 - 08:59 pm:   

I had such a good time with this idea on Saturday night that I've decided to make it a regular thing, when I know I'm stuck in for the night and don't have to get up early the next day (yep, I'm still dosed to the eyeballs).

This was my first horror marathon:

'King Of The Zombies' (1941) directed by Jean Yarbrough for Monogram studios, was an ultra low grade, but hard to dislike, horror comedy cash-in on Bob Hope's similar, and much more entertaining, 'The Ghost Breakers' (1940). Much of the "laughs" come from the goggle-eyed scaredy-cat routine of black manservant Mantan Moreland; "I'm feeling a little off colour", “Things are lookin’ pretty black, ain’t they, boss”, etc... Actually the black actors are the only ones in the cast to show any sign of personality, as it's often difficult to tell the lantern jawed white heroes from the zombies! Although Henry Victor does ham it up nicely as sinister Dr Sangre, a black magic practicing Nazi spy who raises the dead, and goes in for a bit of hypnotism and soul transference on the side.

'The House By The Cemetery' (1981) has the most coherent plot structure of Lucio Fulci's gothic trilogy, with Catriona MacColl, but I'd still love somebody to explain to me why Anne the babysitter bothered to clean up the gore after one of Dr Freudstein's more artery squirting murders?! I can only assume she was possessed by the evil of the house... I still think this is a brilliant hallucinatory horror classic, with elements of 'The Shining', mad scientist, zombie and slasher horror all thrown into the mix - while the relentlessly long drawn out finale, and climactic revealing of the mouldering undead Doctor and his underground charnel lair, is arguably the scariest, and most sickening sequence Fulci ever directed. I swear I could actually smell the putrefaction as that hideous stick-figure shambled into view. Brilliant stuff!!

Then I have to say I was very impressed with the recent British horror flick, 'The Children' (2008). A brilliantly paced and beautifully shot twist on the "virus infected maniacs" horror of 'The Crazies' or '28 Days Later' - turned into a memorable entry in the evil kids sub-genre by the fact that the virus only infects pre-adolescents. The slow-building tension and insidiously creepy atmosphere is marvellously well maintained and I'd actually rank this as superior to the somewhat similar, and more vaunted French horror, 'Them' (2006). The emotional impact on the parents, and their disbelieving bewilderment at having to come to terms with their little darlings gradually metamorphosing into ravening homicidal maniacs is what makes this little gem really stand out. Tom Shankland is a genre director worth keeping an eye on imo.

As for tonight, I've decided on:

'Attack Of The Crab Monsters' (1957) by Roger Corman.
'Last Cannibal World' (1977) by Ruggero Deodato.
'The Heirloom' (2005) by Leste Chen, from Taiwan.

Watching these all for the first time... now to order the chinese in.
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Monday, October 04, 2010 - 10:22 pm:   

I like The House by the Cemetery but, dear god, the voice they've dubbed onto the kid is awful. He sounds like something out of Sesame Street. There are some fantastic surreal moments, though. The dummies dressed like the little girl and the babysitter (Ania Peironi - the original Mother of Tears), the house Bob emerges into at the very conclusion of the film. Great Fulci moments.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Monday, October 04, 2010 - 11:36 pm:   

I don't let the weirdness of the kid's voice bother me, John, and just put it down to another surreal element in the whole nightmarish shebang.

Just watched 'Attack Of The Crab Monsters' and it was completely wonderful! Bracing myself now for some full-on, stomach-churning gore and sadism from Deodato...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Thursday, October 07, 2010 - 11:39 pm:   

Finally getting a chance to write up the other night's horror marathon:

Firstly, anyone who doubts the pure unalloyed entertainment value of Roger Corman's sci-fi/horror quickies needs to watch 'Attack Of The Crab Monsters' (1957). It is jaw-droppingly wonderful, right from the opening doomladen voiceover quoting Scripture against a stormy sky to the final exciting climax with a lone, grenade-chucking hero clambering desperately up a sinking transmitter mast to escape the giant pincers below (an obvious influence on Spielberg's finale to 'Jaws'). The rickety papier mache (I'm assuming) crabs are an absurd but strangely disturbing creation, as they clatter along, with everyone involved treating things so straight-faced, and Corman refusing to allow a single scene to end without a scare or threat or ominous proclamation of some kind - tis a joy to behold. I also found the film surprisingly gruesome, for its time, with severed limbs and headless corpses spicing up the action nicely. But what really makes the film unforgettable is the bizarre element of making the giant crabs intelligent, able to speak, and plan world domination, while luring innocent victims to a snippy doom by putting on the voices of their fallen comrades!! "Hey, mack, come 'ere a minute", "Yeah, what is it, Joe?", "I'm not Joe you fool, ha ha ha", SNAP... another head rolls. Guy N. Smith missed a trick with that one! What in the name of Christ were they on!?!? In all seriousness, though, the underwater photography is really well done and, if you're a fan of those type of films with a large cast of unknowns, who all get bumped off one-by-one, and it's never sure who, if any, will survive to the end, then this more than fits the bill. Hats off to everyone involved, we shall never see their like again...

Then came Ruggero Deodato's 'Last Cannibal World' (1977), and the film started almost identically to Corman's epic, with a team of scientists arriving on a remote island to find out what became of a previous expedition - though this time there were only four as opposed to Corman's ten. After that all similarities ended! This turned out to be a genuinely thrilling and unpredictable jungle adventure, beautifully shot on location and just about as in-your-face brutal as I've ever experienced on screen - but not gratuitously so imo. In fact long passages of the film were gripping solely because of the uncompromisingly naturalistic power of the performances (Massimo Foschi is staggeringly good!), the stunning jungle scenery and constant threat from the wildlife - with crocodiles, cobras and other assorted beasties proving as much of a danger as the cannibals. Speaking of which there are only two brief scenes of, admittedly stomach-churning, cannibalism in the film and the rest of it is as pure and tense a survival in the wilderness yarn as 'Deliverance' or any of those great old Tarzan movies. It may pale beside the meatier horror of 'Cannibal Holocaust' but this still stands up as a great movie, and a thrilling adventure, in its own right.

Taiwanese horror 'The Heirloom' (2005) by young first-time director Leste Chen is a classically structured and nicely understated, for most of its length, haunted house story that makes fascinating use of the "ghost child" idea from Chinese myth - that a family can create their own protective spirit by keeping an aborted foetus in a jar and regularly feeding it on the blood of family members! Naturally, this particular family raised a bad un, and came to a horrible end, apart from one distant relative who inherits the house and what lies hidden in the attic. I'd call this a promising debut, with many a memorable image and several chilling set-pieces, rather than an out-and-out success as the director often lets things drag on too long in uninteresting scenes, to beef up the running time, and the finale, which should have been short and sharp, gets lost in tediously overblown melodrama. 30 mins or so could be shorn of this movie to produce a really cracking little Jamesian ghost story along the lines of Nigel Kneale's 'Baby' imo. A decent first effort though.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 12:01 am:   

I've decided on a trio of macabre horror/thrillers next:

'The Bat' (1959) by Crane Wilbur - with Vincent Price & Agnes Moorehead it's gotta be good!
'Profondo Rosso' (1975) by Dario Argento - the full uncut version for the first time!
'WDZ' (2006) by Tom Shankland - to see how it compares with 'The Children'.

From old dark house to giallo to serial killer mystery - a potted history of horror right there.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 11:27 am:   

Have this triple bill lined up for tonight, way through to the wee small hours - can't wait...
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 11:31 am:   

Let me know what you think of 'WAZ'...
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 12:26 pm:   

I've got a weekend of films lined up: Knowing (yes, I'm sure it's rubbish, but I feel like some daft fun),The Road (at last), Legion (more daftness), Vault of Horror (finally), and several episodes of Fringe.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.50.190
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 02:21 pm:   

Stevie, you're the only other person I know who has seen The Heirloom! I pretty much agree with what you said about it. Have you seen Double Vision and Silk? They are also Taiwanese productions, and both are better (IMO) than The Heirloom.

By the way, the 'foetus spirit' thing is a well-known phenomenon over here. There's even a book about it - The Haunting Foetus: Abortion, Sexuality and the Spirit World in Taiwan. Just light, bedtime reading, you know...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 03:13 pm:   

Haven't seen either, Huw, but will keep an eye out. I've long been a fan of the best of Asian horror and have loads of DVDs, quite a few still to watch.

That idea of keeping an aborted foetus in a jar, like a guilty secret, and feeding it on blood to avoid some kind of supernatural retribution is a particularly chilling one - especially as it seems to be so enshrined in the Chinese consciousness. I assume there really are holy men like the one they took the jar to, who seemed to be some kind of Buddhist equivalent of an exorcist? I found that whole cultural aspect of the film fascinating.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.22.237.21
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 03:45 pm:   

Saw KAIRO for the first time yesterday evening and I have to say I'm very impressed indeed. I felt the ol' shivers running up and down my arms and spine whenever someone picked up a phone and that insidious "Help me" with the mechanical click was heard. Unsettling stuff, even if I can't say what actually happens near the end, with the plane going down in flames and all that.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 04:02 pm:   

*** KAIRO SPOILER ***

It's an incredible movie, a stunning and completely original marriage of classic oriental ghost story and Wyndhamesque apocalyptic sci-fi. I have the DVD as 'Pulse' and would rank it in the very top tier of modern Asian horrors. The ending should be as venerated as that of 'Planet Of The Apes' imo.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.22.237.21
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 04:10 pm:   

I'd call KAIRO existential horror: the film is suffused with ruminations about real friendship and loneliness before and after(!) death. On the other hand the passage in the subway (and what comes after) is so reminiscent of The Influence I half expected a horrible train conductor to appear between the aisles. It's not outward plagiarism, but the film retains the same atmosphere until the end.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 04:20 pm:   

I just loved the gradual shift from intensely creepy personal ghost story to one of the most successfully ambitious apocalyptic sci-fi visions of recent times. It is an unqualified masterpiece imo.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Saturday, October 23, 2010 - 07:51 pm:   

Finally got round to seeing the three films after probs with my DVD player scuppered last Friday's plans:

'The Bat' (1959) directed by Crane Wilbur was a hokily enjoyable throwback to the old dark house horror thrillers of the 1930s/40s, enlivened no end by the battle of ham between Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead - it's all in who can raise their eyebrows the highest. This was based on a famous stageplay with one of those "never reveal the secret" pay-offs, though I was able to guess the identity of the killer without too much difficulty. All good fun, involving the hunt for a hidden fortune in one of those old mansions riddled with revolving doors and secret passages, while a homicidal maniac, dubbed The Bat by the Press, is tearing the throats out of innocent victims in the area - and appears to have inflitrated the party of treasure seekers. Red herrings and twists abound and there are some good spooky moments but the action does tend to drag when the two stars are off screen and the direction is as flat as week old cola. Worth watching but hardly memorable.

Then came the film that rubber stamped Dario Argento's reputation as a worthy successor to Mario Bava & Alfred Hitchcock, and my first viewing of the original Italian full-length version of 'Profondo Rosso' (1975). I've seen the shorter (by 23 mins!) dubbed version several times before and never questioned its status as one of the great man's crowning achievements, but now I'd rank it as definitely his finest, most tightly controlled and beautifully accomplished picture. Before the film appeared flawed by baffling plot holes and lapses of logic, but seen in full the story makes perfect sense, and the killer not quite so psychic, while they also cut some gloriously atmospheric sequences, particularly in Hemming's exploration of the derelict villa, which becomes a memorably brooding presence here. I always enjoyed the chemistry between David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi in this film, but seen in full, their characters are even more fleshed out, bringing a warmth and sweet humour to the film that is lacking in any other of Argento's works - Nicolodi, in particular, is delightful. The famous set pieces gain even more power for being part of a properly cohesive plot, while the director's mastery of composition and camera movement has never been more fully realised. Truly this is one of the most beautiful works of art in the history of horror cinema, with the more subtle than usual Goblin soundtrack complimenting the stunning imagery to perfection. What I wouldn't give to see this - the complete film - on the big screen...

And to finish, what an unexpected triumph 'WDZ' turned out to be! For a directorial debut this confirms my opinion of Tom Shankland as a very promising new genre director indeed - the man may even go on to rival Neil Marshall or Christopher Smith, on this evidence. I sat down expecting a routine imitation of 'Saw' and what I got was a blisteringly tough and intelligent modern noir crime thriller, with a killer script of remarkable originality by Clive Bradley - I would suggest he's another name to watch. Another pleasant surprise, and in no way affecting my judgement, was the discovery that this film was made in good old Belfast, standing in for the mean streets of New York! The first ten minutes set the viewer up for the expected tired retread of 'Seven' or 'Saw' - someone is torturing to death criminal scumbags and carving elements of a complex mathematical equation into their flesh, it is up to tough guy cop Stellan Skarsgard, and his eager young rookie partner Melissa George, to find out who, ho hum... but then things start getting interesting. I can't say any more about the plot to avoid spoilers - and the various genre-bending twists and shocker of a final pay-off are brilliant - but try and imagine an unrelentingly brutal, and emotionally harrowing, horror thriller that plays like a feature length episode of 'Millennium', while cleverly combining elements of; 'Ms 45', 'Seven' & 'Insomnia' to create something completely new - and genuinely shocking on an intellectual level, rather than the yawn-inducing pyrotechnics of the 'Saw' franchise - and you'll have some idea of the quality of this fine, and inexplicably overlooked, gem of a thriller!
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Saturday, October 23, 2010 - 08:20 pm:   

Steve - you've made my day about the latter. I was hoping to hear something good about this movie. Can't wait to see it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Saturday, October 23, 2010 - 08:35 pm:   

Having another triple bill tonight, as it's that time of the month when funds are low:

'The Giant Leeches' (1959) by Bernard Kowalski - a notorious Roger Corman production by the man who went on to direct 'Sssssss'.
'Ghosthouse' (1988) by Umberto Lenzi - allegedly one of the most OTT Italian gorefeasts of the 80s, featuring a ghostly killer clown!
'Zombie Honeymoon' (2004) by Dave Gebroe - heard good reports about this low-key zombie spoof that pre-empted 'Shaun Of The Dead', here's hoping.

Watching all of these for the first time.
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Jamie Rosen (Jamie)
Username: Jamie

Registered: 11-2008
Posted From: 99.240.203.201
Posted on Sunday, October 24, 2010 - 12:45 am:   

"gorefeasts"

Freudian slip?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Sunday, October 24, 2010 - 12:54 am:   

Two down, one to go... 'The Giant Leeches' & 'Ghosthouse' were cheesily enjoyable, now for 'Zombie Honeymoon'.

You never heard the term "gorefeast" before?
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Jamie Rosen (Jamie)
Username: Jamie

Registered: 11-2008
Posted From: 99.240.203.201
Posted on Sunday, October 24, 2010 - 01:00 am:   

Only as a band name.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Sunday, October 24, 2010 - 01:12 am:   

A gorefeast or bloodfeast is a movie made to be as excessively gruesome as possible for the tittilation of gorehounds. The deaths in 'Ghosthouse' weren't actually that bad, although the slicing in half by falling window pane was a highlight!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Sunday, October 24, 2010 - 10:27 pm:   

None of last night's films could be called classic horror, by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoyed all of them for what they were...

'The Giant Leeches' (1959) was a solid and entertaining, shoestring budget creature feature, from the Corman productions conveyor belt. The first five minutes had me groaning at the wooden acting, leaden script and perfunctory direction by Bernard Kowalski but then the simple earnestness of the production and cosy predictability of the storyline started to win me over, and I found myself becoming quite gripped. A small Florida town nestled in the everglades is beset by a number of mysterious disappearances that seem to be linked to the vanishing of all large animal life in the area. Gradually the locals come to suspect it may have something to do with atomic radiation from nearby Cape Canaveral, amid reports of strange nocturnal critters glimpsed by shocked poachers, etc. The leech monsters themselves are a lot more effective than the film's ridiculed reputation would suggest, as they are wisely never shown clearly or in full shot, but rather as indistinct flopping, jelloid masses, dotted with livid white suckers. The middle section of the film, in which we discover that their victims have been stored alive in an underwater cavern - straight out of 'The Creature From The Black Lagoon' - where they are slowly and helplessly drained of their blood over a period of several days, until their bleached white, horribly pock-marked bodies are sent floating to the surface, was genuinely horrific. I know this would have scared the bejesus out of me, had I seen it as a child, and must admit to a shiver of instinctive revulsion even now, as a face or a throat was engulfed and that horrible sucking sound began... It's not great art, or even competent filmmaking, but in it's own humble way this isn't a bad wee effort at all. As with 'The Blob', this would benefit from a properly resourced remake methinks.

Then came a case of unintentional hilarity with Umberto Lenzi's stark raving mad 'Ghosthouse' (1988). Hardly one of the great Italian horror directors, Lenzi outdoes himself here by showing no aptitude for generating chills or suspense at all. Instead he throws all the standard elements of a creepy old haunted house yarn at the audience - previous owners horribly murdered 20 years before, grizzled old groundskeeper warning trespassing kids of impending doom, bats hanging from the eaves, gothic graveyard next door, ghostly little girl in white dress, eerie nursery rhyme playing just before something horrible happens, oversized toy clown come to giggling life, demonic doberman pinscher that wandered in from 'Zoltan : Hound Of Dracula', disembodied arms bursting through walls, knife wielding spectre of death - and hopes that some of them will work. Sadly all of them are horribly misjudged, with even the ridiculous looking clown raising more belly laughs than scares - whatever next! Fortunately Lenzi decided to beef up the "scream quotient" by alternating the ghostly moments with a series of elaborately staged and gory deaths. As the outrageously coiffured cast of 80s unknowns make the actors in 'The Giant Leeches' look like Laurence Olivier wannabes, and are every bit as irritating as that suggests, I found these deaths supremely entertaining. These bits of the film are well mounted and, in no particular order, include; throat slitting, hanging, boiling alive, decapitation, bludgeoning, slicing in half, head cleaving in two, entombing alive, and being run over by a bus - just for good measure. This is an awful film but great fun with it!

'Zombie Homeymoon' (2004) by Dave Gebroe is one of those admirably ambitious and prepared to be different low budget horror efforts by a first time director that one sincerely wishes had been just that little bit better. The plot involves a newly married couple, Danny & Denise, arriving at a luxury beach house for their honeymoon and having their joy disrupted by the emergence from the waves of a rotting zombie that proceeds to attack them before perishing in an explosion of fetid slime, some of which is swallowed by poor Danny. From there we watch his unrealising gradual metamorphosis into one of the green-hued, flaky-skinned undead while his distraught but adoring wife stands by him and his increasingly cannibalistic urges, "in sickness and in health, till death us do part" and beyond... There is much to admire here, from the committed and touching lead performances of Tracy Coogan & Graham Sibley, to the convincing restraint shown in the script and the wonderfully effective, yet understated, zombie make-up and gore effects, as Danny, aided by Denise, proceeds to make chow of various unfortunate visitors. But Gebroe is no director and the tone throughout is distractingly uneven, never making its mind up whether to go for gross-out laughs, gut-churning horror or outright tragedy. I enjoyed it but was ultimately left frustrated by what might have been. The tribute to John Landis at the end makes me think the idea was got from Robert Loggia's memorable predicament in 'Innocent Blood' (1992) - an unfairly neglected classic and Landis's most underrated movie imo.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2012 - 11:27 pm:   

Time for another horror triple bill to celebrate finally getting all my DVDs sorted back into order and in their rightful place in the new house. I'm in the mood for shameless schlock and have decided on a revenge of nature theme:

'The Killer Shrews' (1959) by Ray Kellogg - I've long wanted to see this notorious piece of Grade-Z fifties sci-fi/horror and the time is now right. Surely it can't be as bad as its reputation suggests...

'Snowbeast' (1977) by Herb Wallerstein - and more of the same, though, with at least a few recognisable names in the cast list to raise expectations, perhaps?

'Rogue' (2007) by Greg McLean - promising to be the highlight of the night this was the director's much anticipated follow-up to his classic debut, 'Wolf Creek' (2005). I have high hopes for this movie given McLean's undoubted talent at generating heart-stopping suspense. Fingers crossed...
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.158.153.34
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 12:04 am:   

Today we have seen:

NIGHT OF THE EAGLE - which I'd never seen before!

THEM! - Giant ants! You can't go wrong.

THE BEAST WITHIN - You can go wrong, but at least if you do there are Lovecraft references, some great character actors and a transformation scene with a MASSIVE balloon head!

Stevie - we saw ROGUE a while back and thought it was pretty good
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.183.124.205
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 01:05 am:   

Can't believe you've never seen NIGHT OF THE EAGLE before, Lord P.! What did you both think of it?
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Barbara Roden (Nebuly)
Username: Nebuly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 216.232.188.106
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 05:15 am:   

I remember seeing Snowbeast when it originally aired (it was a made-for-TV film) in 1977, when I was 13; I thought it was very creepy, with a couple of jump-out-of-my-chair moments. At the time, I didn't realise that the fact you don't get a good look at the beast itself until almost the end was probably due to a) lack of a decent budget and b) lack of a convincing-looking monster; I just thought that the odd glimpse of a distant figure on the hillside here, a hairy arm there, made it scary. There's something to be said for the 'less is more' philosophy, in horror films.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.236.200
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 10:46 am:   

I used to love Night of the Eagle. You know you only see Wyngarde in either long shot or close up? Apparently he wore such tight pants it was all they could to stop showing his bulge. Must watch it again soon.
Rogue was so-so, I thought. It didn't have a 'spark' to it, I thought.
Beast Within - what's that about again?
We watched Fear in the Night at the caravan last week - it was ok, and nice to see Judy Geeson. Then last night we watched - Alan Bates and Joan Collins again - Monster, or 'I don't Want to Be Born'. So poor we turned it off. Awful, awful.
Another caravan watch was Blood From the Mummy's Tomb, again a bit dull (Hammer's do tend to suffer for me these days, rewatching them) - we could have done with more hints of ancient Egypt blending in with the modern world, I thought. It could be remade with some success, I think. Have to say, though, Valerie Leon was bloody gorgeous, and with the lads, too - 'Why don't women look like that anymore?' my youngest said, plaintively.
Them starts well but ends up a bit nattery and montagey. If Tarantula is on the shelf next to it it's the one to go for.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 12:39 pm:   

I love Rogue - it's a masterclass in sustained tension. One of those films I rewatch if I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 81.100.122.90
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 05:15 pm:   

Night of the Eagle is brilliant.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.158.153.34
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 07:27 pm:   

It's because of Stu that I determined to get hold of Night of the Eagle. I thought it was rather good, in fact it felt quite a lot like Night of the Demon to me - b&w British, classic story as a base, some interesting day for night photography, &c. Also interesting to see an example of what THE AVENGERS team (Wintle, Fennell, Hayers) did before that show. Definitely a keeper and I think it could be updated very well today.

Tony - that's made me crack up! Also, is it possible to watch Peter Wyngarde in anything without wanting to impersonate him?
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 213.81.112.204
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 07:53 pm:   

John, just in case you didn't notice, the latest film I mentioned on FB is Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Obviously you'll now want to rush out and watch that as well.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.158.153.34
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 07:58 pm:   

Stu - it's another one I've never seen!
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 213.81.112.204
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 08:14 pm:   

And you call yourself a connoisseur? Shame on you.

Actually, I have to admit I don't remember if it was actually any good. Loooong time since I watched it.
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Mbfg (Mbfg)
Username: Mbfg

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 62.255.207.128
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 08:29 pm:   

John, I loved "Night of the Eagle", based on Leiber's "Conjure wife" I believe. It has a filmic atmosphere that is not possible to recapture these days, can't describe what it is.

Good to see Wyngarde without his Jason King "Department S" tache and flowing late 1960s locks (which I myself adopted in my younger days when I wore flares and listened to Led Zeppelin with almost religious reverence, ah a far off golden era)!

Still got the hair though...

And the LZ albums.

Cheers
Terry
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Barbara Roden (Nebuly)
Username: Nebuly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 216.232.188.106
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 09:32 pm:   

I just saw the first episode of the series The 70s, and had my first real look at Wyngarde as Jason King (I don't think it ever aired over here, and I somehow managed to live five years in England without running across it). Dear God, it was terrifying. I asked Christopher if anyone really took the character seriously as a style icon/someone to emulate, back in the early 1970s, and he couldn't remember. I really hoped that he'd say Wyngarde was just taking the piss, but since the narrator informed us that many of King's outfits came from Wyngarde's own wardrobe, I expect he was deadly serious.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.183.124.205
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 10:29 pm:   

The character's worth catching in "Department S" too, before he got his own show.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 213.81.124.137
Posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 - 10:34 am:   

Although I've never watched Department S or Jason King I've seen photos of Wyngarde with his flares and 'tache so I spent the first five minutes of Night of the Eagle thinking, "Is that REALLY Peter Wyngarde?"}
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 213.81.124.137
Posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 - 10:43 am:   

Barbara, various writers have thought Jason King was worth emulating. Chris Claremont and John Byrne revealed that old X-Men villain Mastermind was really called Jason Wyngarde and had him dress like Jason King. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Classicx31.png

And Grant Morrison had a character in The Invisibles called Mister Six who dressed and acted like King. http://www.comicvine.com/mr-six/29-51076/

And my mate Alec Worley writes a series for 2000AD about Spartacus Dandridge who is a Victorian version of King. http://www.sidekickcomicsuk.com/blogs/blog4.php/2010/11/10/dandridge-returns-to- 2000ad-today
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 - 11:28 am:   

I remember being vaguely disturbed by Jason King as a very young child. I think my parents disapproved of him for some reason and this communicated itself to my infant mind.

'Night Of The Eagle' is a marvellous horror movie. One of the most original of its era and a worthy adaptation of Leiber's novel, imo. Hard to believe that both Richard Matheson & Charles Beaumont worked on the script.

I caught it without any fanfare, or previous knowledge, late one Friday night on Channel 4 many years ago and was amazed at its quality and the fact I hadn't heard of it before. A brilliant example of subtle intelligent horror, wonderfully underplayed.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 - 11:40 am:   

Saturday night's triple bill was a pure joy that kept me entertained way into the early hours. Haven't the time to do the films justice now (the sods have given me work to do - I ask you!!) but all three movies were superbly formulaic and admirably straight-faced examples of the old "mother nature getting her own back on us pesky humans" thriller format - as perfected in the Holy Trinity of such films; 'King Kong' (1933), 'The Birds' (1963) & 'Jaws' (1975).

'Rogue', in particular, was an exceptionally fine piece of work and completely verified my opinion of Greg McLean's talents! Wonder what he's been up to since?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - 05:22 pm:   

'The Killer Shrews' (1959) by Ray Kellogg - This was the big surprise of the night and has now become one of my absolute favourites of the golden age of 50s sci-fi. Made on a shoestring budget with a notable lack of talent in every department (particularly the special effects) the film succeeds on the eternal strength of its set-up and the fact that all the characters react to the situation in as guilelessly naturalistic a fashion as one would imagine happening in real life if faced with a similar scenario. There are no false heroics here but instead a gradually escalating sense of blind panic as the natural order breaks down and people's base survival instincts come to the fore. The film, for all it technical deficiencies, has real heart and integrity at its core and is one of the most thoroughly entertaining and admirably straight-faced "revenge of nature" thrillers I have watched. The unintentional comedic impact of the wonderfully wooden dialogue and the appearance of the giant shrews, as all too obviously greyhounds fitted with shaggy coats, false faces and a mouthful of fake fangs, soon wore off for me as I became immersed in the breakneck pace and claustrophobia of the action. Virtually from the beginning we have seven people barricaded into a scientific compound on a tropical island overrun by giant flesh-eating shrews and fighting a losing battle as the creatures gnaw and burrow their way in through every available crack and cranny. That's it... pure action and suspense as we wonder who will be next to get shredded. Imagine the scene our hapless seaman hero faces on landing his boat on the island and being taken in by the besieged scientific team:

"Have you ever seen a shrew, captain?"
"What this little fella? He's cute. What's his name, doc?"
"It doesn't have a name, captain. What you're holding in your hand is the deadliest predator on Earth!"
"Come off it, doc! Woochy-coochy-coo. Aoowww!! He bit me!"
"Consider yourself fortunate, captain. It has just been fed. That was merely a warning bite."
"Little bastard!"
"Now imagine up to three hundred of the things, at last estimate, weighing four to five hundred pounds each, starving, outside those compound gates... and we are the only food source left on this island."

As if that wasn’t enough the movie boasts the most inspired example of human resourcefulness in order to combat the menace and escape to the sea I have ever witnessed – “Yes, doc, we’ll duck walk our way to freedom!” (this really has to be seen to be believed) - and the most wonderful closing line in all sci-fi that had me punching the air and breaking into spontaneous applause - I wouldn’t dare spoil it here – and this really is an unfairly lambasted minor masterwork of the genre for which Mr Kellogg and his entire team deserve nothing but our heartfelt respect and congratulations. An absolute belter!!

'Snowbeast' (1977) by Herb Wallerstein – The “revenge of nature” thriller really came into its own in the 1970s following the ‘Jaws’ phenomenon (still the greatest time I ever had in a cinema) and this enjoyably cheesy piece of zero budget nonsense followed the template to a tee. In the opening scene a pretty blonde out skiing on the slopes gets chomped by something hideous emerging from the woods. A grizzly is blamed but our glimpse of a white furred hand and wicked claws looked like no bear. At the same time the bigwigs at the local ski lodge are gearing up for their annual Winter Fair and the last thing anyone wants is stories of a rampaging grizzly eating the tourists to leak out. The lodge matriarch (Sylvia Sidney) sanctions the usual cover up of the facts and more horrible deaths follow with four characters – the guilt-ridden lodge supervisor (Robert Logan), an Olympic skiing champion turned big game hunter (Bo Svenson), his snooping newspaper reporter wife who specialises in bigfoot stories (Yvette Mimieux) & the hard-bitten local sheriff (Clint Walker) – becoming particularly obsessed with the beast. This all culminates in the four of them getting armed to the teeth and setting off into the wilderness after one death too many and this wonderful exchange:

“You only saw its footprints. I saw the beast itself.. and it was no animal… and it wasn’t human!”
“Thanks, Pete. That narrows the field down. So now we know what we’re dealing with what are we gonna do about it?”
“I know what I’m going to do. I’m going up on that mountain after the thing… and only one of us is coming down!”
“You mean… we’re going up that mountain!!”
“Make that three!!!”
“Better make that four!!!!”

The usual scenes of camaraderie and sharing secrets round the camp-fire follow until it becomes obvious that they aren’t the ones doing the hunting and a tense battle of wits ensues as the party find themselves being gradually whittled down. All this is carried off with frowning gravel-voiced aplomb by the sterling cast of character actors. I also have to agree with Barbara that the director’s decision never to show the monster in full shot but always as just a claw, a foot, a hulking shadow or a briefly glimpsed blur of white fur disappearing into the distant trees gives the camera’s eye point of view attacks an added eeriness that is heightened by the fright factor of the creature’s amplified roar bursting forth when all is quiet to make us jump. Yes, Barbara, this great little B-movie is a shining example of “less is more” in action. The attack on the packed concert hall and the scene in which they are besieged in the barn as the thing batters its way in are particularly hair-raising! The film may have been made for US television but it is one of those cherishable 70s films – like ‘Duel’, ‘The Night Stalker’, ‘The Norliss Tapes’ or ‘Salem’s Lot’ – that due to unusually high production values and atypical gore effects could pass as a cinema release and the movie has since acquired deserved cult status on the DVD market. Like ‘The Killer Shrews’ it’s not one to be approached with one’s critical faculties honed but rather should be wallowed in for what it is… a fine piece of straight faced and solidly formulaic genre entertainment.

'Rogue' (2007) by Greg McLean – The night ended on a high with this beautifully crafted and brilliantly paced exercise in edge-of-the-seat suspense. The film never wastes a second and is a model of its kind, imo. American travel writer (Michael Vartan) arrives in remote outpost in the Northern Territories of Australia and books himself on a couple of hours river cruise with a motley assortment of tourists and a feisty local beauty (Radha Mitchell) as their guide and boat’s captain. McLean captures the menacing local atmosphere and awesome grandeur of the scenery with the same understated authenticity that marked ‘Wolf Creek’ and the acting is of the same quality of “keep it real” naturalism. Each of the characters is introduced as casually as we would pay attention to any group we expected to share an hour or two with and never see again and they are pleasingly devoid of the usual stereotypes all of which eases us into their situation with minimum fuss and maximum credibility. Just as they have reached the limit of their cruise and are about to head back a distress flare is spotted from further up-river and, against the protests of those needing to get back to catch buses, etc, Mitchell insists it is her duty to investigate as the only other vessel in the area. Big mistake! They end up straying into the territory of a giant rogue saltwater crocodile that has already made mincemeat of those who sent up the flare and after it holes their boat they find themselves beached on a tidal mudflat with the water level rising and the creature picking them off from the water’s edge one-by-one. That’s your set-up and the director plays it straight with deadly earnestness making us feel every ounce of tension and escalating terror of the group as they realise the hopelessness of their situation with the tide coming in, darkness falling and the animal treating them as so many riverside ready meals. It’s a pleasure to see so much unpretentious care and skill go into this kind of old-fashioned and gripping thriller that remains devoid of any further ambition than to petrify its audience and does so brilliantly without any recourse to postmodernist tics or jarring humour. A classic of its kind and, incidentally, it was striking to see the climax match almost exactly the final scenes of ‘Snowbeast’. Some things never change and are all the better for it…

A cracking triple bill, all in all!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, May 04, 2012 - 04:18 pm:   

Triple bill time again tonight on Stevie TV. And I've decided on:

'The Creature From The Haunted Sea' (1961) by Roger Corman
'Cannibal Apocalypse' (1980) by Antonio Margheriti
'Castle Freak' (1995) by Stuart Gordon

...all for the first time.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2012 - 02:32 pm:   

Roger Corman's 'The Creature From The Haunted Sea' (1961) is beyond a joke. Clearly intended as a zany horror comedy on the back of 'The Little Shop Of Horrors' (1960) the film amounts to nothing more than watching a bunch of idiots dick around in front of the camera in their spare time. Everyone had a ball making the film, as is all too evident, but to call the finished product an incoherent mess totally devoid of any sign of talent is to shower it with undue praise. Not so much a Corman quickie as a Corman con-trick this intensely irritating insult to the intelligence of right thinking people everywhere makes the likes of 'Attack Of The Crab Monsters' or 'The Killer Shrews' look like Kubrickian masterpieces by comparison. Complete and utter balls that I had the misfortune to sit through stone cold sober and without any psychotropic drugs to hand. I shall bear the mental scars to my grave.

Fortunately, for my sanity, that was followed by one of the finest Italian horror movies of its era, imo. Antonio Margheriti's marvellous 'Cannibal Apocalypse' (1980) is a straight-faced and unusually thoughtful joy of a video nasty splatterfest with perhaps the finest performance of the great John Saxon's long and distinguished career! The film looks beautiful, is acted with sombre committment and boasts a subtly barbed script of startling intelligence that belies the movie's notorious reputation and put me in mind of the early satirical sc-fi/horror nightmares of David Cronenberg, 'Shivers' (1975) & 'Rabid' (1977), or George A. Romero's 'The Crazies' (1973). Three Vietnam veterans (with Saxon as their strong-willed leader) return to their home city of Atlanta having been unwittingly infected with a virus that gradually transforms them into insatiable human flesh-eaters. After doomed attempts to contain their cannibalistic urges these men go on a rampage of bloody slaughter through the streets, infecting everyone they bite with the same contagion, and resulting in a slew of memorably gruesome set-pieces before the final tragic showdown in the city's sewer system. Bloodily brilliant, I loved every moment of it and would rank this as the second finest cannibal movie I have seen after Ruggero Deodato's 'Cannibal Holocaust' (also 1980). A true classic of the genre!

And the night finished on another rather unexpected high with Stuart Gordon's inexplicably unappreciated classic of good old-fashioned gothic horror atmospherics, the quite wonderful, 'Castle Freak' (1995). I've always had mixed feelings about Gordon as a director as, for all his energy and visual style, he never seemed able to resist injecting OTT gross-out humour into the most inappropriate of horror stories. I longed to see him, for once, do it straight - and with this brilliant little gem of a shocker I finally got my wish! Even his perpetual lead man, Jeffrey Combs, plays it dead straight in this one, giving a performance of real depth and tragedy, that I wouldn't have thought him capable of, as a father plagued with guilt, and hated with real venom by his wife (Barbara Crampton), for having killed their young son and blinded their teenage daughter (Jessica Dollarhide - in a great debut performance) in a horrendous car crash while driving home drunk, from which he walked away without a scratch. Two years later they find themselves inheriting a vast gothic castle in the Italian countryside, due to him being the last remaining relative of the old Duchess who lived there alone, and on moving in they gradually come to suspect that someone or something else shares it with them, haunting the labyrinthine rooms and passages and being heard pitifully moaning and wailing in the night. It turns out the Duchess has kept her hated illegitimate son chained in the cellar for over 40 years subjecting him to horrendous torture that have turned the man into a sub-human and grotesquely misshapen creature with a hankering after raw flesh. Of course the thing gets loose and makes nosh of various unfortunate visitors to the castle while the innocent father finds himself suspected of their murder and taking to the drink again and the beast develops an infatuation with their blind daughter, who alone does not react with horror to his nightmare appearance, etc... Stuart Gordon, perhaps inspired by the natural splendour of the on location castle, spares us none of the predictable gothic clichés and the movie rattles along at a thrilling pace with expertly contrived moments of hair-raising suspense and truly sickening gore effects devoid of his trademark "goofiness" and all the more shocking for it. The monster itself is a brilliant creation and the actor, Jonathan Fuller, injects it with a real Frankensteinian pathos that has us helplessly empathising with the thing even when it's ripping the entrails from its latest victim. Make a point of seeking this one out... the gloriously melodramatic finale is something else, capping all the great work off to perfection, and I'd now rank 'Castle Freak' as one of the finest and most underrated horror films of the 90s.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2012 - 04:24 pm:   

As I'm off work tomorrow and not out tonight I've decided on another one:

'Dementia 13' (1963) by Francis Ford Coppola
'Torso' (1973) by Sergio Martino
'The Burrowers' (2008) by J.T. Petty

...again, all for the first time.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.181.142.209
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2012 - 06:32 pm:   

I think I have a copy of Torso... I may watch that myself tonight. there's bugger all on telly
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.208.218
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2012 - 07:17 pm:   

It appears that the film i have called torso is a 2002 true crime film with brenda fricker
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.210.48
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2012 - 08:01 pm:   

For some reason i'm watching the remake of the fog. I have to say that, though it's better than i thought, it's not a patch on the original and the cgi fog lacks any atmosphere. The smoke machine fog in the carpenter film was so much more effective.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.167.145.33
Posted on Monday, May 07, 2012 - 11:13 pm:   

Followed the Fog up with Galaxy of Terror.

That was a mistake. And how dare James Cameron have a go at Piranha 3D for being tacky when he was production designer on this! No one who designed a scene where a giant alien slug rapes a woman to death can call any scene in any other film ever made tacky. (Especially when he also made Piranha 2 which is one of the single worst films I've ever seen.)

Cameron is a hypocrite. There's no other word for it.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.167.145.33
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2012 - 01:43 am:   

In an attempt to watch one good film tonight I watched Bubba Ho-tep - Bruce campbell as an aging Elvis living out his last years in an old folks home in redneck Americe who teams up with a black man who believes himself to be JFK to defeat an Egyptian mummy which is eating the souls of the inhabitants of the old folks home and crapping them down the visitors toilets.

Every bit as silly as it sounds and so much fun to watch. The Joe Lansdale story this is based on is a particularly fine one and this film truly does it justice - even if the mummy isn't quite as good in the flesh as he was in my head when I read the short story.

A superb end to the night. Any film where Elvis tells a mummy to "Come and get it you undead sack of shit" has got to be worth watching.

Now it's beddy byes for me.

Thank y'all and goodnight.

Thank you a
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.31.147
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2012 - 11:35 am:   

"And how dare James Cameron have a go at Piranha 3D for being tacky when he was production designer on this! No one who designed a scene where a giant alien slug rapes a woman to death can call any scene in any other film ever made tacky. (Especially when he also made Piranha 2 which is one of the single worst films I've ever seen.)

Cameron is a hypocrite. There's no other word for it."

Well, another way of putting it is that he may have changed his mind about a film in which he was involved thirty years ago. He didn't conceive or direct the scene, after all - Roger Corman did both, to placate the backers of the film.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2012 - 02:32 pm:   

I remember watching 'Galaxy Of Terror' on home video way back in the day and thinking it was abject rubbish even then. But nothing can compare to the flung together ("let's use up some of this leftover film") nature of Corman's 'The Creature From The Haunted Sea'!! Even the monster, swathed in soggy material with its tennis ball eyes and what look like pencils for claws, that might have raised an unintentional chuckle or two, only appears fleetingly in a handful of scenes while the rest of the film merely follows a cast of furiously mugging idiots randomly goofing about, and no doubt high as kites, on a beautiful tropical beach surrounded by palm trees. How he ever got this a cinema release is frankly beyond me! It's kind of admirable in a way but it certainly isn't fun to watch.

But last night's Corman production, 'Dementia 13', was another matter altogether, and a timely reminder of the cinematic debt we still owe the old chancer - of which more anon...
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.48.128
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2012 - 03:01 pm:   

Stevie, let us know what you make of The Burrowers. I thought it was pretty good.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.16.150
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2012 - 03:16 pm:   

By gum, Dementia 13! When I saw it on its original British release virtually every moment of violence was censored, even Magee and the wax dummy.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 01:49 pm:   

A rather enjoyable quiet night in:

'Dementia 13' (1963) is a brisk and efficient little gothic chiller made historically important as the directorial debut of one Francis Ford Coppola, under the generous tutelage of Roger Corman. Basically, the story goes, Coppola was an ambitious young sound technician working on Corman's sporting melodrama, 'The Young Racers' (1963), which was filmed in Ireland. Having had some previous "directorial experience" making porn movies, Coppola sufficiently impressed the, by then, veteran director/producer into giving him the opportunity of using up some more of that leftover film on a little project of his own, rather than inflicting another 'Creature From The Haunted Sea' on an unsuspecting public! The rest is history. Given the opportunity to use a real Irish castle as his shooting location and Corman’s instructions to make a cheap horror movie, with otherwise full artistic freedom, Coppola came up with this striking mixture of ‘Psycho’-inspired shock tactics and Hammer horror atmospherics. It’s a great little thriller shot in brooding b&w with enough startling imagery, imaginative use of camera angles, effective handling of the suspense sequences and unexpected narrative twists (again aping the plot structure of ‘Psycho’ with a crime story centring on a desperate woman morphing into a psycho horror) to herald a talent of note. The film is also surprisingly gruesome for its time with several well mounted axe murders that shamelessly attempt to outdo Hitchcock’s shower scene in the chocolate sauce department and add to that a memorably sinister early performance by Patrick Magee, in his first of many horror movies, and you’ve got one of the most noteworthy genre B-pictures of its time, as well as one of the finest. The boy done good.

Jump forward 10 years and how times have changed! Sergio Martino’s delirious giallo shocker, ‘Torso’ (1973) aka ‘Carnal Violence’ (accurately!!), makes the bloody murders in D13 look quaintly charming by comparison. Like all Italian cinema the film is absolutely beautiful with ravishing location cinematography, gorgeous use of colour, seemingly effortless compositional sense and a grand operatic style that I’m beginning to think Italians are innately born with. Okay, the content is luridly misogynistic to a quite ridiculous degree with a bevy of perfectly formed young women simultaneously falling out of their clothes and being throttled or dismembered by the usual masked and black gloved miscreant, when they’re not becoming enraptured by their own physical forms and giving way to the joys of woman on woman flesh – say what you like about jobbing Italian directors but they certainly give you value for money! But for all that this is still a superlative suspense thriller, imo, with a cast of slimy male weirdos all vying for who gets to be revealed in the final scenes, red herrings aplenty, a macabre back-story revealed in drip fed flashbacks to a traumatised childhood, a dashing macho man all set to run to the rescue (or is he) and a good girl, who gets to keep her clothes on (pah!), in Suzy Kendall, who we all get to root for in the long drawn out climactic cat and mouse sequence as she is stalked remorselessly by the killer as he/she(?) jabbers out the whole story while insisting Suzy isn’t like the others… they had to die.. but I wouldn’t hurt you, you’re special, etc. All gloriously edge-of-the-seat, by-the-numbers and beautifully presented no-holds frigging barred adult horror entertainment that makes the vast majority of US slasher movies that came in its wake look like the cheap amateurish rubbish they mostly were. Fantastic stuff!!

And then something I really didn’t expect and have to hail, for all the excellence of what went before, as the big surprise highlight of the night! ‘The Burrowers’ (2008) by up-and-coming new boy, J.T. Petty, is nothing short of bloody marvellous!! A Lovecraftian Horror Western that really works and is as grittily authentic, dirty, sweaty and blood soaked as any of the great spaghettis or revisionist westerns of the 60s/70s!!!! I know, I can’t believe I actually typed that, but this instant genre classic is an almost miraculous success story from nowhere that feels like having a very specific prayer answered at last. Seriously scary, atmospheric, exciting and violent as hell with a dead serious script and straight-faced performances from a cast of convincingly grizzled unknowns this film sucked me in within minutes and never let up, they didn’t fluff a single scene, it just kept getting better and better, right to the breathlessly bleak and unforgettable finale. The team behind this sterling masterwork of economy and pacing and “let’s do it right” sheer craft deserve all the congratulations and support going from anyone who cares about quality genre cinema! We open on an isolated homestead at night somewhere on the vast rolling prairie of the Dakota Territory in the year 1879. The women and children hide in the storm cellar while the menfolk battle what they assume to be Indians outside until something batters its way through the cellar doors. Cut to the aftermath and a scene of gut-wrenching horror with the entire family either butchered or abducted and a hastily composed posse is formed to go after “those murdering redskin bastards” just like ‘The Searchers’. From there it’s pure old-fashioned characterisation as we get to know, and care about and hate these men on the trail while they find themselves facing a foe all their hard pioneering lifestyle hasn’t even begun to prepare them for… The creatures they set out to hunt and end up being hunted by have to be among the best realised and oddly plausible Lovecraftian monstrosities ever committed to film and are made all the more frightening by how little we are shown of them and the ambiguous nature of their life-cycle. All we have are whispered Indian legends of the “Burrower Tribe” that is convincingly tied in with the extermination of the great buffalo herds they had formerly preyed upon. Of course we go through the entertaining whittling down of the posse process but even here admirable restraint and intelligence is shown with characters being despatched in unpredictable order and not always due to the creatures but to the many more prosaic hazards of life in the wild west, thus raising the sense of adventure and danger to whole new levels. As mentioned before the finale, with the monsters revealed in all their hideous glory, is as well judged and exciting as the rest of the film and leads on to a truly haunting coda that underlines the general excellence of the whole project. Not only is this one of the best horror films of the last 20 years or so but it is one of the best westerns as well and should be added to every fan’s DVD collection as a matter of urgency. Nuff said I think…
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.27.239
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 02:25 pm:   

I very much liked The Burrowers, Stevie - reviewed it in Video Watchdog.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 03:15 pm:   

Stevie - Cowboys vs Aliens is also an underrated film. I really enjoyed it - good sf/horror, good western.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 03:17 pm:   

Frank - Knowing is very good.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 03:26 pm:   

Did I not mention the complete lack of CGI effects in 'The Burrowers'? Nothing but good old-fashioned animatronic and make-up effects and even those are used sparingly for maximum effectiveness. The trailer of 'Cowboys Vs Aliens' was enough for me, Tony!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 03:38 pm:   

I can't believe they cut all the murder scenes from 'Dementia 13', Ramsey! That must have made it a very insipid experience to sit through in the wake of 'Psycho'.

I loved how Coppola managed to fit in a crucial scene quaffing Guinness in what looked like the same Irish pub they used in 'The Quiet Man'. Great stuff!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 04:00 pm:   

Stevie - forget the trailer. It's a great little film. It stays in the mind.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 04:03 pm:   

Yes, be open-minded. You liked Tin Tin remember.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.46.250
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 04:14 pm:   

I thought you'd like The Burrowers, Stevie! It was very refreshing in an age of over-used CGI.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.46.250
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 04:21 pm:   

On the subject of horror films, has anyone seen The Innkeepers, Ti West's follow-up to The House of the Devil?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 04:23 pm:   

'The Secret Of The Unicorn' was seriously great! Is there any word of Peter Jackson's follow-up as we've only had half the story so far?

The only other horror westerns I can think of that were as effective as 'The Burrowers', at mixing the genres while staying true to the strengths of both, are; 'High Plains Drifter' (1973), 'The Shadow Of Chikara' (1977) & 'Ravenous' (1999). But I believe 'The Burrowers' is probably the best of the lot of them, including the Clint classic!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 08:13 pm:   

Just settling down for another evening of horror thrills:

'Indestructible Man' (1956) by Jack Pollexfen, with Lon Chaney Jr
'Aenigma' (1987) by goremaster extraordinaire, Lucio Fulci
'Wendigo' (2001) by Larry Fessenden, of which I have heard great things

All for the first time so fingers crossed...
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.185.225.55
Posted on Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 09:43 pm:   

Don't know the first two, Stevie, but THE WENDIGO is good.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.60.47
Posted on Saturday, May 12, 2012 - 10:53 pm:   

Huw - I thought The Innkeepers needed its first half an hour cutting. It's ok and worth a watch but it is very slow - although perhaps I just have a very short attention span from all those Final Destination films.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 09:56 am:   

There's slow and slow isn't there? Slowness, for me, is failing to grab my imagination. The other slow is when nothing seemes to be happening but you are entirely absorbed.
We watched a Godzilla last night. We made the mistake of watching the US version thinking it might be more snappy for a late night, but then after watched a bit of the Japanese - God, talk about quality; the Japanese had dread and atmosphere, a real feel to it entirely lacking in the US one. Incredible what sound and editing can do. They should show the two to film students.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.27.8
Posted on Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 11:15 am:   

I'm forever being accused of slowness on Amazon. On the whole I take it as a compliment, remembering such zippy stuff as "The Willows" and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.47.33
Posted on Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 11:16 am:   

Thanks, Lord P - I'll probably just rent The Innkeepers when it eventually turns up in my local DVD rental place.

Tony, I agree about the Godzilla films. It's been a while since I last watched it, but I thought the Japanese original had a great atmosphere and a serious, almost documentary-like sense that something awful was happening.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.47.33
Posted on Sunday, May 13, 2012 - 11:30 am:   

Ramsey, I've read some of the reviews of your work on amazon, and it's bewildering. It seems that about half the reviewers - people who have a deeper understanding and feeling for the field (people like us, I suspect) - seem to 'get' it, while the other half can't appreciate anything that doesn't have a decapitation or a romantic vampire/werewolf encounter in every chapter! I would definitely take such complaints from these 'reviewers' as compliments.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - 01:13 am:   

'Indestructible Man' (1956) by Jack Pollexfen was a watchable but routine mix-up of sci-fi/horror and police procedural film noir entirely typical of its era. I've seen much better and I've seen far worse. Lon Chaney Jnr plays psychopathic criminal Butcher Benton who vows vengeance on his way to the San Quentin gas chamber on the two "no good dirty finks" who ratted him out and the crooked attorney who betrayed him. After execution his body is nefariously sold to a maverick scientist working on a cure for cancer whose bizarre experiments bring the Butcher back to life as a hulking indestructible killing machine, impervious to bullets, bazookas and flamethrowers with the strength of ten men and but one thought driving him... payback time. The film plods along merrily enough with each of the three succumbing to a ghastly fate while a dogged LA homicide detective pieces together the incredible facts, world weary voiceover style. But with acting as flat as the direction, and Chaney having only one line of dialogue at the very beginning of the picture before he gets zombified, this is no more than a time wasting B-picture noteable only for some interesting Los Angeles location work. I've seen virtually the same plot handled to far superior effect in a few episodes of 'The X Files'.

'Aenigma' (1987) by Lucio Fulci was much more like it. Another demented classic from the master of nightmare cinema. The film has much the same surreal atmosphere of supernatural dread as 'City Of The Living Dead' (1980) or 'The Beyond' (1981) with one freakishly weird set piece after another strung along a storyline cobbled together from elements of 'Carrie' (1976), 'Suspiria' (1977) & the great little Australian shocker, 'Patrick' (1978). Set in a posh girl's boarding school in Boston, the story opens with nerdy geek, Kathy, being set up for a cruel practical joke by a group of vicious "schoolmates" and their arrogant hunk of a gym instructor, Fred, who arranges a hot date with her only to humiliate the not particularly attractive or bright poor girl in front of her "chums" who all leap from hiding cackling with laughter. Fleeing the scene in a distraught state Kathy is knocked down and rushed to hospital in a deep coma but, in a nicely done near death experience sequence, her vengeful spirit leaves her body on the life support machine and returns to the school where she proceeds to possess sultry newcomer, Eva. After that it's bumping off one-by-one time for those who were in on the "prank", allowing Fulci free rein to devise the most fiendishly diabolical death scenes imaginable using Kathy's new found demonic powers, while she also sets about seducing her handsome doctor, played by Jared Martin, in the sexy body of Eva. This is all carried off with typically no holds barred aplomb and great visual style by the Italian master who shows his customary disregard for narrative logic and gets away with it due to the nightmarish intensity of his vision. I thoroughly enjoyed it and in the end this was easily the highlight of the night.

Which isn't to take anything away from Larry Fessenden's really rather fine slow burning tale of supernatural retribution, 'Wendigo' (2001). This one surprised me being more of a tense psychological thriller in the style of 'Straw Dogs' (1971) for most of its length. A nice little family of three, father, mother and impressionable young son, take off from the city for a relaxing winter weekend in a friend's holiday home in snowbound upstate New York. Due to an unfortunate accident, involving their car hitting a deer, they incur the wrath of a group of gun-toting local rednecks and are followed by their psychotic ringleader, Otis, to the isolated lodge where they are staying. From there Fessenden slowly cranks up the tension as Otis, who just hates "jumped up city folk", subjects the family to a subtle war of nerves through initially irritating but increasingly sinister little acts of intimidation. While this is going on the boy is approached by a mysterious old Indian, whom no one else sees, who gives him a small wooden idol of a human figure with a stag's head that he calls the Wendigo, a powerful spirit the boy can call on in times of need. Things gradually get nastier with Otis, resulting in a shocking act of violence, and the final scenes of the film, as the boy calls on his supernatural protector, are pure and genuinely frightening EC Horror - grimly moralistic as well as being exceptionally bleak. The film isn't perfect as the rather slight story did need a lot of padding out to feature length and would have worked far better as a 50 minute TV play - too many superfluous scenes of family bonding that don't move the story forward - but the acting is admirably naturalistic and the direction nicely understated making the horror scenes all the more effective. I liked it a lot.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.46.32
Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - 05:40 pm:   

I quite enjoyed Wendigo, but prefer his later film The Last Winter (another exploration of the wendigo theme - it even has a nod to one of the lead characters in Blackwood's classic tale).
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - 06:24 pm:   

I wasn't sure about it. It didn't quite feel fully formed.
Nice seeing the dad from Medium in something, though.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.46.32
Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - 06:30 pm:   

I'd forgotten he was in it, Tony! He was in the Dawn of the Dead remake too.
Whoa... just looking at what he's been in on IMDB, and he was born on the exact same day as me.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 12:42 am:   

That not "fully formed" feeling is what I meant by the story being too slight for its running time, Tony. The basic EC Horror template of evil actions being punished by supernatural retribution at the end is better suited to a short film or a TV episode of something like 'The Twilight Zone' than a feature film, imo. 'Wendigo' was a good enough movie but flawed in that respect.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.61.103
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 04:08 pm:   

Saw Infection yesterday. The blurb promises horror along the lines of The Grudge and The Ring, but this has the looks of a grand guignol cheapie. I couldn't make head nor tail of the ending.

After that, The Grudge 3. Amusing, but not particularly scary. Kayako is beginning to look tired.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 04:16 pm:   

I was thinking of watching Takashi Shimizu's 'Ju-On : The Grudge II' (2003) as part of this weekend's triple bill, Hubert. Either that or 'Cold Prey' (2006).

The American remake of the first 'Grudge' movie was very well done but again entirely redundant - as with 'Let Me In', imo. I haven't bothered with the US 2 & 3...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 06:07 pm:   

The American remake of the Grudge was an entirely different kettle of fish to the original IMHO. The original film is a portmanteau film (as are all 3 Japanese versions) whereas the remake uses a more structured narrative. The original is definitely better - (although that may be due to my enjoyment being spoilt by a pair of girls in the back row talking loudly through the first 10 - 20 minutes of the film. When they told someone near them to "Shut the fuck up we're allowed to talk" I popped out and asked a steward to remove them from the theatre - which he did to a large round of applause.) but the remake is still a very good film in its own right (as is Let Me In).

The second and third film in the American series diverge entirely from the Japanese storylines. The second film contains one of the freakiest things I've ever seen in a US horror film. Both American sequels eschew gore and heavy handed CGI and are very good examples of creepy ghost stories (especially when you consider these are US films from Hollywood).

The second film in the Japanese sequence contains the single scariest scene of all the films put together.

I think they're all well worth watching.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.61.103
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 07:28 pm:   

The second film in the Japanese sequence contains the single scariest scene of all the films put together.

Which scene was that, Weber?

The one I like most is when the detective is watching the security film in the policeman's office. Then, there's the instance of the jawless girl who turns around (she does it twice, once in the first remake - I think - and once in the third - or fourth? - Japanese film, halfway a flight of stairs.) I simply love the group of croaking Kayakos in the rainy schoolyard as well. Nightmarish.

I generally like the way time is treated in the Japanese films. At first scenes appear to be totally out of sequence; only after further viewings does one begin to grasp the meaning.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.61.103
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 07:32 pm:   

Stevie: the second Japanese instalment is at least as good as the first one, with many a disconcerting sequence. The distortion of time I hinted at in my previous post is equally present in this one.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.159.21.221
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 07:49 pm:   

The scene I'm thinking of, trying to not give away any spoilers for Stevie, is the answer to the question about what's been causing the thumping noise and knocking over the glass.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 220.138.163.181
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 09:03 pm:   

There are actually four Japanese Juon films, Stevie. The first two, which are shorter, were both released in 2000, I think. The theatrical films came out two or three years later.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 10:24 pm:   

I was aware of the Japanese TV originals, Huw. Haven't seen them but weren't the two movies basically expanded remakes for the cinema? The first 'Ju-On : The Grudge' is one of the scariest films I ever saw - a modern horror masterpiece - and I know the sequel, made virtually back-to-back with it by the same team, is supposed to be almost as good.

I was fairly impressed with the US remake but again frustrated as it pales beside the Japanese original, imo.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 01:25 pm:   

I've decided on the next triple bill:

'At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul' (1963) by José Mojica Marins
'Night Train Murders' (1975) by Aldo Lado
'Ju-On : The Grudge II' (2003) by Takashi Shimizu

Now that's quality...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 05:50 pm:   

Well at least one of them is...
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 220.138.165.34
Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 09:02 pm:   

Stevie, the first Juon film (aka The Curse) was very creepy, and better in some ways than the first theatrical Juon film (it gets pretty confusing trying to discuss all these different versions!). The second (non-theatrical) film only contained about 40-odd minutes of original footage - the first 20-30 minutes, as I recall, was just a rehash of the end of the first film. Still, it had some weird scenes that are worth watching (multiple Kayakos, for example).

It's been ages since I watched these films - I need to have a Shimizu marathon one of these nights. Marebito is one of his most interesting films, I think. I wasn't so keen on Shock Labyrinth, but Reincarnation had some nice touches.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.61.103
Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 10:03 pm:   

Marebito is an absolute masterpiece in my book. I never tire of watching it. That scene where the troubled protagonist ends up in a giant open space deep underground . . . Wow. So cosmic it's entirely fitting that he should mutter "The mountains of madness . . ."
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 11:34 pm:   

I have 'Marebito' in my to-be-watched DVD pile as well, Huw/Hubert, and 'Reincarnation'. Haven't heard of 'Shock Labyrinth' before. Watch this space!
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Jamie Rosen (Jamie)
Username: Jamie

Registered: 11-2008
Posted From: 173.32.63.252
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 06:32 am:   

Marebito was interesting, and I certainly didn't expect Deros to be making an appearance there of all places...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 01:25 pm:   

Yes, that element intrigued me too and the glowing 'Fortean Times' review of the film is what made me seek out the DVD.

They carried out a definitive investigation into the Shaver Mystery several years ago. Perhaps the single most intriguing example of pulp genre fiction merging with fact and becoming a kind of reality. Personally, I see Richard Shaver as a demented visionary who created his own Lovecraftian fantasy universe and was ultimately subsumed by it. We each warp reality with our perceptions and assumptions but Shaver went one further than most.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 01:57 pm:   

I enjoyed the first two Grudge remakes - more so the first. I like movies set in Japan with Western protagonists. I like the atmosphere.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.61.103
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 02:29 pm:   

Yes, the fascination goes beyond the horror elements. One is taught something about how the Japanese interact socially, etc.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 03:26 pm:   

It was like the westerners became the ghosts. I dunno - maybe the films never quite explored themselves, realised what they had in their hands.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2012 - 05:45 pm:   

As I'm back in the house and got my DVDs all sorted again I reckon it's time for another triple bill of old, modern & recent. Picked at random:

'The Screaming Skull' (1958) by Alex Nicol

'The Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires' (1974) by Roy Ward Baker & Chang Cheh [haven't seen it since I was a kid and loved it then]

'Cold Prey' (2006) by Roar Uthaug
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.186.70
Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - 01:38 pm:   

The Screaming Skull is terrifying, but sadly very blurry. We watched it in a caravan and the sight of the ghost bride is unforgettable.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Friday, October 12, 2012 - 03:10 pm:   

It was a great little B-movie, Tony. Atmospheric and quite creepy with a great shock ending. Liked the way the spectre sort of collapsed in on itself when he threw the chair. Very M.R. Jamesian.

Enjoyed that triple bill so much I've decided on another one:

'The Monster Maker' (1944) by Sam Newfield

'Long Weekend' (1978) by Colin Eggleston [another one I haven't seen since I was a kid and it scared the crap out of me back then]

'Cold Prey : Resurrection' (2008) by Mats Stenberg
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.244.38
Posted on Friday, October 12, 2012 - 03:30 pm:   

You back in your house now, Stevie? Great!

By the way, I keep getting odd messages from you via Facebook asking me to join something-or-another. I wonder if you're mixing me up with someone else again?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Saturday, October 13, 2012 - 02:30 pm:   

Yes, thanks, Caroline! All is repaired and I'm back online again.

As for Facebook, it must be one of those nuisance apps sending out requests to friends or something. Just ignore them.
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.244.38
Posted on Saturday, October 13, 2012 - 03:37 pm:   

Yep. It must be going out to all your FB friends. Do they just send those out without permission then? How can they be allowed to do that? Just rhetorical questions - no need to answer. I'm learning more about FB every day!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Saturday, October 20, 2012 - 05:10 pm:   

Nothing to worry about, Caroline. Irritating, yes, but I just ignore them.

Time for another triple bill:

'The Brain That Wouldn't Die' (1959) by Joseph Green

'The Toolbox Murders' (1978) by Dennis Donnelly

'Orphan' (2009) by Jaume Collet-Serra

The joys of being skint and stuck in the house!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - 01:56 pm:   

Another horror day and then a quick review of all the recent screenings.

'The Monster Walks' (1932) by Frank R. Strayer

'Demons Of The Mind' (1972) by Peter Sykes

'Marebito' (2004) by Takashi Shimizu

Roll on pay day...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2012 - 04:38 pm:   

Have to say 'Marebito' is one of the very best horror films of recent times. A deeply unsettling Lovecraftian urban nightmare with Lynchian touches that has to be one of the most original vampire movies ever made. Way better even than 'Let The Right One In' on a similar theme and also reminiscent of T.E.D. Klein's classic novella "Children Of The Kingdom" - an investigative journalist uncovers something hideous beneath the streets of Tokyo. It left me so shaken I had to turn on the big light and sit hugging my cats before I felt confident enough of making it upstairs to bed. Takashi Shimizu's masterpiece imo!

Two days to go... nearly there and another horror day about to begin:

'The Invisible Ghost' (1941) by Joseph H. Lewis.

'Living Dead Girl' (1982) by Jean Rollin [preceded by his 1965 short 'The Far Country'].

'The Orphanage' (2007) by J.A. Bayona.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2012 - 01:16 pm:   

One more triple bill before the round up:

'The Brides Of Dracula' (1960) by Terence Fisher.

'Zombie Nosh' (1988) by Bill Hinzman.

'Whispering Corridors' (1998) by Park Ki-hyeong.

Vampires, zombies and ghosts... very nice.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.128.209.145
Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2012 - 03:34 pm:   

Except that Zombie Nosh is the worst zombie film I have ever seen.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2012 - 06:42 pm:   

It was pretty atrocious, Weber. Basically a zero budget retread of 'Night Of The Living Dead' without any directorial talent in evidence and with some of the most terrible "acting" I have ever witnessed but there were some decent gore effects and it's still way better than Bruno Mattei's 'Zombie Creeping Flesh' (1980)!
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.233.135
Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2012 - 07:09 pm:   

The trailer for ZOMBIE NOSH is up on Youtube. I've never seen so much stone-washed denim.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.76.60.106
Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2012 - 04:10 pm:   

I"m in the process of watching THE INNKEEPERS. It's pleasant and likeable so far. But it has the technical flaws for which Canadian films are notorious: terrible high-key lighting (you have to be Kubrick to get away with that in a ghost story!) and technically poor performances.

Maybe the ideal Canadian film would be people attacked by a horde of low boom mics?
Title suggestion: DEAD MIC.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.130.83.191
Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2012 - 06:40 pm:   

I loved the Innkeepers.

I thought the acting was low-key and naturalistic rather than poor in any way, and the characters were completely believable. I also loved that even at the end it's still holds on to the ambiguity over whether any of the visions were real.

Great film. I highly recommend it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2012 - 02:47 pm:   

Boring Sunday so time for another horror triple served with a surfeit of ham:

'The Corpse Vanishes' (1942) by Wallace Fox.

'House Of The Long Shadows' (1983) by Pete Walker.

'Lord Of Illusions' (1995) by Clive Barker [hard to believe it's been 17 years since I saw this so serious reappraisal is long overdue].
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.37.158
Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2012 - 05:53 pm:   

Well, despite the technical problems and listless acting, THE INNKEEPERS is good fun, with some genuinely-earned scares. The final shot was terrific!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.210.55
Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2012 - 07:28 pm:   

My horror triple bill for the night is Siege of the Dead, Satan's Little Helper and Vanishing on 7th street. None of which i know anything about except the blurbs on the dvd sleeves.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, December 06, 2012 - 04:58 pm:   

Time to give my thoughts on the numerous horror triple bills that kept me going in the months after the flood:

'At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul' (1963) by José Mojica Marins - Original and fairly imaginative zero budget horror that can't live up to its legendary status and is often embarrassingly naff but remains historically fascinating for the introduction of super-nihilist Coffin Joe. Just don't expect quality entertainment!

'Night Train Murders' (1975) by Aldo Lado - Quality Italian answer to Wes Craven's 'The Last House On The Left' that, despite a near identical plot, shows that film up as amateurish hackwork in every department. Direction, script, cinematography, acting and Ennio Morricone's eerie harmonica soundtrack make this an unmissable highpoint of 70s extreme ordeal horror.

'Ju-On : The Grudge II' (2003) by Takashi Shimizu - Every bit as terrifying as the original, if not more so, this has to be one of the most successful horror sequels of recent years. Much more than a string of perfectly orchestrated shock set pieces the playing with time makes this a fascinating puzzle of a picture that respects the viewer's intelligence and leaves us to work it out for ourselves. Another bona-fide classic from Mr Shimizu!

*

'The Screaming Skull' (1958) by Alex Nicol - Surprisingly well done, atmospheric and genuinely scary M.R. Jamesian ghost story that borrows heavily from 'Rebecca' but with a real ghost of the previous wife doing the terrorising. If not quite classic material it's certainly one of the better cheapjack horrors of its era.

'The Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires' (1974) by Roy Ward Baker - Endearingly entertaining cornball nonsense with its tongue firmly in its cheek that splices Hammer Horror atmospherics with Asian samurai action straight out of 'The Water Margin' and almost gets away with it. One of those dire later Hammers that I can't help being immensely fond of. Poor Peter Cushing does his best...

'Cold Prey' (2006) by Roar Uthaug - Seriously brilliant reinvigoration of the slasher genre that adds nothing new but is done with such verve and commitment and generates such heart-stopping suspense and sympathy for the young characters being stalked that it just might be the best thing of its kind since John Carpenter's 'Halloween'.

*

'The Monster Maker' (1944) by Sam Newfield - Dull and plodding mad scientist B-movie nonsense that suffers from a palpable lack of narrative drive and any kind of directorial flair. Just about passes the time if there's nothing better to do.

'Long Weekend' (1978) by Colin Eggleston - I still rank this as one of the most insidiously frightening cult horror movies of the 70s and one of the best genre pictures ever to come out of Australia. It bears favourable comparison to 'Picnic At Hanging Rock' but has a keener sense of supernatural malignancy at the heart of the Australian wilderness.

'Cold Prey : Resurrection' (2008) by Mats Stenberg - Well made, if entirely predictable and less effective, sequel to the above that works basically as a remake of 'Halloween II' and is as just about as successful as that underrated picture.

*

'The Brain That Wouldn't Die' (1959) by Joseph Green - Insanely enjoyable unofficial version of H.P. Lovecraft's 'Herbert West : Reanimator' that falls firmly into the so bad it's good category and is surprisingly gruesome for its day. Great craic!

'The Toolbox Murders' (1978) by Dennis Donnelly - Deservedly notorious 70s slasher movie that opens with murder after bloody murder of scantily clad young women by a hulking intruder with a variety of workman's tools being put to grotesquely imaginative use. Once things settle down, however, this morphs into a really rather engrossing police procedural whodunnit with several neat twists and a great performance by an old favourite of mine, Cameron Mitchell (Uncle Buck from 'The High Chaparral' - best TV western series ever made).

'Orphan' (2009) by Jaume Collet-Serra - Thoroughly entertaining addition to the always effective evil child sub-genre that follows all the clichés right up until one of the most outrageous twists I've ever seen - that didn't, however, spoil the movie. For the record I thought the alternative ending, included on the DVD, would have been far more effective but was no doubt deemed too bleak for a modern audience - shame...

*

'The Monster Walks' (1932) by Frank R. Strayer - Wonderfully cheesy old dark house thriller that throws every cliché of the day at us to heartwarming effect. The film benefits from having a real ape as the "monster" rather than some guy in a suit but ends on one of the most cringeworthy jokes about Darwinism you are ever likely to hear. Great fun for all the datedness.

'Demons Of The Mind' (1972) by Peter Sykes - This has to be one of the most unusual Hammer Horrors I've seen and, in its own unprepossessing way, one of the finest and most undervalued of their later years. The spirit of Edgar Allan Poe hangs all over this portrait of family madness and decay that was perhaps too subtle and devoid of Hammer's trademark sensationalism to have been fondly remembered. One ripe for reappraisal, imo.

'Marebito' (2004) by Takashi Shimizu - Quite simply the best horror film I've seen this year and without doubt Takashi Shimizu's masterpiece!! This is what I said at the time: A deeply unsettling Lovecraftian urban nightmare with Lynchian touches that has to be one of the most original vampire movies ever made. Way better even than 'Let The Right One In' on a similar theme and also reminiscent of T.E.D. Klein's classic novella "Children Of The Kingdom" - an investigative journalist uncovers something hideous beneath the streets of Tokyo. It left me so shaken I had to turn on the big light and sit hugging my cats before I felt confident enough of making it upstairs to bed. Takashi Shimizu's masterpiece, imo!

*

'The Invisible Ghost' (1941) by Joseph H. Lewis – One of the most implausible pieces of Grade Z horror hokum I ever sat through that is livened only by Bela Lugosi in full on ham mode. The plot makes no sense whatsoever but I rather enjoyed it for all that.

'Living Dead Girl' (1982) by Jean Rollin [preceded by his 1965 short 'The Far Country'] – The short was an oddly beguiling b&w piece about a boy and girl finding themselves inexplicably lost in a strange city where no one speaks their language and was quite well done for a student film. The main feature, about a reanimated flesh-eating blonde bombshell, was the best thing I’ve yet seen by Rollin and had a weirdly beautiful fairy-tale quality to it for all the lashings of gore. One to stick in the mind and bear repeated viewings methinks. To my mind Jean Rollin remains something of an enigma but with undeniable talent to burn.

'The Orphanage' (2007) by J.A. Bayona – Impeccably made top quality ghost story of a kind we’re all too familiar with these days. This is one of the best of the crop with fine performances and several neat twists leading to a genuinely chilling ending – that doesn’t appear so until one thinks about it afterward.

*

'The Brides Of Dracula' (1960) by Terence Fisher – One of the best and most underrated Hammer Horrors from their classic period that suffers not one whit from the absence of Christopher Lee. Peter Cushing is in career best form as Van Helsing and the story, with its long atmospheric build-up before any vampires appear, is one of their most enthralling.

'Zombie Nosh' (1988) by Bill Hinzman – Hilariously naff retread of ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ that isn’t quite the worst zombie movie I’ve ever seen but certainly comes close. The imaginative gore effects on a zero budget are the best reason to watch it... with copious amounts of alcohol to hand.

'Whispering Corridors' (1998) by Park Ki-hyeong – Well made and good looking but ultimately indecipherable South Korean ghost story set in a girl’s boarding school. Worth watching for some genuinely frightening set pieces but if you have any clue what the hell was going on after watching it please let me know!

*

‘The Corpse Vanishes’ (1942) by Wallace Fox – Completely bonkers and hugely entertaining cult classic horror hokum that sees Bela Lugosi in great form as an evil hypnotist backed by an undead wife and hideous crone, cackling dwarf and slobbering hunchback henchmen as they kidnap virginal brides on their wedding days to extract their vital juices, etc. I loved every minute of it!

‘House Of The Long Shadows’ (1983) by Pete Walker – Obvious but entertaining and impossible to dislike parody of ‘The Old Dark House’, ‘The Cat And The Canary’, etc that is worth watching for the cast alone; Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, John Carradine, Sheila Keith & Richard Todd. Great fun but hardly the classic such a cast deserved.

‘Lord Of Illusions’ (1995) by Clive Barker – Watched for the first time in 17 years this is much more impressive than I remembered – and I thought it was pretty good back then. A beautifully made, visually spectacular and constantly surprising modern noir horror movie. I would rank it as superior to ‘Nightbreed’ and almost as good as ‘Hellraiser’. The climax is unforgettable!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2012 - 12:22 pm:   

For my next horror triple bill, planned for this weekend with the woman of my dreams, I've decided on:

'A Bucket Of Blood' (1959) by Roger Corman.
'The Stuff' (1985) by Larry Cohen - to tie in with my reading of Frank Herbert's really wonderful horror novel, 'The Santaroga Barrier' (1968).
'Dog Soldiers' (2002) by Neil Marshall - she hasn't seen it and it's been 10 years since I did!

If we've split up after this weekend blame Roger Corman!
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2012 - 05:55 pm:   

Uh-oh... my memories of A BUCKET OF BLOOD, Stevie, are that it commits the unforgivable sin of film-making—it's deadly boring. You may want to reconsider... unless, you have an ulterior agenda in getting your lady bored early with what's currently on the TV?...

And THE STUFF, again, my memories are that it's pretty shoddily amateur, and revoltingly disgusting—I mean not in cool way, but the kind of way you'd be disgusted seeing, say, a little toddler with a river of green snot running down his face from his nostrils to his chin. Again, only because there's a lady present, be forewarned.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.125
Posted on Monday, December 17, 2012 - 08:27 pm:   

'A Bucket Of Blood' (1958) was a good idea given a curiously stilted and plodding treatment by the usually more energetic Roger Corman. A satirical pisstake of the arty farty 50s beatnik movement it follows the briefly meteoric career of a talentless moron who is accidentally hailed as a "genius" when he presents corpses covered in clay as his own creations. Thankfully the film is barely over an hour long and the story compelling enough to pass the time but it's hardly the anarchic classic some would have us believe.

'The Stuff' (1985) was much more entertaining being a typically fast paced Larry Cohen comic horror-satire loosely based on the Frank Herbert novel 'The Santaroga Barrier' (1968). The alien fungus of the novel is replaced by a more visually dynamic oozing white goo masquerading as a delicious new dessert called "The Stuff" and Michael Moriarty is as manically charismatic as ever as the undercover corporate agent hired by a consortium of ice cream and yoghurt moguls whose profits are threatened by the insanely popular new product. Herbert's plot deserved a more serious treatment, imo, but the film is hard to dislike with its madcap humour, disgusting special effects and pure pulp energy. Great fun.

'Dog Soldiers' (2002) remains, imo, Neil Marshall's most successful and thrilling movie and one of the finest werewolf films ever made. There is nothing new here but the simplicity of the set-up (basically a retread of 'Southern Comfort' with lycanthropes replacing hillbillies) and the director's sheer flair for suspense and heart-stopping action set pieces (worthy of the young John Carpenter) makes this a consummate exercise in unashamed genre crowd-pleasing. The broad streak of black humour throughout provides the icing on the cake. A remarkably assured debut and still one of the greatest horror films of the new millennium so far.

Sylvia tolerated the first one, enjoyed the second and positively loved the third. Phew!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.130.85.94
Posted on Sunday, December 30, 2012 - 07:54 pm:   

Today's trple bill

The Strangers
Agnosia
and either Chain Letter or Death note...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.147.137.70
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 - 01:51 am:   

made it a quadruple bill by watching all 4 films on the list...

Death Note(live action version not the anime)was by far the best of the 4.

The Strangers - SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!! - had its tense moments but I want a horror film where at least some of the cast survive - I'm getting fed up of all these everyone dies movies. I'm sure this is a remake of a foreign film, which is probably much better. This was 25 minutes of getting to know quite a dull couple, 30 minutes of chasing them round the house very slowly, and the rest of the running time was their death scene. All too predictable. Luckily, it wasn't too long.

Agnosia - beautifully shot and gorgeous looking film but I thought it dragged a bit and it didn't hold my interest all that well. Not quite sure what was wrong with it as the acting was fine thoughout and the visuals were - as previously mentioned - stunning.

Chain Letter - some imaginative deaths, all involving chains, livened up an otherwise predictable teen slasher. The ending was fucking atrociously bad - and that's as polite as I can be about that one.

Death Note - I loved this one.Even the not very convincing CGI god of Death didn't detract from this. I had no idea where the story was going at any point. This is a quirky little story about a teen who finds a notebooke that, when he writes a person's name in it, they die in the manner he specifies in the notebook. I'll be watching the sequel on Tuesday.

Tuesday will be a sequels day

Death Note 2 the last name
Rec 2 (and 3 if I have time)
Reeker 2
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 - 02:49 am:   

Someone needs to make a horror film called ONE. Then the sequel could be ONE: TWO. And then that one's sequel, would be the prequel, (MINUS) ONE. And then the reboot, some years later, just 1.

I liked THE STRANGERS okay, but I'd never see it again.... and of those kinds of movies—a couple in horror-genre peril—I think there are much better ones (like VACANCY, and years earlier, DEAD CALM).
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.147.137.70
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 - 03:20 am:   

Dead calm is a much better film than the Strangers for several reasons - mainly that the villain of the piece isn't just another psycho (or 3) wearing a mask and not talking. Also, the couple manage to survive.

Vacancy was quite good as well, although I can't remember if they got away at the end of that. whentehr they did or didn't, the feel of the film always had hope that they'd get away.

The Strangers was set up from the word go that they were all doomed.

I think Funny games may have wrecked my appreciation of the "They're all doomed" subgenre.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 - 03:37 am:   

I think they did get away at the end of VACANCY... er, wait, did they?... weird, how neither of us can remember....

In the original spec, the girl in THE STRANGERS wears a Strawberry Shortcake mask; but they couldn't get the rights. There's a French film, mentioned here on this board, that many claim it's ripped off from, but I'm blanking on the title.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.24.18.237
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 - 12:37 pm:   

Rights my arse: the girl ate the shortcake. In an outtake she even sings:

Put down the skillet
Pick up the knife
Mama's little baby love
Short'ning life
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 - 04:42 pm:   

The French film The Strangers is allegedly a remake of is apparently ILS (them) - which I have seen and enjoyed more than the Strangers - although I don't recall the masks in ILS.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 2.96.196.29
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 - 05:58 pm:   

Yeah, ILS was....SPOILERS...kinda generic dark figures in hoodies who turned out to be bored teenagers from a bad estate at the end, if memory serves.

I enjoyed Vacancy quite a bit, it was genuinely tense and Kate Beckinsale's character had a fairly believable journey to becoming the "survivor girl" archetype at the end, rather than just being a badass from the moment things turn nasty.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.24.19.6
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 - 08:40 pm:   

SPOILER...

Not teenagers, surely? That was the shock. They were junior school children.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 2.96.196.29
Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2013 - 03:39 pm:   

Oh yeah, that's right...it's been quite a while since I've seen it.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - 06:02 pm:   

Reeker 2 - Just about worth the £1 I paid for the DVD at Poundland. A sequel to the better than expected Reeker that managed to lose most of what made the first film better than average. Still it killed just over an hour and didn't outstay its welcome.

Deathnote 2 - as unpredictable as the first - I really had no idea if Light would get away with it or not... loads of twists and turns to the story made this a really good follow up to the first film.

Rec 2 - this was much scarier than I remember it being first time I watched it. Slight plot hole in that 2 of the teens who appear are never killed or bitten... but other than that, a really good film and I'm looking forward to watching part 3 in a couple of days time.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2013 - 04:32 pm:   

As we're now scarily broke and suffering the after effects of the last two weeks' festivities it's time to put the feet up and veg on the sofa for the first Horror DVD day of 2013:

'The Ghoul' (1933) by T. Hayes Hunter & starring Boris Karloff in one of the iconic horror roles that made his name - long wanted to see this!

'Mausoleum' (1983) by Michael Dugan - have hazy memories of watching this in a mate's house on VHS back in the good old 1980s but can remember next to nothing about it... so a bit of a nostalgia trip in store.

'Dumplings' (2005) by Fruit Chan - extended from Chan's segment of the Asian portmanteau horror 'Three Extremes' (2004)... heard good things so fingers crossed.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, January 06, 2013 - 06:28 pm:   

Yesterday's triple bill went done so well I'm having another one today - with a somewhat light-hearted theme:

'The Little Shop Of Horrors' (1960) by Roger Corman - saw this back in the 80s but didn't really appreciate it so time for a reappraisal.

'Basket Case' (1982) by Frank Henenlotter - again, haven't seen it since the 80s and remember absolutely loving it!

'Coraline' (2009) by Henry Selick - never seen it and long wanted to as I'm a big fan of Selick's animations and have heard this is rather special.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, January 07, 2013 - 12:33 am:   

'The Ghoul' (1933) by T. Hayes Hunter surpassed my expectations. I'd rank it as one of the finest and most entertaining gothic horrors of its era that easily matches the best of the Universal Horrors. A great and genuinely scary performance by Boris Karloff - as a peeling skinned reanimated zombie seeking the precious Jewel of Anubis from those who would steal it - is matched by a sterling cast, including; Ernest Thesiger, Cedric Hardwicke & Ralph Richardson and marvellously atmospheric gothic sets and chiaroscuro cinematography. Watching it is like seeing a H.P. Lovecraft story come to life. I even found the expected comic relief moments (from endearingly ditzy Kathleen Harrison) to be unusually entertaining. There's also a great twist ending for good measure. Something of a minor masterpiece, imo, and more than worth the wait!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, January 07, 2013 - 02:42 am:   

'Mausoleum' (1983) by Michael Dugan was an enjoyably OTT tale of demonic possession with highly charged erotic overtones in a domestic setting that starred the indescribably gorgeous former Playboy Bunny, Bobbie Bresee. I thought I had seen this before, back in the day, but not one scene was familiar so I guess it was some other schlock horror video nasty I was thinking of. An above the run of the mill supernatural shocker, for this kind of fare, with the look and feel of a Lucio Fulci film, several memorable death scenes, a half decent plot involving a family curse that dooms the first born woman of the Nomad family to possession by their resident demon and typically gruesome 80s animatronic special effects and make-up. And, yes, there's even the requisite final shock scene that makes no sense whatsoever. Hardly classic material but an entertainingly nostalgic reminder of more innocent times - when video was king.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, January 07, 2013 - 02:59 pm:   

'Dumplings' (2005) by Fruit Chan was a beautifully made and performed insight into perhaps the most disturbing aspect of modern Chinese society - the one child per family policy and how it has affected moral values regarding abortion and the preference for a male child over a female. I found it an utterly engrossing slow burning chiller with a refreshingly anarchic feminist slant that says much for the famed stoicism of Asian women juxtaposed against the corrupting western influence of body image and what is deemed "beautiful". The plot involves a famous film actress who is losing her looks and the love of her husband making a Faustian pact with a deceptively youthful backstreet abortionist called Auntie Mei (a perfectly nuanced villainous performance by Bai Ling) that involves a strict diet of her rather special dumplings. Their secret ingredient is made evident from the off and unsettled this particular westerner with its hints at purportedly traditional Chinese attitudes to cannibalism... A truly shuddersome grand guignol classic like something out of 'The Pan Books Of Horror' series at its most grotesque. Chan's finely choreographed and deliberate pacing, exquisite use of colour and compositional sense makes every scene shine with a Kubrickian light. I loved it!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - 01:37 pm:   

'The Little Shop Of Horrors' (1960) by Roger Corman is an inoffensive and fairly entertaining horror comedy with a memorable central premise involving a talking plant, called Audrey Jnr, that eats people. It just falls short of its claimed "classic" status due to the distracting amateurishness of the production (famously shot in two days) but still demands respect and affection for the fact that Corman made it as fun as it is under the circumstances. The film is mainly noteworthy for the introduction of Jack Nicholson in a short dentist's scene that showcased his demented on-screen persona for the first time. Watching workmanlike early Corman efforts like this makes it hard to believe that he would achieve any kind of critical acclaim as a director yet we have his Poe adaptations to prove that sometimes a sow's ear can make a great silk purse.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.37.199.45
Posted on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - 02:04 pm:   

True... but it's Corman's most famous film by a long margin, and what may surprise many people is that he didn't go on to make lots of similar films.

My favourite Corman film is The Tomb of Ligeia – Price before the madness became parody.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.239.243.142
Posted on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - 04:34 pm:   

I thought Nicholson's first film for Corman was the raven...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - 05:40 pm:   

'The Tomb Of Ligeia' is my pick of the bunch too, Joel. It benefits greatly from being the only one shot on location outdoors in the English countryside and, for me, is the most visually striking of the series. It has more the look of a Hammer Horror than any of the other Poes.

Nicholson also appeared in the Corman horrors 'The Raven' & 'The Terror' (both 1963), Weber.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2013 - 04:51 pm:   

Far more deserving of its fame and successful as a horror comedy is Frank Henenlotter's 'Basket Case' (1982). Many's the genre movie that has been hailed as "seminal" only to underwhelm on actually viewing it (as Corman's ABOB & TLSOH amply demonstrate) but this bizarre concoction of gross out bad taste and sicko humour really is the cult masterpiece its reputation implies. First time director, Henenlotter, launched himself into underground legend status overnight with this incendiary bomb of off-the-cuff, anything goes, zero budget filmmaking. Filmed grittily on location in the mean streets of New York at its sleaziest this tale of homicidal siamese twins, Duane & Belial Bradley, bloodily separated against their wishes by a trio of backstreet doctors, whom they seek ghastly revenge on, one-by-one, comes across like Martin Scorsese having a nightmarish bad trip on an overdose of LSD while watching a Tom & Jerry cartoon. It is one of the most sensationally original, gruesomely memorable and relentlessly hilarious blackest of jet black horror comedies ever made - coming from the golden era of such films, the 1980s. Think early Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson and this guy is their spiritual leader. Every second, every ridiculous element of the movie is judged to perfection. The instantly iconic animatronic/stop frame animated physical monstrosity, that is Belial, is perhaps the most memorable new screen monster since Frankenstein's creature and its trademark sequences of face-ripping bloody murder, that invariably follow each asking of "what's in the basket?", are amongst the most genuinely chilling and bizarre horror set pieces of the time. But it is in the remarkably affecting performance of Kevin Van Hentenryck as "the normal looking one", Duane, who leads a tortured existence of telepathically linked blood loyalty to his pitifully deformed sibling and the wish to be rid of him and join the rest of the human race as a truly "normal" individual that the film really rises above its schlock horror ambitions to become something unexpectedly special. The visually spot-on casting of lowlife unknowns in all the supporting roles only adds an extra layer of documentary realism to the magical mix. A one-off miracle of cinematic DIY to be cherished for all time! After loving this all over again I decided to watch the rest of the trilogy for the first time over the next couple of DVD nights; 'Basket Case II' (1990) & 'Basket Case III : The Progeny' (1991) - both directed by Henenlotter with the same creative team and continuing the story of the Bradley twins exactly where this one leaves off...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2013 - 06:42 pm:   

And that triple bill was memorably concluded by my first viewing of Henry Selick's stop-motion animated horror/fantasy for children, 'Coraline' (2009), based on the acclaimed book by Neil Gaiman. If ever a film had "timeless classic" written all over it then it is this marvellously unsettling ode to the kind of beguilingly odd childhood nightmares perfected by the likes of Roald Dahl or Dr Seuss. I would put it on a par with Selick's own 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (1993) or the earlier surreal classics; 'Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory' (1971) or 'The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr T' (1953) - yes, that special and that curiously disturbing in its ominously moralising tone! What impressed and surprised me most is just how closely the film follows the accepted conventions of adult horror cinema. We have the innocent family moving into an outwardly idyllic new home in the country that hides a terrible secret, we have the undermining of the nuclear family ideal by replacement with "just that little bit wrong" duplicates, we have the seduction of an innocent by evil masquerading as something wondrous and good, we have the running to friends for help who turn out to be in on it as well, and, action wise, there is even the climactic battle with the monster revealed followed by the final shock of it jumping up again, just when you thought it was safe to breathe easy, etc... Proof positive that Selick & Gaiman know their onions and would seem determined to bring the joys of the horror genre to a whole new generation of bright-eyed little darlings who need to be taught the meaning of fear. A really wonderful, beautifully animated and visually spectacular kids movie for all ages that breaks every rule in the book and gets away with it. There is cinema magic in every stopped frame!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2013 - 08:44 pm:   

Enjoyed two triple bills last weekend:

'Revolt Of The Zombies' (1936) by Victor Halperin.
'Basket Case II' (1990) by Frank Henenlotter.
'Reincarnation' (2005) by Takashi Shimizu.

&

'Shock' (1946) by Alfred L. Werker.
'Basket Case III : The Progeny' (1991) by Frank Henenlotter.
'The Ninth Gate' (1999) by Roman Polanski.

And have picked out for this weekend:

'Scared To Death' (1947) by Christy Cabanne.
'Drive In Massacre' (1977) by Stuart Segall.
'The Eye' (2002) by Oxide & Danny Pang.

Thank God for DVDs in January!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, January 18, 2013 - 12:22 pm:   

'Revolt Of The Zombies' (1936) by Victor Halperin is one of those influential horror films that has a brilliant premise but is fatally let down by a lacklustre treatment and deadly slow story development. Billed as a sequel to Halperin's marvellous 'White Zombie' (1932) this film is as dull and uninspired as that gem was groundbreaking - apart from the plot. Set during World War I it posits the idea of the Allied Forces having to face legions of drugged zombie soldiers who feel no pain, exhibit inhuman strength and stamina and obey orders without question or regard for their own safety, making this the great granddaddy of all those Nazi zombie stories that followed. A scientific expedition is sent into the jungle to track down the source of the zombifying drug and from there all interest evaporates as the story degenerates into a painfully melodramatic love triangle story that sees one of the boffins tempted to use the potion to win the affection of his unrequited love. It ends badly for him and not a minute too soon. More interesting than good this is just about watchable and would seem to indicate that Halperin's success with his first zombie flick was something of a fluke helped no end by the presence of Bela Lugosi and those sets and the atmospheric cinematography. Even the iconic zombie make-up, so effective in WZ, is non-existent here. Very poor and ripe for a remake to do the premise justice, imo.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, January 18, 2013 - 12:56 pm:   

'Basket Case II' (1990) by Frank Henenlotter is another matter altogether. This is a sequel to what was deemed a one-off seminal classic that common sense would indicate should never have been made but that somehow manages to be every bit as inspired and insanely entertaining as the original, imho. Henenlotter ups the gross out comedy quotient by introducing a plethora of other freaks to join Belial in his crusade against the "normals". Having escaped from the hospital, following their fall at the end of 'Basket Case', Duane & Belial are taken in by the disturbingly chirpy Granny Ruth (a brilliant off-the-wall performance by Annie Ross), who runs a private home for "unique individuals", and for a time find peace and acceptance. The make-up and animatronic effects that bring this monstrous family to life are hilariously OTT, really having to be seen to be believed, and come across like a less po-faced and infinitely more entertaining attempt to outdo Clive Barker's 'Nightbreed', released the same year. If broad laughs were all this film was about it would pale beside the director's earlier work but he injects the same level of pathos, with Kevin Van Hentenryck again outstanding as Duane, and shows himself to be a master of horror/suspense in the unforgettably frightening sequences (the bar room scene is a macabre masterpiece) in which the freaks track down and snuff out those dogged investigators who refuse to let the story of the murderous Bradley twins lie and would disrupt their happy home. Obviously intended as a tribute to Tod Browning's 'Freaks' (1932) this brilliantly funny, quirkily disturbing, gruesome and scary horror gem is another bona-fide black comedy classic from the mind of a complete nutcase and deserves to be every bit as venerated as the film that preceded it. Belial was too memorable a screen monster to languish in one motion picture and Henenlotter not only did him proud in this follow-up but created a bestiary of playmates for him that deserve their place in the Horror Hall of Fame. Bonkers and utterly brilliant!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2013 - 03:00 pm:   

Already onto my second triple bill of the weekend:

'This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse' (1967) by José Mojica Marins - Coffin Joe returns from the dead, apparently, in Marin's second horror opus.

'Cat In The Brain' (1990) by Lucio Fulci - the maestro's last film in which he stars as himself!

'The Eye II' (2004) by Oxide & Danny Pang - decided to watch the complete trilogy for the first time.

This is becoming quite addictive...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.230.129
Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2013 - 04:21 pm:   

The martin film is as good as the first. The Fulci is poor indeed. The opening sequence of cat in the brain turned my stomach rather than disturbing me in any enjoyable way and the rest of the film is just tedious. I don't know about the Eye 2. But the first is very good and creepy.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - 05:44 pm:   

'Reincarnation' (2005) by Takashi Shimizu has, in my view, confirmed the man as one of modern cinema's great horror auteurs. This is one of the most intelligent and original ghost stories of recent years that manages to reference Kubrick's 'The Shining', quite shamelessly, while remaining very much its own beast. The plot involves a renowned Japanese horror director deciding to make a film based on a notorious mass killing that occurred 35 years before in a remote luxury hotel and to film it in the self same and long abandoned hotel. The circumstances of the bloodbath, in which 11 people were randomly butchered throughout the building by a killer who filmed his work as he went about it, was never satisfactorily explained and this is to be the director’s own take on the mystery. A nervous young acting student is given her first big break when she is cast as the “virginal final victim”, and focal character of the movie, but the more she studies her part, and the facts of the case, the more she is haunted by strange sensations of not being alone and begins to have eerie visions of what appear to be the original victims. Having relocated to the hotel for the final shoot all hell breaks loose as past and present begin to merge and each of the murders is replayed with the modern counterpoints of the slaughtered taking centre stage, one-by-one, for their big close-up. A fascinating hybrid of traditional ghost story, slasher movie and whodunit that merges ‘The Shining’ with ‘Peeping Tom’ and ‘Ten Little Niggers’ to brilliant effect and plays with viewer expectations of each sub-genre quite masterfully. The film also features the most frightening animated doll I can recall and culminates in one of the scariest sequences I have ever seen. Notch this up as another modern horror masterwork for Mr Shimizu to go alongside both original ‘Grudge’ movies (2002-03) and his greatest film, ‘Marebito’ (2004) - see above.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 11:31 am:   

'Shock' (1946) by Alfred L. Werker was an excellent little noir thriller entirely typical of the time and boasting a memorably tortured performance by Vincent Price, in, I believe, his first horror role, as a homicidal psychiatrist who runs a private home for the criminally insane in which he holds a young woman, suffering from shock, captive - by convincing everyone, even her loved ones, that she is insane. His motive is that she was the sole witness to his bludgeoning to death of his wife (hence the shock) but, as we all know, most mental patients are convinced their doctor is out to get them, so who's gonna believe her... A modest Hitchcockian psychological horror/thriller with a great premise and suspenseful narrative that stands as a fine example of the kind of movie they just don't make anymore. Well worth seeking out.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 11:57 am:   

I bet you were all thinking 'Basket Case III : The Progeny' (1991) by Frank Henenlotter was bound to be a letdown (I know I did) but, miraculously, it provides a near perfect conclusion to the trilogy. Upping the madcap mayhem, yet again, to memorably ridiculous levels, including a hilarious song and dance routine by Granny Ruth & her family of human monstrosities, this film is just too marvellously OTT to be anything other than an absolute riot, imho. We have Belial getting hitched to his perfect and equally repulsive mate, Eve, and spawning, not one, but TWELVE carnivorous mini-Belials who are so irresistibly cute they really should have released little animatronic dolls of them. This heartwarming love story soon turns to tragedy when the bigoted "normals" brutally slay Eve as an abomination and take the wailing children into captivity... you can guess the rest, and it's a suitably gruesome revenge involving some of the most imaginative death scenes of the entire series. I would rank the 'Basket Case' trilogy as the finest and funniest and most deranged horror/comedy franchise of all time and only wish Henenlotter hadn't hung up his directorial coat having completed it. All three films are as essential an addition to anyone's Horror DVD library as 'The Exorcist', 'Rosemary's Baby', 'The Shining' or any other horror masterpiece ever made. And I'm not taking the piss!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 12:35 pm:   

Fourteen years after first seeing it in the cinema, and thinking it was just okay, I decided it was time for a reappraisal of Roman Polanski's much heralded return to the horror genre, 'The Ninth Gate' (1999). I am pleased to say that I was far more impressed this time around and would now rank it as the beginning of his late period resurgence that led to such career highpoints as 'The Pianist' (2002) & 'The Ghost' (2010). More of a knowingly witty slow burning mystery thriller set in the world of devil worship and the supernatural than an out-and-out horror movie the film impresses by its intricate attention to detail and the straight-faced commitment of the excellent cast. Watched more carefully I became aware of beautifully underplayed Lovecraftian layers of subtlety in the plot (typical of Polanski) and was able to work out the exact nature of Lena Olin's "mystery woman" character - no doubt she is Boris Balkan's demonic "cat familiar" in human form which explains her joy at attaining her freedom at the end - while the black comedy elements, once one realises the director's tongue is set firmly in his cheek (after all, the plot is ridiculous), weren't anywhere near as jarring as I had originally thought. Overall I'd rank this as one of the most refreshingly odd and atmospheric adult horror movies of the last 20 years that, I imagine, will continue to grow in stature with time. It's nowhere near the level of 'Rosemary's Baby' or 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' but is at least as impressive as 'The Tenant' and possibly even better. Fair play to him for not taking the easy option when he decided to try his hand at horror again. A very fine and under-appreciated occult conspiracy thriller that rewards repeat viewings.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 12:55 pm:   

Meanwhile 'Scared To Death' (1947) by Christy Cabanne (reputedly one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood history) is - I kid you not - the single worst film of any kind I ever had the misfortune to sit through. It lasts barely over an hour but every second felt like having hot peppers, sand and bleach rubbed into my eyeballs [spot the reference]. Starring poor Bela Lugosi, who wanders through the picture looking like he wants someone to shoot him, this pile of steaming shite is completely devoid of any merit. Okay, it has some mild curiosity value for being made in colour but that only serves to make Lugosi's drooping blue eyes look all the more forelorn. The plot (if there is one?) makes no sense whatsoever, the acting is jaw-droppingly atrocious, the direction as flat as month old cola and the "action" drags abominably through sets that look about to collapse at any moment. Think a horror version of 'Acorn Antiques' without the laughs and you'll have some idea why I now rank this picture as the WORST HORROR FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN!! Nothing else comes close... the Unholy Grail of bad cinema has been found, folks. I've seen porn movies made with more professionalism than this crap! It makes Edward D. Wood Jr look like a visionary genius and the works of Bruno Mattei seem Kubrickian masterpieces by comparison! I'd tell you to watch it to see for yourselves but I wouldn't be that cruel. Pure bollocks!! Poor, poor Bela.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 02:56 pm:   

Hmmm... did I say nothing comes close? 'Drive In Massacre' (1977) by former porn director, Stuart Segall, makes a decent fist of trying to oust 'Scared To Death' from its pit of ignominy, and send me screaming into psychsomatic blindness at the same time, but can't quite hack it. A couple of half decent decapitation scenes rescue this mutant turkey from complete worthlessness, but only just. Night after night some maniac is slicing up wooden teenagers at a drive in cinema park with an oriental sword and no one has the sense to close the bloody place down! Pure drivel with the weakest supposedly shock punchline in horror cinema history. You have been warned...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 04:43 pm:   

Thankfully my sanity was rescued at the end of that traumatic night but another slice of quality horror from the Orient. 'The Eye' (2002) by the Pang Brothers (Oxide & Danny) is fully deserving of its reputation as one of the highpoints of the recent Asian Horror boom. Another marvellously scary traditional ghost story that takes the old 'Hands Of Orlac'/'Eyes Of Laura Mars' haunted transplant premise and perfects it into one of the most effective horror films you are ever likely to see. A young woman, blind from infancy, is given eye transplants from an unknown donor and soon after begins to "see dead people" everywhere. Undeniably reminiscent of 'The Sixth Sense' (1999) this paranormal shocker nevertheless beats that overrated Hollywood bunkum into a cocked hat, not only with its "Fuck me!" frightening set pieces, but by having a far superior twist that the filmmakers were brave enough to reveal at two thirds through and which completely alters the meaning of the film and sets the stricken lead character off on a journey of discovery that will lead either to redemption or disaster. A model of pacing the story moves toward its spectacular denouement with a disquieting and ultimately moving sense of implacable doom that only Asian horror directors seem to know how to achieve these days. Every bit the chilling masterpiece it as hailed as and boasting some of the most iconic horror moments of recent years I would challenge any subtitles-shy horror fan not to be impressed!

After that reprieve from the doldrums I've decided to watch the rest of the trilogy for the first time; 'The Eye II' (2004) & 'The Eye III : Infinity' (2005) both also directed by the highly talented Pang Brothers.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013 - 11:53 am:   

Selected for my next triple bill:

'The Wolf Man' (1941) by George Waggner - my favourite Universal monster in a film that scared the crap out of me as a kid and I haven't seen it since!

'I Spit On Your Grave' (1978) by Meir Zarchi - one of those infamous video nasties that has always passed me by all these years. Finally gonna see it and make my own mind up.

'The Eye III : Infinity' (2005) by Oxide & Danny Pang - fingers crossed the quality continues in this conclusion to the trilogy.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013 - 12:24 pm:   

'This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse' (1967) by José Mojica Marins is only marginally more assured a directorial effort than Coffin Joe's first outing, 'At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul' (1963) - see above. It has the same weird compulsion to it and visually imaginative sequences, in particular the colour nightmare sequence in which Joe is dragged down to Hell, but the general cheapness and unprofessionalism, one might even say naffness, that is evident throughout the film still hampers the viewer's enjoyment of this reputed "cult classic". There is, however, just enough evidence of Marins increasing confidence as a filmmaker to bode well for his later movies. Here's hoping. The story, what there is of it, involves Coffin Joe kidnapping a number of busty beauties and frightening them out of their wits in an attempt to find a fearless "perfect woman" to be the mother of his child and give him the "immortality" of a blood heir. Those who fail his tests are brutally tortured to death. The character is an oddly memorable one but in these first two films we have yet to see him truly shine.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013 - 03:55 pm:   

And so to one of the most baffling horror films I've ever seen; 'Cat In The Brain' (1990) by Lucio Fulci. Note: I said baffling, not bad. The undisputed maestro of Italian splatter horror (how I love him) chose (whether intentionally or not) to bow out with the most self-referential work of cinema that has possibly ever been made. Casting himself as the star, and himself, Fulci comes across as a likeably befuddled everyman character and not at all the horned demon my imagination had conjured of him. His performance makes the show, as I found it, utterly hilarious. The man portrays himself as an unwilling purveyor of video nasty fodder - "but if I made films about love who would buy a ticket?" - who finds himself losing his mind and suffering all manner of graphically violent hallucinations, culled, as cunningly inserted clips, from his back catalogue. Seeking psychiatric help he has the misfortune to get lumbered with a doctor who just happens to be a misogynistic homicidal psychopath who hypnotises Fulci into believing that he is responsible for the mad doctor's crimes. I swear I'm not making this up. Indescribably bloody mayhem ensues with some of the most sickeningly OTT sequences the great man has ever delivered - but always with a knowing twinkle in his eye. It's a minor Fulci that will really only appeal to those diehard fans (like myself) who followed his demented career with slavish adoration - and who will get all the in-jokes - but as a final film it couldn't have been more unexpectedly charming in its utter self-deprecation. After watching this insane final opus the man has grown into an admirable and unexpectedly loveable human being, in my consciousness, rather than just one of the most talented and original horror auteurs who has ever lived. The final scene as he sails merrily off into the sunset while baiting fishing hooks with human fingers says it all really... Lucio, I salute you!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2013 - 12:37 pm:   

It is my pleasure to report that 'The Eye II' (2004) by Oxide & Danny Pang is every bit as well made and frightening as the first film. If there is anything wrong with the movie it is the title as the events, characters and location share nothing in common with what went before. This film is effective and different enough to have been given an original title all its own. The only similarity is that we have another young woman, this time through a failed suicide attempt while pregnant, who is given the gift/curse of being able to see ghosts, and one hollow-eyed, scary spectre of an older woman in particular, who shadows her every move. The original twist here is that, according to the Buddhist guru figure she approaches for help, rather than turning to psychiatry as in 'The Eye', all pregnant women are followed by a spirit who is waiting to inhabit their child at the moment of birth! There follows a quest through the nine months of her pregnancy, with the ghostly manifestations becoming ever more threatening in nature the closer she gets to her date, to discover the identity of the leering woman who would be her child. Again the pacing is a model of gradually escalating suspense with shock revelations revealed at just the right moments to ratchet up the fear levels, until, when her waters break, the full horror of her situation is revealed. This is the best film to play upon a pregnant woman's horror of the alien being growing within her that I have seen since 'Rosemary's Baby' and, like that film, the feeling of impending doom is laced with a deliciously subtle strand of knowing black humour. Every woman's worst nightmare this is yet another masterful chiller from the Orient that puts western horror cinema of recent years to shame. Here's hoping the Pang's third entry in the series continues at this level of quality...
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.26.73
Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2013 - 01:27 pm:   

I once met Fulci, Stevie, and thought he was great fun and quite crazy.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2013 - 03:39 pm:   

His sense of fun comes across strongly in the film, Ramsey. I'd say 'Cat In The Brain', with its insights into the man behind the horror, redefines the way his earlier films should be viewed. There is self-deprecating black humour aplenty in all his works. He was the Hitchcock of cheap nasty horror and we shall ne'er see his like again. To think you actually met him!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, January 28, 2013 - 12:05 am:   

That was an excellent triple bill and got my next one picked out:

'The Reptile' (1966) by John Gilling - haven't seen it since my teens and it has long been one of my favourite Hammer Horrors.

'Cannibal Ferox' (1982) by Umberto Lenzi - another notorious and long banned video nasty I've never seen before. Gotta love those Italians!

'The Addiction' (1995) by Abel Ferrara - a return to the horror genre for Ferrara with Christopher Walken as a vampire. Should be interesting.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.30.204.87
Posted on Monday, January 28, 2013 - 09:06 am:   

'The Addiction' is very good, Stevie. Enjoy!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 01:17 pm:   

'The Wolf Man' (1941) by George Waggner was a pure joy to experience again after all these years. A warm glow of nostalgia settled over me as I watched it. There is the essence of fairy-tale about this film that none of the other Universal Horrors really shared. The plot is a mythic tragedy, beautiful in its simplicity, of an innocent man attaining a glimpse of love and a good life for himself only to have it cruelly snatched away, before his very eyes, by the vagaries of fate. It is ironic that Larry Talbot's downfall comes from performing a heroic deed and that nothing in his character shows him as any way deserving of the horrors that descend. In that respect the movie chimes perfectly with the noirish sensibilities of the day. Bad things happen to good people and we'd better get used to it. The strengths of the film lie in the unusually literate quality of the script ("Even a man who is pure at heart, and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the moon is full and bright."), the wonderful support cast (Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Bela Lugosi, Maria Ouspenskaya, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles), the typically atmospheric sets and cinematography, the iconic make-up (clearly inspired by those old photos of dog boys so beloved of us Forteans) and in Lon Chaney Jr's painfully sympathetic portrayal of the doomed hero - bewildered, angry, ashamed and horrified by what has befallen him. It's not quite up to the standard of James Whale's masterpieces due to rather pedestrian direction but if ever there was a movie that is more than the sum of its parts then it's this one. A real gem I could never grow tired of watching and still one of the best werewolf films ever made.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.37.199.45
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 01:25 pm:   

Nice film, yes. The werewolf theme is underused in horror films because it's harder work in costume and FX terms than vampires or zombies. Yet it's one of the most powerful weird metaphors we have. I think the way to go is to splice real wolf footage into a human story and not show any encounters between people and wolves – just the carnage the wolves leave behind. Has anyone tried that?
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.37.199.45
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 01:26 pm:   

And am I the only person who finds the cartoon 'It's the Wolf' frightening?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 212.140.118.61
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 02:28 pm:   

The werewolf was one of my favourite characters. In fact, I know it's common that children love these Universal monsters; there's something that echoes the fears they have of growing up, not fitting in, feeling alone and misunderstood. I remember seeing Frankenstein for the first time and crying all the way through it, and Bride. The moment when Karloff reaches for the mysterious light really affected me in a massive way.

One day these monsters will be on Tarot decks, or taken in philosophy as archetypes, as Batman or Superman might be. I know for a fact that Godzilla to us (me?) is the spirit of earth. It's why we all love him, despite his actions.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 02:56 pm:   

It is an ambition of mine to collect all the Universal Horrors, even the later loveably naff ones, and watch them all in order. Then I'd finish with 'Young Frankenstein'!

Kind of tying in with this I was overjoyed to acquire the complete DVD collections of the original 'Addams Family' & 'The Munsters' last night - at a ridiculously low price. That's me a happy chappie for the next few months.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 212.140.118.61
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 03:34 pm:   

You can get all the universal in one box, Stevie. It's a great set.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 212.140.118.61
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 03:36 pm:   

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_18?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywo rds=universal+monsters+collection&sprefix=universal+monsters%2Cdvd%2C173
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 04:39 pm:   

Thanks, Tony.

I've already bought a load of them individually. Same with the Hammers.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 1.169.131.90
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 04:51 pm:   

I've got that Universal Monsters box set - it's lovely. I wonder if they'll release the Val Lewton set in blu-ray.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2013 - 05:44 pm:   

And now we step from the comforting world of Universal monsters into the shocking 70s. I've long wanted to see 'I Spit On Your Grave' (1978) by Meir Zarchi but was rather worried it might turn out to be a load of old rubbish. I was actually really surprised at just how well made it was and enjoyed it as a typically brutal 70s revenge thriller with a starkly immoral moral message of the kind I grew up reading in the Pan Horrors. In that respect it bears direct comparison with the likes of; 'The Last House On The Left' (1972), 'Chato's Land' (1972), 'Death Wish' (1974), 'Night Train Murders' (1975) & 'Ms 45' (1981) and was very much a product of its time.

The film is very well crafted, with a fine build-up of suspense in the early scenes of idyllic comfort in a beautiful country retreat that is subtly invaded by ominous intrusions from the outside world. That passing speed-boat becomes as threatening as a shark fin. This is followed by a harrowingly graphic extended gang rape sequence that is in no way tittilating and puts you squarely in the poor girl's position. Her terror is tangible and can't fail to communicate itself to the audience. The sexual violence is played dead straight and made more disturbing by the neanderthal baying and whooping of the three men and their egging on of a mentally retarded idiot to join in the "fun". Anyone who gets a voyeuristic kick out of these scenes should not be walking the streets but the filmmakers were justified in showing them to drive home to the viewer the full horror of what rape victims go through!

There then follows an oddly haunting passage, in the weeks that follow the attack, with the girl slowly pulling herself back to "rationality" from a state of profound shock and the four culprits beginning to sweat as the fear of being caught sinks in. What will each of them do? And then we have the expected pay-off as, after a visit to church asking God to forgive her, our heroine sets about luring the four back to her, one-by-one, with the promise of more "sex", as she so enjoyed their last visit, and executes them with ice cold detachment. The murders are well staged and as disturbing as the rape, showing just how fractured her psyche was left by the ordeal. One particularly disturbing sequence is her use of real sex and choking to make one of the men come, when he had been incapable during the rape. It is the last thing his twitching corpse does. But that ultimate humiliation is as nothing compared to what happens the ringleader. The infamous castration in the bath sequence is very well handled and works as a feminist inversion of the shower scene in 'Psycho'. As she locks him in and calmly goes downstairs to listen to loud music while he bangs on the door screaming about not being able to stop the bleeding I felt my skin crawl at the thought of what he was suffering. The one glimpse we get afterward of the bleached white and blood drenched corpse frozen in a contortion of agony is the very essence of horror. Finally the phallic symbol of the rearing speed-boat is turned against the remaining two bastards in a satisfyingly tense and bloody action sequence that closes the film. And we are left to ponder the indomitable strength of womankind and the sickening weakness of so-called men who let their dicks rule their brains and their souls. An unfairly lambasted minor classic of exploitation cinema, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2013 - 12:09 pm:   

Having scared us witless with the first two movies in 'The Eye' series the Pang Brothers decided to pull the rug out completely from under us with this third entry by tickling our funny bones instead! 'The Eye III : Infinity' (2005) may just be one of the most inspired and outrageously entertaining black comedy horror films I have seen. It certainly shows they have a refreshingly madcap and surprisingly lavatorial sense of humour in Hong Kong. For anyone craving more of the creepy atmospherics and terrifying jump moments that graced the first two films they will no doubt be frustrated and disappointed with this final part of the trilogy. Rarely have I seen a franchise film so, it would seem, wilfully designed to divide its hard won audience. For me, that demonstrates artistic bravery and a refusal to rest on their laurels that more than backs up the filmmakers' huge talent.

First up, this is a portmanteau horror played strictly for nervous belly laughs. The tone is broadly or, one might say, disturbingly comedic right from the off and put me in mind of nothing more than 'The League Of Gentlemen' with its fractured story told within a sketch show format and the concentration on grotesque characters and absurd visual jokes... that leave an oddly unsettling afertaste.

A group of hip and stridently modern young goofball idiots (nice dig at Hollywood horror) from Hong Kong go holidaying in superstitious Thailand and one of them acquires a dusty old book from a backstreet second hand shop - run by a Thai version of Peter Cushing in 'From Beyond The Grave' - entitled, "10 Ways To See A Ghost". Later that night, bored and giggling, they decide to challenge each other to attempt them. The first two methods; [1] Receive the transplanted eyes of a suicide victim, [2] Attempt suicide while pregnant, remind them of recently heard stories from back home - leading to a brief recap of 'The Eye' & 'The Eye II' - and so they proceed to attempt the following eight methods; [3] Call a spirit using a ouija board and trap it in the spirit glass, [4] Take a rice bowl to a crossroads at midnight and tap on it with chopsticks until a hungry ghost appears wanting fed, [5] Play hide-and-seek with the seeker carrying a black cat and a ghost will join the game, [6] Rub graveyard dirt over the eyes and then open them at midnight, [7] Comb your hair while looking in a mirror at midnight to see a ghost in the reflection, [8] Open an umbrella indoors - ghosts hate that, [9] Bend down and look through your legs to see a ghost standing behind you & [10] Go to sleep in your burial clothes (an Asian custom) and you will awaken in the spirit world.

You can guess the rest... but perhaps not how insanely funny the results are. Among other Monty Pythonish delights we get to see the sad aftermath of urinating on a grave, a hilarious possessed breakdancing contest, a haunting by basketball, a manic phobia of umbrellas, the discovery that farts "kill" ghosts but what happens when the gas runs out and why never to leave a ghost hungry, etc... One of those films you just have to tune into and go along for the ride. I loved it!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2013 - 12:16 pm:   

That was one of my more successful triple bills. From the warm nostalgia and romantic tragedy of 'The Wolf Man' to the viscerally challenging shocks of 'I Spit On Your Grave' and the jaw-dropping perversity of the Pangs' hilarious demolition of 'The Eye Trilogy'. Great stuff!
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.26.19
Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2013 - 12:16 pm:   

I'm with you on I Spit on Your Grave, Stevie.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2013 - 12:32 pm:   

I haven't thought about 'It's The Wolf' since I was a kid, Joel, and can only remember the look of that bloody Lambsy. A cartoon character even more insufferable than Roadrunner or that frickin' pigeon! That's decided me on lamb chops for dinner today.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 31.54.13.14
Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2013 - 02:09 pm:   

Rec 3 does the same thing, changing the tone completely from the previous 2. Excellent film, just not the shit-scary claustrophic nightmare that the previous 2 entries were. Lots of knockabout humour, including taking the piss out of the whole found footage "why are they still filming" problem.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, February 04, 2013 - 01:22 pm:   

'The Reptile' (1966) by John Gilling stands up as one of the finest gothic horrors of Hammer's classic period and one of the most entertaining and atmospheric twists on the lycanthropy theme ever made. Everything about the film works perfectly. The brilliantly staged opening death sequence and its aftermath of hushed mutterings about "there's been another one" and "the black death" leads us to the arrival of your typical naive newlyweds from the big city who ill-advisedly plan to set up home in the bleakly forbidding Cornish setting with its surly, unwelcoming locals (ala 'Straw Dogs', 'An American Werewolf In London', etc) and aren't even put off by John Laurie's cries of, "We're all doomed, doomed I tell ye!", as Mad Peter - a wonderful eye-rolling performance I feel sure acquired him the part of Frazer in 'Dad's Army' two years later [watch the hilarious horror episode "Things That Go Bump In The Night" {Series 6, Episode 6, 1973} to see what I mean]. Where was I?

More killings follow, each preceded by the sound of weirdly lilting music with an Eastern flavour wafting through the night ("Hush, can ye hear them laddie? Death be in the air!"), the victims found black of face and foaming at the mouth with a look of unutterable terror in their eyes. But our stubborn couple adamantly refuse to be scared out of their dream cottage. Even though their sinister becaped neighbour, Dr Franklyn, who lives in glowering isolation with his stone-faced Indian manservant in a gothic mansion on the moors, would seem to know more about the "black death" than he is letting on. But, then we are introduced to his young, fresh faced and sweetly angelic daughter, Anna, who welcomes the newcomers with flowers and an invite to dinner, and she couldn't possibly have anything to do with all those ghastly murders, could she...?

As I said everything about the film is a pure joy with the iconic make-up effects - revealed in one of horror cinema's great shock moments - providing the pièce de résistance. They nicked the plot from Bram Stoker's 'The Lair Of The White Worm' (kind of) but the atmosphere, pacing, sets, the wonderfully earnest performances, spine-tingling suspense, and memorable scares make this unassuming mini-masterpiece, made as an aside from the studio's more famous monster series, one to unashamedly wallow in and watch over and over again with satisfaction guaranteed. In my book this is one of the most beautifully cliched horror narratives ever filmed. Quite wonderful!
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 1.169.136.88
Posted on Monday, February 04, 2013 - 06:07 pm:   

I'm very fond of The Reptile too, Stevie. One of my favourite Hammers!
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.182.25.143
Posted on Monday, February 04, 2013 - 08:09 pm:   

I like THE REPTILE - always think of it in an imaginary double bill with THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES, another Hammer favourite from the 'sixties!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 31.115.128.23
Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2013 - 10:23 am:   

What was the print like? Ours is awful. Filmed in shades of pale grey.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2013 - 11:18 am:   

It looked exactly the way I remember it from TV, Tony, if not better. However, I didn't recall the scene in which Anna sheds her skin, to her father's horror. It was one of the most memorably macabre moments of the film. Maybe it was cut for telly or I was out making tea at the time?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2013 - 12:37 pm:   

'Cannibal Ferox' (1981) by Umberto Lenzi comes across as a shameless rip-off of Deodato's masterful 'Cannibal Holocaust' (1980) and, as with that film, benefits greatly from having been shot on location in the Amazon. I make no bones about finding these jungle adventure horrors wildly entertaining, for all their nihilistic brutality. Watching them is like experiencing a XXX-rated Tarzan movie of the kind I loved as child. Nothing is spared the viewer. Our senses are assailed by graphic scenes of torture and cannibalism, involving; eye-gougings, disembowellings, raw brain scoopings, roasting on spits, genitals being hacked or eaten off, etc, etc... and all that lovely scenery and wildlife, that prove as deadly as the natives. EG: one of the characters here, having escaped the cooking pot, is munched to bits by piranha instead - and with jaguars, snakes, monstrous spiders, swamps, rapids and all those wonderfully ingenious native deathtraps, what's not to like! See; 'Deep River Savages' (1972), 'Last Cannibal World' (1977), 'Mountain Of The Cannibal God' (1978) & 'Eaten Alive' (1980) for more of the same.

Interestingly, this one starts in the concrete jungle of New York, as a poliziotteschi crime thriller, with a drug deal gone wrong and a cold blooded Mafia execution. Italian horror veteran, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, gives one of his most fearsome performances as a small-time hoodlum and deranged coke addict who is forced to flee to South America with his partner in crime and there meets up with a party of three young people who are on a research trip aiming to refute the myth of cannibalism, for a thesis, by a trip up-river seeking a fabled lost tribe. When Radice hears local tales of a vast fortune in emeralds lying in the jungle he and his pal con their way along for the ride.

As with 'Cannibal Holocaust' the white characters turn out to be more vicious and calculatingly sadistic than the peace-loving natives they encounter, and proceed to rape and torture in their quest for the emerald riches. There is a self-serving morality, of a kind, to the tale with the "civilized" interlopers introducing barbarity to the Amazonian villagers and bringing a ghastly fate upon themselves that is, for the most part, richly deserved. It's hardly great filmmaking but the action never lets up and there is a refreshingly unpredictable pulp energy to the film that is hard to resist. I particularly liked the ironic twist ending with the students' thesis being cynically proved and the rewards accepted while their own corrupting influence had brought the cannibal myth into stark gut-wrenching reality. The film may leave a bad taste in the mouth with some but I really enjoyed it. And, for my next triple bill, I've got 'Cannibal Ferox II' (1985) to savour as well...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2013 - 05:44 pm:   

'The Addiction' (1995) by former splatter meister, Abel Ferrara, is a frustratingly odd yet beguiling avant-garde vampire movie that works like a weird melange of David Lynch, Jean Rollin & Woody Allen, without the laughs but with the angst intact!! Set in New York and atmospherically filmed in black and white it features an earnest young student of philosophy, Kathleen (Lili Taylor), embarking on a dark voyage of discovery when she is attacked walking home by a gothically dressed lady of the night and finds herself transformed into a blood craving member of the undead community, who secretly live amongst us, their cattle. The standard "bewildered new vampire learning the ropes" plot (familiar from 'Interview With The Vampire', 'Near Dark', 'Innocent Blood', etc) rolls out predictably enough from there but with the blood lust standing in as a rather obvious allegory for drug addiction and much beetle-browed concentration on the heroine's philosophical musings over the impossibility of defining good and evil (interspersed with footage of the Holocaust, Vietnam, etc), the irresistible cravings of the body versus the illusion of a higher soul, free will negating the concept of temptation, the acceptance of death as the final liberation and the concept of forgiveness and redemption as the ultimate lie religions use to keep us in servile fear and denial of our higher selves (this girl should meet Coffin Joe), etc, etc... The film has an unrelenting sombreness of tone that gets a bit wearing at times but our interest is kept going by the always effective fascination of watching an inherently good character succumb to the insatiable pleasures of the flesh and having to learn the tricks of the trade by a mixture of trial-and-error and seeking out those veteran "addicts" who walked the same path before her. There is a fantastic and deeply disturbing sequence at the heart of the picture in which she attempts to vampirise a black clad Christopher Walken up a dark alley and is taught a frightening lesson in respecting one's elders. The film comes alive during their confrontation and Walken's icy charisma fairly lights up the screen but the brilliance of his cameo only leaves one frustrated that his character never reappears. There are a number of other great horror set pieces in which the callousness of the addict, in doing anything and using anyone to get a fix, is successfully translated into increasingly vicious vampire attacks and the final orgy of bloodletting during Kathleen's graduation party is a nightmarish highpoint. But overall I don't think the film is anywhere near as clever as it thinks it is and could have done with an injection of humour, or even the odd smile, to ease the overwhelming gloom and avoid inevitable accusations of preciousness. It's still a refreshingly intelligent and serious adult horror movie made with style and substance but 'The Hunger' (1983) trod similar ground and was much more fun.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2013 - 05:30 pm:   

I've booked the rest of the week off to play with my new iPad. I'm in love and think I'll call her Imogen.

And for my next triple bill:

'House Of Wax' (1953) by André de Toth - with Vincent Price in the role that made him a horror star & the luscious Morticia Addams (Carolyn Jones)

'Cannibal Ferox II' (1985) by Michele Massimo Tarantini - I fully expect it to be cheesy rubbish of the Bruno Mattei variety but hopefully fun with it...

'Slither' (2006) by James Gunn - saw this in the cinema on first release and thought it was marvellous, now feels about right for a reappraisal
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Friday, February 08, 2013 - 03:00 pm:   

Picked up a ready made triple bill dirt cheap in our soon to be demised HMV yesterday:

'Taste Of Fear' (1961) by Seth Holt - according to Christopher Lee this was the finest Hammer Horror he ever appeared in, and I've never seen it!!

'Opera' (1987) by Dario Argento - according to Stevie Walsh this has claims to be the great Italian maestro's forgotten masterpiece, it is truly awesome, and I've never seen the full Director's Uncut version!!

'The Frighteners' (1996) by Peter Jackson - another unfairly neglected absolute belter of a horror comedy and one of the best and funniest and most original films Jackson has made, before he unfortunately gave up creating his own wondrous fantasies in favour of adapting the work of others. It's also easily Michael J. Fox's finest hour in the cinema and I haven't seen it since it was first released. Please get back to this kind of filmmaking, Peter, after completing 'The Hobbit' & 'Tintin' (fingers crossed) of course!!
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.183.79.10
Posted on Friday, February 08, 2013 - 05:55 pm:   

TASTE OF FEAR is certainly a fine film, Stevie, although as ever, best seen on a big screen.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Friday, February 08, 2013 - 07:02 pm:   

Can't wait, Mick. There are loads of other Hammers I've always longed to see but this was always near the top of the pile.

When I said "unfortunately" regarding Peter Jackson's last 15 years of filmmaking what I mean is if I'd had the choice of more brilliantly original works like; 'Bad Taste', 'Meet The Feebles', 'Braindead', 'The Frighteners' & even the mockumentary he made, that I can't for the minute recall the name of, instead of his, admittedly brilliant, adaptations of Tolkien and his faffing about with 'King Kong' and 'The Lovely Bones', I would go for the former every time. 'Heavenly Creatures' stands as one of his best films, yes, but, with hindsight, it is easy to see now that that is where the "rot" set in, imho.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 31.54.13.14
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 01:40 pm:   

Being stuck in the house with a lousy cold instead of wiping myself out with suicidal levels of alcohol at Mr Bestwick's birthday bash (happy birthday Simon by the way), I watched a double bill last night of We are What we are and Fermat's Room.

We are what we are - a curious film about a family of cannibals struggling to cope after the father of the family dies of poisoning after eating a whore's finger. The director and cinematographer have got got a cracking talent for finding interesting camera setups and angles, and the story's pretty good as well, although the tone is a little uneven. I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be a comedy or not in places. a cautious 6.5/10. Worth watching.

Fermat's Room - 4 mathematicians stuck in a crushing room being given logic problems to solve. If they don't solve them in the time limit given, the room shrinks further. It's a good solid little thriller but it has a few major plot holes. One I can't say for spoiler reasons but the biggest one of the lot is that all 4 walls are closing in at once. The character writing on the blackboard first time the room starts shrinking apparently doesn't notice this. I'm also struggling to work out the physics of the situation. I'm not convinced that it would work. The walls would have to be moving sideways as well as forward which means they couldn't be securely fastened to the presses and I think they'd slip. Still a good yarn though. 7.5/10
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.239.243.7
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 03:13 pm:   

Today I think I'll have a bit of a movie marathon. Starting with Child's Play, Chucky's first and one of his best outings. Not sure what to follow it up with but I've got a choice that includes Black Christmas, God of vampires, Drive, Jonah Hex, the Ring sequels and many more
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 04:07 pm:   

Know the feeling, Weber.

Is it the original 'Black Christmas'? One of the best slashers ever made. 'Drive' is a decent crime thriller.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 31.54.13.14
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 04:14 pm:   

The original black christmas, yes.

Child's Play, what a great fun little movie. The burnt up Chucky near the end is actually quite nightmarish, and that has t be one of the finest fire walks ever done by a dwarf actor. This really should be a guilty pleasure but I like it too much.

For my next film I think I'm going to go with the first Django film with Quentin Tantino in it... I won't name it, I'll leave it for you clever people to guess.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 06:28 pm:   

I also am quite fond of the original 'Child's Play', Weber, but not the rest of the franchise. It's a minor classic horror comedy typical of its era and, if I remember correctly, had a great vocal (and briefly physical) performance by Brad Dourif - one of my favourite actors. Lovely little film, I agree.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 31.54.13.14
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 06:38 pm:   

Child's play 3 and Bride of Chucky are excellent too imho.

Child's Play 2 was actually the first film where I heard anyone scream in a cinema - although, apart from the last 25-30 minutes it's not a great film. The sequence in the doll factory was worth the price of admission though.

Seed of Chucky didn't have much to recommend it.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.231.26
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 08:29 pm:   

Well that was disappointing. Ah well. Next up is The Burrowers.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 08:55 pm:   

A Lovecraftian classic, Weber, and a damn fine western to boot. You're in for a real treat!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.231.131
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 10:36 pm:   

That was indeed rather good. Now do i stick with the western theme and watch Jonah Hex or the underground theme with a rewatch of the Descent... Decisions decisions.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.239.243.0
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 11:26 pm:   

I thought I'd go for some complete schlock instead - Earth Alien - with Arnold Vosloo, John Rhys Davies and Eric Roberts. In the first 5 minutes there's already been a dozen murders and gratuitous full frontal female nudity... :-)
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.184.107.55
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 12:43 am:   

That was great fun. Certainly to be filed under guilty pleasures. Atrocious acting and special effects, derivative as hell but just fun to watch.

Final film for the night is Headspace.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.184.107.55
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 03:08 am:   

No one any idea what the Tarantino Django film was called that i watched earlier today?

Clue - not Django Unchained...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 03:23 am:   

Was there someone called Django in 'Death Proof' by any chance? I consider that one of Tarantino's better recent films. If not, I've no idea.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.230.212
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 10:00 am:   

Nope. This wasn't directed by quentin. And django was part of the title.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.236
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 12:42 pm:   

Some cheap recent Italian thing he had a cameo appearance in, maybe?
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.231.12
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 03:19 pm:   

Nope. It's an Asian western in English language with a fully asian cast except for Quentin. It was very disappointing - especially given the back catalogue of the director.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 81.149.182.62
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 04:19 pm:   

Was it a Miike opus? I know there's been much mutual loveying between him and Quentin.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.183.79.10
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 04:20 pm:   

Was it a Miike opus?

It was...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 81.149.182.62
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 04:20 pm:   

Miike is the better director and Tarantino the better writer. When are they gonna use their brains and give us what we want! ;-)
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.230.212
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 05:11 pm:   

I'd go for tarantino as the better director every time personally speaking. Django unchained is 1000 times better than Sukiaki Western Django. I like some of Miike's films but i've loved pretty much everything Tarantino's done so far.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 02:47 pm:   

Have you seen 'Ichi The Killer', Weber? That was the film 'Kill Bill' so desperately wanted to be, imho.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.231.110
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 03:29 pm:   

Seen Ichi - thought it was pants to be honest. Cool looking violence but an almost completely incomprehensible storyline.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.229
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 04:28 pm:   

I thought it was genius!! The story has to be pieced together from what fragments we are given and makes perfect sense. Bit like the structure of the 'Ju-On' movies.

Miike's masterpiece, however, is the positively Kurosawa-like 'Thirteen Assassins'. Tarantino couldn't make such an epic if he tried - as great a black comedy director as he is.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2013 - 04:57 pm:   

'House Of Wax' (1953) by André de Toth is, imo, too often forgotten in its pivotal role in the evolution of horror cinema. If one movie could be pinpointed as representing the crossover, in terms of style and influence, between the Universal era and the Hammer era then it is this bona-fide gothic masterpiece. Made in glorious technicolor, as well as then innovative 3D, the film is still surprisingly gruesome and damn scary even today. The famous story (based on the play by Charles S. Belden) is as much a great tragedy as it is the definitive grand guignol thriller. Vincent Price gives one of his most memorably magisterial performances as the obsessive sculptor, Henry Jarrod, who wants only to create things of beauty in the face of public disinterest, but who, having lost his livelihood and the use of his hands in a malicious fire, is driven insane and plots a ghastly revenge against the world in general by giving them more of the horror they crave than they ever dreamed of... The role, those eyes, that voice, the knowing mannerisms and the still frightening make-up job that turned him into one of the screen's scariest monsters (his horribly burned face is more effectively horrific than Freddie Kreuger's) deservedly turned the great ham into a horror superstar overnight. Hooray for that!!

This is another gloriously cliched horror narrative that just feels right in every detail and we can thank the heavens that the director was unable to see the 3D effects and so concentrated on making a straight thriller rather than a gimmick picture. There are a couple of extraneous moments of things being chucked at the screen but these do not serve to overwhelm the action and leave us 2D-philes to enjoy what is one of the finest horror films of its era and one of the most unobtrusively influential of all time. This was the film that inspired Hammer Studios to revive the classic horror genre in the face of all-conquering radioactive monsters and that was memorably spoofed in 'A Bucket Of Blood' & 'Carry On Screaming'. Jarrod was the character who spawned Dr Phibes & Edward Lionheart. The Creeper in 'Scooby Doo, Where Are You?', the clawed joker in the 'Nightmare On Elm Street' movies & Sam Raimi's 'Darkman' (all with that hat) came from the iconic horror imagery here. And this was also one of the first "mad genius serial killer with a plan" films that would give us the likes of 'The Silence Of The Lambs' & 'Seven', etc. Add to that the irresistibly macabre brilliance of the story's central conceit - often copied, never bettered - a first rate cast all treating the material seriously and the introduction of a very young and unfeasibly ugly Charles Bronson, as the hulking deaf-mute manservant, Igor(!), and the eye-poppingly curvaceous (how the hell did she get into that corset?) Morticia Addams (Carolyn Jones) as a dumb blonde being transformed into a creature of raven haired transcendence and you have a near perfect horror entertainment for all ages that has hardly dated a day and still packs a satisfyingly ghoulish punch. I consider it a superior remake of the still fine 'The Mystery Of The Wax Museum' (1933) - proving that they do exist! Either way they certainly don't make 'em like this anymore!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2013 - 05:43 pm:   

And once again we go from the sublime to the ridiculous but, in this case, the sublimely ridiculous! 'Cannibal Ferox II' (1985) by Michele Massimo Tarantini (who said Quentin was an original?!) has to be one of the most hilariously bad Italian horror films I have seen. The great master of naffness, Bruno Mattei, himself, couldn't have come up with a finer load of old cobblers! But what a riotously entertaining ride it is.

Basically we are introduced to a motley crew of nine bickering tourist types (a granite-jawed and be-mulletted Indiana Jones wannabe seeking adventure, a kooky old professor, his feisty beautiful daughter with brains, a simpering fashion photographer, his two bimbo models whose clothes keep falling off, the aging alcoholic pilot, a teeth-gnashingly demented Vietnam vet & his bucket-faced nagging wife) whose chartered plane unfortunately crashes, while making an unscheduled detour, in the heart of the Amazon jungle, right smack in cannibal territory. We then have the pleasure of following these badly dubbed imbeciles as they trek through the wilderness being picked off one-by-one by the flesh-rending natives and other assorted perils, such as; piranha (again), snakes, spiders, spiky swinging deathtraps, quicksand, rapids, man-eating pigs and surviving dinosaurs (or did I just make that bit up?). But their troubles really start - those that are left standing - when they stumble into the encampment of a band of white slavers, more vicious than the cannibals, who are forcing the natives to mine for those same bloody emeralds that caused all the trouble in the first film.

I swear this film had me in stitches the whole way through and is the most loveably daft and corny of all the Italian cannibal films. It plays like a breezy unintentional spoof, with jarringly inappropriate bongo and steel drum music accompanying the bloody mayhem (great gore effects!), and pant-wettingly macho man acting that only the Italians seem to think is cool while the rest of us are falling about laughing and features more gratuitous flashes of knickers and tits than a Carry On film. Absolutely pricless entertainment! I loved every stupid second of it!! If ever I have a group of mates round getting pissed this will be No. 1 on the DVD list! I ask you... where would we be without Italian cinema?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2013 - 04:39 pm:   

And another fine triple bill was wrapped up with one of the most thoroughly entertaining deliberate horror comedies of recent years; the criminally neglected, 'Slither' (2006) by James Gunn. This film really should have caused as big a stir as those other great black comedy horror debuts of recent years; Neil Marshall's 'Dog Soldiers' (2002) & Edgar Wright's 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004), imho. It really is that good!

This time the theme being spoofed is that of the small town alien invasion by horrible slimy monsters, so beloved in the 1950s and pastiched to death in the 80s. Gunn revived the form here with reckless aplomb and delivered a genuine modern classic in the process. The wonderfully playful opening simultaneously quotes 'The Blob' (1958 & 1988 versions) and 'The Evil Dead' (1981) and the film goes on to encompass everything from 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956 & 1978 versions) to 'The Quatermass Experiment' (1955) and the early video nasties of David Cronenberg [particularly 'Shivers' (1975)] to Romero's zombie trilogy (1968-1985), 'Alien' (1979), 'Basket Case' (1982), ‘The Deadly Spawn’ (1983) and ‘Night Of The Creeps’ (1986), among many others, with nods to H.P. Lovecraft for good measure, making this a treasure trove for genre geeks everywhere. But the director has the talent to make this his own delightfully entertaining vision rather than a slavish imitation of the films he grew up watching and clearly loving. “Fanboy done good” is written all over this picture as with the previously mentioned debuts and marks it as firmly a product of its nostalgia loving times, that has the Tarantino-like balls to be its own standard bearer rather than taking the lazy remake route. TV shows like; ‘The X Files’, ‘The League Of Gentlemen’, the ‘Doctor Who’ revival, ‘Fringe’ and recent similarly reverential movies, like ‘The Cabin In The Woods’, are all part of the same phenomenon. When they’re done good by genuine fans, rather than cynical money-makers, with real talent, rather than a formula, the result is a joy to behold for people of my generation.

Everything in the movie is judged just right. The laughs are never allowed to overwhelm or dilute the serious intent of the horror elements. For all the gross-out humour the likeably charismatic cast of mostly unknowns play it admirably straight-faced, rather than falling into the trap of believing gurning is funny, and this helps us suspend our disbelief and care for them as real individuals in peril – despite our brains telling us that what is happening is clearly absurd. The one familiar genre face, Michael Rooker, gives one of his finest performances, half comedic/half tragic, as the initial victim whose dumb but loyal redneck consciousness becomes the template for the invading alien intelligence - to hilarious effect. We identify with him as we did with Larry Talbot in 'The Wolf Man' yet the pathos of his position is played relentlessly for laughs. It’s a balancing act that has defeated many greater directors over the years and Gunn proves himself a natural talent here, making this, I state again, one of the most auspicious and sadly unheralded debuts of recent years. The marvellous and incredibly nauseating special effects are wisely kept old school for the most part, in tribute to the glory days of 80s animatronica, with admirably subtle use of CGI being kept to a minimum. The alien life cycle is fascinatingly original, splicing together several distinct monsters from yesteryear into a new horror for a new millennium, that allows the unfeasibly talented young writer/director to play with the horror of parasitic worms, gradual metamorphosis into Lovecraftian tentacled monstrosities, alien impregnation, possession and flesh-eating zombies, while keeping the plot remarkably coherent and the plight of the survivors convincingly suspenseful and scary as well as laugh out loud funny, due to the sheer OTT nature of the visuals and the characters’ bemused yet terrified reactions to them. Mark my words, future generations will hail this unassuming little picture as an imperishable classic of its era.

I was so impressed by this second viewing, after 7 years, that I wondered why I had heard no more about this clearly talented genre director and had to check out his filmography. After the stunning debut of 'Slither' he went on to direct 'Super' (2010) - an apparently inspired black comedy spoof of the superhero genre that I will be checking out asap. I wish him well in his future career. Horror cinema needs guys like this...

And to follow that, boy have I got a triple bill lined up for this weekend:

'Taste Of Fear' (1961) by Seth Holt.
'Opera' (1987) by Dario Argento.
'The Frighteners' (1996) by Peter Jackson.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.17.171.66
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2013 - 05:56 pm:   

Super is pretty good. I'd say it's as much a comedy version of Taxi Driver as a superhero spoof.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 11:57 am:   

'Taste Of Fear' (1961) by Seth Holt is an entertaining little horror/suspense thriller of the "let's scare the delicate heiress to death" format. It is probably the finest and most cleverly plotted of all Hammer's forays into the form and is marked by engagingly sympathetic performances from the two leads, the stunningly beautiful and wheelchairbound Susan Strasberg and her dashing saviour, Ronald Lewis. While visiting the home of her stepmother our highly strung heroine finds herself haunted by apparitions of her missing father's waterlogged corpse (shades of 'Les Diaboliques' (1955) - the best of all these kind of films) and only the handsome chauffeur, Lewis, deigns to believe her, while the rest of them, led by Christopher Lee's cold-eyed and enigmatic psychiatrist, believe she is losing her marbles. Of course if she dies all of her vast inheritance goes to her too-sweet-to-be-wholesome stepmother. From that seemingly obvious set-up Jimmy Sangster's ingenious script goes on to confound the viewer with a series of about-face twists and unexpected character developments that keep one guessing right to the final scene. It would have made one hell of an entertaining stageplay. And therein lies the rub... the studiobound and overly talky nature of the film coupled with rather ponderous direction does rather rob it of cinematic worth, imo. It's a memorable story but far from a great film and I have to disagree with Christopher Lee that it is even close to the best Hammer film he ever appeared in. More like a superior feature length episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' that wasn't directed by the great man himself. Well worth seeing but don't expect a masterpiece.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 12:34 pm:   

Just picked up the DVD of Dario Argento's 'Trauma' (1993) and was flabbergasted to discover the script is by T.E.D. Klein!!!!

I've seen it twice before but not in many years. The first time I thought it was an infuriatingly incomprehensible mess but on a second viewing I loved it as a cleverly structured superior giallo. A third assessment is now a must.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 01:37 pm:   

Which brings me to what may just be Argento's great forgotten masterpiece... 'Opera' (1987) is nothing short of a stunning piece of cinema. All of the director's powers are concentrated on a first rate giallo/whodunit plot that integrates the grand Italian opera house setting and positively Kubrickian use of music (barnstormingly powerful classical opera, creepy electronica and shock-to-the-system hard rock clash magnificently), with some of the bloodiest and most suspenseful set pieces he ever filmed, to genuinely nerve-shattering effect. The whole film is like a rollercoaster ride of dizzying camera movements, glorious use of opulent colours and sets, blasting music and stunning choreography that had this horror fan in absolute raptures. Argento hasn't been this good since but then neither has anyone else! I would rank this as a serious contender for his greatest and most psychologically unsettling horror masterwork. It's definitely in the top three along with 'Profondo Rosso' (1975) and 'Tenebrae' (1982), imho.

The plot involves a new young operatic understudy getting her first big break when offered the part of Lady Macbeth in a controversially modern and horrific updating of Verdi's 'Macbeth' by a famed horror movie director, much to the displeasure of the traditionalist cognoscenti. She is an immediate sensation but soon finds herself stalked by a crazed fan who proceeds to butcher those involved in the production one-by-one while forcing her to watch while bound with her eyelids pinned open. Police protection appears futile as the masked and gloved killer continually finds a way into the presence of our heroine and suffers her to witness yet another elaborately staged murder. These set pieces are the very pinnacle of on-screen horror, imo, proclaiming Argento as an uncontestable genius of shock and suspense cinema. His talent flies in this glorious masterpiece as if the operatic setting had fired his artistry like never before. Ravens wheel through the air (and prove integral to the plot), blood flows in crimson rivers of opulence, pristine blades gleam with deadly allure, visual red herrings abound, mutilation and torture are turned into things of hellish beauty and all the time we are bombarded by that glorious music. In scene after scene the senses reel at the maestro's breathless elan.

There is also a wonderful ambiguity to the ending, fed by almost subliminal flashbacks to the heroine's traumatised childhood, that have one wanting to watch the film again almost as soon as it has ended. Who was the real victim in this psychedelic fantasmagoria of terror and who the real monster? I have my own theories after this awestruck second viewing but there'll be no spoilers here. Quite simply this is one of the greatest films ever to grace the horror genre! It is to horror what 'Once Upon A Time In The West' is to the western. Oh, to see it on the big screen with full surround sound pumped to the max... heaven!
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.60.39
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 02:14 pm:   

The first time I thought it was an infuriatingly incomprehensible mess

I actually watched this together with ST Joshi one fine evening in his Manhattan apartment. I believe Perry Grayson and Scott Briggs were also in attendance. We nearly laughed our heads off - so much so that ST decided to give Klein a ring to tell him of our viewing experience. As I recall the mighty T.E.D. Klein was acuteley embarassed by the film.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 135.196.115.78
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 03:09 pm:   

I really don't think it's that bad, Hubert. I did the first time I watched it because I hadn't a clue what the feck was going on. It's the freewheeling bonkers Argento of 'Phenomena' and most definitely not like the work of Klein. I thought I was seeing things when I read the credits!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.43.247.212
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 04:13 pm:   

It's the SWMB! :-(
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.43.247.212
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 04:15 pm:   

Hubert - you know STJ?
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.60.39
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 05:50 pm:   

Yep, Tony. We're in touch infrequently, but I still consider him a friend, one of the best I've ever had.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 81.149.182.62
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 07:03 pm:   

What ya mean by that, Tony? Negativity breeds negativity.

I'm only having fun on here and repaying the pleasure Ramsey has given me all these years, as his greatest fan (where's me sledgehammer?), in the most genuine way I can think of... by gracing HIS message board, as the greatest living exponent of the greatest form of artistic expression that the horror genre knows, namely, the literary Horror Novel (that rarest and most precious of jewels that everyone on this site should eternally salivate over at the very thought of! [where the fuck was I?]), with my witterings.

I warned ya you wouldn't like me when I'm angry, Tony!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.43.247.212
Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2013 - 07:11 pm:   

No, sorry Stevie - I just meant you're on here a lot now and others aren't. It seems so quiet here now.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.43.247.212
Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2013 - 10:27 am:   

Stevie? I'm so sorry if I offended you.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2013 - 02:07 pm:   

Ah these things go through cycles, Tony. Sure I wasn't on here for months at one stage last year. You worry too much.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2013 - 11:08 pm:   

Got a great triple bill planned for tonight on the theme of the watching camera, filmed voyeurism and the mystery of found footage:

'Peeping Tom' (1960) by Michael Powell - for the first time in donkey's years.

'Videodrome' (1983) by David Cronenberg - ditto.

'REC' (2007) by Jaume Balaguero - for the first time.

Rather a disturbing mix, even if I do say so myself.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, March 07, 2013 - 04:14 am:   

I loved every moment of Peter Jackson's 'The Frighteners' (1996) again, having not seen it in some 17 years, and have to rank it as one of his most thoroughly successful and entertaining films - and also his most criminally underrated. Whoever did the special effects on this did a hell of a job. The CGI is still amongst the most seamless I have seen and complements Rick Baker's old school effects quite magnificently. I normally hate CGI but when it's done well, as here, and suits the tone of the movie, as with the high octane slapstick horror comedy on offer throughout this glorious thrill-ride, then one has to hold one's hands up and give praise where it is due.

The Jackson penned plot is an inspired one that creates its own fantasy rules of what happens in the afterlife and sticks to them rigidly, effortlessly drawing the viewer into the director's vision and making us accept blue glowing ghosts that can be sliced and diced and that vomit ectoplasm as entirely plausible. There is more than a touch of Tim Burton style originality and freewheeling imagination in evidence here and enjoying this as much again almost makes me wish Jackson had remained a cult director creating his own worlds rather than joining the Spielbergian big time with his, admittedly visionary, Tolkien adaptations. I still believe the 'King Kong' and 'The Lovely Bones' projects were Jackson giving way to hubris and represent his weakest offerings to date.

This is the story of a serial killer who is so determined to top the "most kills" list that he refuses to pass over following his execution and adopts a Grim Reaper disguise on the other side so he can continue to harvest victims by the method of squeezing their hearts in their chests till they burst. The rising tally appearing as a carved number on the forehead of the next victim, that only psychic Michael J. Fox (in career best and extraordinarily likeable form) can see, was a particularly clever plot contrivance that cranks the suspense in the breathless chase sequences to the max, as our hero vainly battles to stop an unstoppable ghostly assassin.

The film was the last of Jackson's to display the zany comedic energy and bubbling creativity that marked out his early independent masterpieces and, with its Robert Zemeckis produced big budget and groundbreaking effects, stands as a fascinating one-off in the evolution of modern horror cinema, marking the poignant passing of the old and the rising of the arrogant new guard in what we now call "spectacle cinema". One of the finest genre pictures of its decade that holds up remarkably well today this will always be among my favourite horror comedies.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, March 07, 2013 - 04:26 am:   

Compare the seamless CGI in this film with some of the supposedly more advanced recent offerings, such as that awful version of 'I Am Legend', as a randomly plucked example, and one can't help wonder where it all went so wrong?

Lazy filmmaking is the only explanation I can think of... whereas 'The Frighteners' stands as a painstakingly crafted labour of love in comparison.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2013 - 04:39 pm:   

Horror triple bill time again. Picked at random:

'The Ape Man' (1943) by William Beaudine.

'The House Of Clocks' (1989) by Lucio Fulci.

'REC2' (2009) by Juame Balagueró & Paco Plaza - the third Balagueró film I'll have watched in the past week and if the first two were anything to go by...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, March 17, 2013 - 02:17 pm:   

Not going to risk a St Patrick's Day blocking session this year as I'm still getting over the flu. Gonna sit in with a nice horror triple bill instead:

'The Mystery Of The Wax Museum' (1933) by Michael Curtiz(!) - for the first time since I was a kid to give it fair comparison to the great Vincent Price remake [see above].

'The House Of Lost Souls' (1989) by Umberto Lenzi - feature length film made for Italian cable TV as part of the 'House Of Doom' series along with Lenzi's 'The House Of Witchcraft' and Lucio Fulci's 'The House Of Clocks' (watched it and it's one of his best!) & 'The Sweet House Of Horrors'. All four were deemed too violent for broadcast and went straight to video as "lost films" of these two Italian horror greats. What a world!

'Donnie Darko' (2001) by Richard Kelly - first time I'll have watched the 20 minutes longer Director's Cut version and first viewing since the original on the big screen 12 years ago when I came out half impressed and half bemused. Some serious reappraisal is long overdue.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 11:18 pm:   

My latest triple bill was:

'Bride Of The Monster' (1955) by Edward D. Wood Jr.

'The Sweet House Of Horrors' (1989) by Lucio Fulci.

'Ringu' (1998) by Hideo Nakata - with the rest of the Sadako trilogy to follow.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.239.243.4
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 11:44 pm:   

I'll be watching a triple bill of Ringu 2, Shadows and Fog and God of Vampires.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 03:14 pm:   

Picked up three recent horror classics on DVD for a tenner last night that you can expect to be seeing in forthcoming triple bills as I've been dying to rewatch all of them:

'The Skin I Live In' (2011) by Pedro Almodovar - which I plan to watch back-to-back with his other great horror classic, 'Matador' (1986).

'The Kill List' (2011) by Ben Wheatley - one of those undeniably great but confounding films I'm still undecided about and can't wait to see again.

'Prometheus' (2012) by Ridley Scott - got the whole franchise to watch in chrono order now, with this one first!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 12:29 pm:   

Time for a round-up of the triple bills that got me through my recent bout of flu:

'Peeping Tom' (1960) by Michael Powell is, to my mind, the finest, most intelligent and incredibly moving psycho thriller ever made. It is as much a doomed love story as it is an unflinching exploration of madness, voyeurism and the damage caused by child abuse. Carl Boehm's performance gets more emotionally affecting every time I watch this and the full horrific impact of just what was done to him as a child, by his barbarically cold scientist father, never fails to send shivers up my spine. His fledgling love affair with Anna Massey is truly heartbreaking and never less so than the moment when he excitedly bounces up and down punching the arms of his chair as he listens to her plans for a children's book that she wants him to take the photographs for... we see the buried child he could have been come to the surface in that one brief moment of escape, before the nightmare comes crashing in again. Horror cinema simply doesn't get any better than this! I am reminded of the kind of deep characterisation and intelligence that Ramsey always brings to his psychopathic killers and it has me salivating at the thought of an adaptation of 'The Face That Must Die' done with this level of committment and compassion for the human condition - as with Jaume Balagueró's current masterpiece, 'Sleep Tight'. After a fourth viewing 'Peeping Tom' has now moved above 'Psycho' in Stevie's Top 10 horror movies ever made list. I picked it as part of a themed night's viewing on the watching camera in horror cinema, along with...

'Videodrome' (1983) by David Cronenberg is, I now believe, after several increasingly impressed viewings, the great man's masterpiece and the most insidiously disturbing and original film he ever made. It also features one of the defining performances of James Woods' impressive career as the immoral and sleazy anti-hero who wins our sympathy, after initially being just about as repellant as can be imagined, by getting way in over his head - when he thought he'd seen it all. The influence of J.G. Ballard is all over the movie but this was entirely Cronenberg's own creation and, as such, eclipses any of his later more critically lauded adaptations of other's work. Get back to this type of incendiary filmmaking, Dave, please! This is the finest film ever made on the subject of snuff movies and our fascination with watching the unimaginable, from a cosy distance. A perfect allegory of what the YouTube generation now represents in terms of human evolution. "Long live the new flesh!" And that was followed by...

'REC' (2007) by Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza is perhaps the finest and scariest found footage horror film of recent years - the best ever made being, of course, Deodato's 'Cannibal Holocaust' (1980). There is nothing new or original here but what we are presented with is a pitch perfect exercise in escalating terror and dislocation, on the part of the protagonist and the viewer, as we follow a chirpy TV documentary crew filming a "typical" night out with the local fire department. They respond to a routine call and find themselves trapped in an apartment block, with no idea what is going on, while all hell breaks loose around them. Inspired by 'The Blair Witch Project' (1999) & '28 Days Later' (2002) the movie finally reveals itself as much indebted to Lamberto Bava's 'Demons II' (1986) and is as great a way to scare the shit out of yourself on a night in alone as I have seen. A modern classic!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 04:02 pm:   

'The Ape Man' (1943) by William Beaudine is another of those cheapjack horrors that kept Bela Lugosi employed in the 1940s while sapping the spirit from the man at the same time. This is one of the better and more entertaining efforts but not for any reason the director or scriptwriter intended. Hilarious hokum from start to finish this has Lugosi as a mad scientist who accidentally morphs himself with a gorilla and ends up looking like Roddy McDowell in 'Planet Of The Apes'. Desperate to reverse the process before his human side is completely eclipsed by simian urges - thus pre-empting the plot of 'The Fly' by over a decade - he is forced to roam the streets by night harvesting human hormones from any hapless victims who cross his path, while helped by his test subject gorilla, Esme, who has fallen hopelessly in love with him and thinks nothing of twisting the heads off anyone he orders her to. Woefully inept in every department but impossible to dislike the film ends on a memorably tragic note as Esme is gunned down in a hail of bullets by police while reaching out for the man she loves, and been callously spurned by, with a final, tearful, "ooo ooo urk... uh". By this stage the tears were rolling down my face - no, seriously!

'The House Of Clocks' (1989) by Lucio Fulci surprised me greatly by being one of the finest and spookiest films of the man's later years. This is a highly original ghost story with more than a touch of 'The Twilight Zone' about it. We are introduced to a sweet elderly couple who live with their creepy maid and gardener in a rambling gothic mansion in the Italian countryside. The doddery old head of the household has a vast collection of clocks and watches decorating every room and passageway that he dotes on as if they were his children, talking to them on his neverending treks through the house winding each of them in turn while his chatterbox wife fusses after him dusting and tutting. But something is not quite right about this chirpy old couple, with their twinkling eyes and merry smiles, for in a room at the top of the house lie two preserved young corpses in their wedding clothes who have been staked through the throats with iron spikes. What goes on here we wonder? The peace of their existence is shattered when three young thugs on a joyride from the city break in planning to rob the place. In the ensuing melee they end up murdering everyone in the house, the first accidentally and the rest to silence the witnesses. At the death of their "master" every clock in the house stops dead and when the gang try to leave they find themselves unable to while, frighteningly, all the clocks begin to run backwards at exactly the same time. What follows is as surreal and damn creepy a tale of long drawn out and typically bloody supernatural revenge as Fulci ever directed and there is a particularly satisfying and bizarre final twist that winds everything up brilliantly. One of his best and most underrated horror films, imho.

'REC2' (2009) by Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza is an equally masterful sequel that continues on the action of the same night at exactly the point 'REC' left off. The apartment block has been put under military quarantine and sealed off from the outside world due to the homicidal madness inducing contagion that rampages inside. Into this hell-like mayhem are sent a crack unit of soldiers armed to the teeth and dressed in bio suits with cameras attached to their helmets. From there we have not so much an 'Aliens' (1986) inspired re-run of the first movie rather than a genuinely frightening and engrossing expansion of the mystery while never letting the action or nerve-shredding suspense slip for a second. I loved this every bit as much as the original and, in fact, the two films work so tightly together, the end of this one completing a perfect circle of plot development, that one can't imagine them existing apart. From what I hear the rest of the franchise doesn't live up to the terrifying charge of this two-part nightmare and, as ever, dilutes their impact - so I won't be going anywhere near 'REC3', 'REC4', REC5', etc... With these two films and his current masterpiece of Hitchcockian horror/suspense, 'Sleep Tight', Jaume Balagueró has rubber stamped his reputation as possibly the best horror director working today. I really must catch his adaptation of Ramsey's 'The Nameless' (1999)!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 04:18 pm:   

Next triple has largely picked itself:

'The Witches' (1966) by Cyril Frankel - and written by Nigel Kneale.

'The House Of Witchcraft' (1989) by Umberto Lenzi.

'Ringu II' (1999) by Hideo Nakata.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.55.247
Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 07:22 pm:   

Well, with REC so far the rest of the franchise is only REC 3, which I haven't seen but seems to go for more of an OTT horror comedy feel. REC 4 is due to be a continuation of the Angela Vidal storyline.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.167.146.41
Posted on Friday, March 29, 2013 - 02:04 am:   

Rec 3 is well worth watching. It might not be the concentrated exercise in terror that the first two are but it's a really good film with a few genuine scares, a few laugh out loud moments and some well deserved pot shots at the limitations of the sub-genre the first 2 helped to kick start.

It's such a different beast to the first two that it doesn't impact on them. I thought it was a really brave decision to go in the direction they did and, the more I think about it, the more I actually like it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, April 08, 2013 - 04:51 pm:   

Picked up in the past week for future triple bills:

'Halloween II' (1981) by Rick Rosenthal - haven't seen it since first release in the cinema when I was all of 16. The only other one of the franchise I have any time for. It's an unfeasibly excellent sequel to the best slasher movie ever made.

'Troll' (1986) by John Carl Buechler - starring the incomparable Michael Moriarty & one of my all time dream women, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Never seen it.

The infamous 'Troll II' (1990) by Drake Floyd. A film that's reputation goes before it as a serious contender for the best "worst horror film" ever made. Here's hoping... I do like a bit of cheese.

'Two Evil Eyes' (1990) by Dario Argento & George A. Romero. A two story portmanteau adaptation of Poe's "The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar" (Romero & starring the luscious Adrienne Barbeau) & "The Black Cat" (Argento & starring the one and only Harvey Keitel). Can't wait!!

'Sleepless' (2001) by Dario Argento. Bar his excellent 'Masters Of Horror' episodes I have yet to see any of Argento's films later than 'The Stendahl Syndrome' (1996) - which I loved - so looking forward to this with bated breath and crossed fingers...

'The Card Player' (2004) by Dario Argento. As above.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - 12:57 pm:   

Found a great new second hand DVD shop in Lisburn at the weekend and went a bit mad buying:

'Zombieland' (2009) by Ruben Fleischer - missed it in the cinema and have it on good authority that it's a quality and very funny horror-comedy. With a cast like that it's got to be half decent and surely worth £3.

And, after years of searching, I picked up George A. Romero's great 'Trilogy Of The Dead' box set, released by Anchor, for a paltry fiver in absolutely mint condition!! The definitive versions of; 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968), 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) - the Director's Cut version that I've never seen before!!!! - and 'Day Of The Dead' (1985), which I haven't seen since it was first released in the cinema. After this groundbreaking horror trilogy all other zombie movies, including the director's own misguided recent efforts, are merely academic footnotes in comparison. For the record, only 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004), as the perfect spoof, and 'The Walking Dead' TV series, as the ultimate expansion of the post-apocalypse premise, are really worth getting excited about, imho. 'Zombieland' has a lot to live up to...

And on TV I picked up the Season 3 box set of 'Bewitched', having already got and watched the still sublime first two seasons. In this one Tabitha is a troublesome toddler. £8!

Plus, at long last, the complete 'Blackadder' box set for a mere tenner. I haven't seen Series 1 (the funniest, imo) since it was first broadcast and rank the show as one of the greatest and funniest sitcoms ever made. It's in my Top 10.

At that point I had to stop myself. Worth every penny!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - 05:06 pm:   

Added to the DVD list:

'Macabro' (1980) by Lamberto Bava

'Pieces' (1982) by Juan Piquer Simón

'The Stendahl Syndrome' (1996) by Dario Argento

That only leaves; 'Four Flies On Grey Velvet' (1972), the horror TV series 'Door Into Darkness' (1973), 'Inferno' (1980), 'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1998), 'Do You Like Hitchcock?' (2005), 'Masters Of Horror : Season 2' (2006-07), 'Mother Of Tears' (2007), 'Giallo' (2009) & 'Dracula' (2012) - phew - until I have the whole Argento collection and can attempt that long awaited chrono watch!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, May 02, 2013 - 03:40 pm:   

Picked up at lunchtime for £3 each:

'Salem's Lot' (1979) by Tobe Hooper - the best thing he ever did, this is the definitive faithful and scary Stephen King adaptation. No filmmaker has ever got closer to the universal appeal of King's novels than here.

'The People Under The Stairs' (1991) by Wes Craven - possibly the best and most original film he ever made, including ANOES. Craven is the closest thing we have to a modern day Roger Corman figure. When he was good he produced some of the most iconic horror films in cinema history, when he was bad he made some of the shittest films of all time - and both were fatally ruled by the lure of filthy lucre.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, May 07, 2013 - 06:02 pm:   

Three new additions to the recent horror pile:

'Inland Empire' (2006) by David Lynch - his masterpiece and one of the most nightmarishly unsettling horror films ever made, imo.

'Mother Of Tears' (2007) by Dario Argento - the final part of his Three Mothers trilogy and I am aware it was universally panned at the time... but has since started to garner something of a cult following. Very curious to see it and make my own mind up.

'The Mist' (2007) by Frank Darabont - at long last I'm gonna see it!
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, May 07, 2013 - 06:12 pm:   

Boy, I can't wait to hear your review of 'The Mist,' Stevie... 'nuff said on that, though....
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, May 08, 2013 - 05:49 pm:   

All this talk of Ray Harryhausen and my love/fear of stop motion animation has inspired me to order 'The Complete Short Films Of Jan Švankmajer 1958-1992' box set. Every short animated nightmare the man ever made, spanning 34 years of uniquely disturbing creativity. No other filmmaker has ever frightened me as much as this guy!

Now just need the feature films; 'Alice' (1988), 'Faust' (1994), 'Conspirators Of Pleasure' (1996), 'Little Otik' (2000), 'Lunacy' (2005) & 'Surviving Life' (2010) to have his entire collection. I've seen them all, on TV and the big screen, apart from the last one and been left traumatised after every one. These are the sort of films I don't want to watch but can't drag my eyes away from in horrified fascination... he is one of the great unheralded geniuses of horror cinema, imho.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 212.123.8.20
Posted on Friday, May 10, 2013 - 12:14 pm:   

***SPOILER***

Pieces is fun, especially the outcome, when we find out what the killer has been doing with all those body parts.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, May 10, 2013 - 12:40 pm:   

Picked up another two 70s classics for a couple of quid each:

'Deep River Savages' (1972) by Umberto Lenzi - the notorious film that started the 70s Italian cannibal boom and one I've always wanted to see. Apparently it was inspired by 'A Man Called Horse' (1970) - great movie!

'Rabid' (1977) by David Cronenberg - one of his best films and I'll finally get to see the uncut version. Of his horrors that only leaves; 'The Brood' (1979), 'The Dead Zone' (1983), 'Dead Ringers' (1988), 'The Naked Lunch' (1991), 'eXistenZ' (1999) & 'Spider' (2002) still to get. I still hold out hope of him returning to the genre one of these days.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, May 16, 2013 - 01:04 pm:   

And another two for less than £4:

'Shock' (1977) by Mario Bava - his last completed film before his untimely death, erroneously retitled 'Beyond The Door II' in some quarters. This stars one of my favourite scream queens, the adorable Daria Nicolodi, and I believe is an 'Exorcist' inspired tale of demonic possession. Never seen it.

'Slaughter High' (1986) by Mark Ezra, Peter Litten & George Dugdale - a rare British slasher movie, filmed in London but set in the States, that features a rather creepy looking jester as the killer and stars the utterly divine Caroline Munro (God, I love her).
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.58.242
Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013 - 03:58 pm:   

I see that The Murder Clinic (La Llama nel Corpo)(1967) has finally been released on dvd! http://www.trashpalace.com/collectorsmovies/giallo.htm
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 - 05:36 pm:   

Another three essential cheapies:

'The Spiral Staircase' (1946) by Robert Siodmak - for me this is the most influential psycho thriller ever made and still one of the very best and scariest. A classic giallo decades before the concept even existed.

'Severance' (2006) by Christopher Smith - highly entertaining and gruesome horror comedy in the wake of 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004). Hardly a classic but great fun nonetheless and a solid follow-up to 'Creep' (2005) for this talented British horror auteur.

'Black Death' (2010) by Christopher Smith - which completes his collection and is the only one of his I haven't seen. Heard very good reports and looking forward to it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, June 03, 2013 - 03:45 pm:   

Just picked up a notorious Hammer (very much) horror film on DVD that I've long wanted to see and never thought I would.

Val Guest's 'The Camp On Blood Island' (1957) was only deemed suitable for home viewing in 2009. Not just because of their trademark groundbreaking X-Certificate concentration on explicit violence but because of the non-PC subject matter, based on Lord Russell of Liverpool's notorious exposé of the unimaginable war crimes (including barbarically sadistic torture, mutilation, experimentation and cannibalism - not to mention eventual execution) inflicted on Allied POWs during the Second World War, 'The Knights Of Bushido' - which I own and have read, along with its equally shocking companion volume, 'The Scourge Of The Swastika'.

Not that these atrocities didn't happen and shouldn't have been documented, despite fears of upsetting the Japanese in the aftermath of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Two monstrously inhuman wrongs don't make a right but neither does one automatically negate the horror of the other.

This is the great grandaddy of ordeal horror films and should make for interesting comparison with my current viewing of the BBC's more even-handed 'Colditz'. Both kind of camps existed during that awful time of global madness but the Japanese excelled at treating captured soldiers, whom they deemed devoid of honour for having allowed themselves to be taken alive, every bit as inhumanly as the Nazi SS death camps dealt with the "Jewish problem".

If the human race is to advance to any kind of moral stability and across-the-board acceptance of our differences then truths have to be faced up to, not buried, and lessons need to be learned and reparations made. As the advertising poster for 'The Camp On Blood Island' declared; "We may be able to forgive but we should never forget."

What price now our remembrance of the victims of crime? Discuss.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.93
Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2013 - 06:54 pm:   

Really chuffed to have picked up three classic horror DVDs at lunchtime today for a quid each:

'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1925) by Rupert Julian - this is the definitive restored and remastered edition that I've never seen before! Lon Chaney's finest hour and one of the most iconic horror films in cinema history.

'Isle Of The Dead' (1945) by Mark Robson - produced by the great Val Lewton and starring Boris Karloff in, apparently, one of his greatest roles. I've never seen it!

'Bedlam' (1946) by Mark Robson - exactly the same comments apply!
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.27.119
Posted on Thursday, June 06, 2013 - 11:19 pm:   

You have treats in store, Stevie.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 07, 2013 - 11:00 am:   

Thanks, Ramsey. I believe they're the only two Val Lewton horrors I haven't seen which makes the find even more fortuitous.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 07, 2013 - 11:11 am:   

Just checked and they are indeed the only two I haven't seen!

Here's how I'd rank the rest:

1. 'I Walked With A Zombie' (1943) by Jacques Tourneur
2. 'Cat People' (1942) by Jacques Tourneur
3. 'Curse Of The Cat People' (1944) by Robert Wise & Gunther von Fritsch
4. 'The Leopard Man' (1943) by Jacques Tourneur
5. 'The Ghost Ship' (1943) by Mark Robson
6. 'The Body Snatcher' (1945) by Robert Wise
7. 'The Seventh Victim' (1943) by Mark Robson

But they're all extraordinarily literate horror classics, of course.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.179
Posted on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 08:09 pm:   

Horror triple bill time again:

'The Black Dragons' (1942) by William Nigh - starring Bela Lugosi in a wartime sci-fi/horror thriller that sounds astonishingly ahead of its time and features a joint Nazi/Japanese plan to replace important US politicians and businessmen with surgically produced exact duplicates. A forerunner of the paranoid thrillers of the 50s.

'Beyond Evil' (1980) by Herb Freed - I know nothing about this one other than that it stars the ever reliable John Saxon.

'Ringu 0' (2000) by Norio Tsuruta - the final part of the Sadako trilogy and an explanatory prequel to Hideo Nakata's first two classic horror films.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 13, 2013 - 05:30 pm:   

Three recent horror DVD additions to the TBW pile:

'Mum And Dad' (2008) by Steven Sheil - billed as an instant ordeal horror classic of the modern era, to rival 'Wolf Creek' (2005), I'm quite excited about this one and just a tad nervous...

'Snowtown' (2011) by Justin Kurzel - take everything I've heard about 'Mum And Dad' and multiply it by ten, apparently... ulp!

'The Wake Wood' (2011) by David Keating - Hammer's long awaited big comeback movie, of which I have heard encouragingly good reports, after much trepidation.


A round-up of all my recent triple bills is being worked on and will follow anon.


But, in the meantime, I had a great idea for a themed triple bill at lunchtime:

'Bedazzled' (1967) by Stanley Donnen - one of the best and cleverest laugh out loud horror comedies ever made, imho. Oh Yes it is! Peter Cook has never been more weirdly creepy. Need to get the DVD!

'The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins' (1971) by Graham Stark - an unfairly neglected spoof portmanteau "horror" from Tigon Productions with a staggering wealth of British comedy talent in inspired form as, one-by-one, they succumb to the Devil's temptations. It used to be shown on telly all the time when I was a kid but I haven't seen it since and it remains one of my favourite macabre comedies of the era. Must get the DVD!

'Seven' (1995) by David Fincher - perhaps the most frightening, and certainly the most disturbing, darkest of dark horror comedies (as such it is - get that killer punchline) that has ever been made and an unassailable masterpiece of modern filmmaking that will forever stand as its director's Ace calling card. I haven't seen it since first release in the cinema and have been keeping the rewatch for a very special occasion. I have the DVD.

I won't ask anyone to point out the obvious connection.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 20, 2013 - 05:03 pm:   

A round-up of the last few months triple bills:


‘The Mystery Of The Wax Museum’ (1933) by Michael Curtiz – The classic grand guignol plot, weirdly atmospheric early colour cinematography, still scarily horrific make-up, spirited direction by a true Hollywood great and engaging performances, particularly from Lionel Atwill as the all too human “monster” and Glenda Farrell (who steals the show) as the feisty lady newspaper reporter who proves his nemesis, make this one of the best horror films of its era and every bit as entertaining as the day it was released. Groundbreaking and still effective for a modern audience, as it is, I believe Andre de Toth’s 1953 remake, ‘House Of Wax’ with Vincent Price (see above), is slightly the better film.

‘The House Of Lost Souls’ (1989) by Umberto Lenzi – the second film from the ‘House Of Doom’ series is an enjoyably clichéd cheapjack rip-off of ‘The Shining’ (1980) set in an abandoned hotel in the mountains with a sinister reputation that a group of holidaying young people and a boy take shelter in when the road ahead is blocked by a landslide. There is nothing new in what follows but Lenzi has great fun dreaming up one imaginatively gory death sequence after another while scaring those left alive witless with a procession of ghastly spectres from the hotel’s bloody past. I thoroughly enjoyed this for what it was.

‘Donnie Darko’ (2001) by Richard Kelly – my first viewing of the 20 minutes longer Director’s Cut version and the first time I’ve watched it at all since it came out in the cinema. I remember being undecided about it back then but the rewatch came as something of a revelation. In my opinion the film fully deserves its much vaunted cult status and is something of a one-off leftfield masterpiece. Whether that is down to some happy chance alchemical reaction given the time and the creative team responsible [see ‘The Wicker Man’ (1973) as the perfect example of this] or is genuine evidence of filmmaking genius is still open to debate but the quality of the direction, script, acting, cinematography and Kubrickian use of music as well as the successfully Lynchian weirdness of tone, the laugh out loud black humour (and this film is much funnier than I gave it credit for) and the powerhouse emotional impact of the ingenious pay-off are undeniable. I stand converted!


‘Bride Of The Monster’ (1955) by Edward D. Wood Jnr – the infamous purveyor of schlock’s first horror film this nonsensical load of rubbish features Bela Lugosi as a mad scientist in control of a giant rubber octopus that he sends into the swamps around his lab in search of victims while ably assisted by Tor Johnson’s hulking mute manservant. There’s something about him requiring a bride, hence the kidnapping of a pretty female reporter, Loretta King, and a plan to create an army of atomic super-soldiers with which he will take over the world but the plot is merely an excuse for one diabolically misconceived horror set piece after another that had me rolling about in stitches. Impossible to dislike and every bit as godawful bad as its reputation suggests!

‘The Sweet House Of Horrors’ (1989) by Lucio Fulci – third of the ‘House Of Doom’ series and a shocking letdown after the unexpected excellence of ‘The House Of Clocks’ and gruesome fun of ‘The House Of Lost Souls’ (see above). It would appear that all Fulci’s efforts went into his first film in the quartet – one of his best – for this load of unmitigated crap has flung together “contractual obligation” written all over it. The film starts with a typically bravura double murder sequence that promises good things but from there the director’s heart clearly wasn’t in the project judging by the half-baked script, perfunctory direction, woeful acting (even by Italian B-picture standards) and shockingly poor special effects. With a bit of effort this tale of two children haunted by the overly-protective ghosts of their murdered parents could have been half decent but the intensely irritating over-acting of the child actors and piss poor ghost effects make this an ordeal to sit through and easily the worst Lucio Fulci film I have seen. A dreadful aberration for the great man.

‘Ringu’ (1998) by Hideo Nakata – only my second viewing of this famous shocker that kick-started the Asian Horror boom of the last 15 years (now all but fizzled out). What impresses is the engrossing subtlety of the script coupled with Nakata’s deliberately languid pacing that builds to several of the horror genre’s most effective shock sequences. It is this careful filmmaking craft and the admirably understated commitment of the cast, who convince us utterly of the supernatural threat they believe hangs over them, that makes the film still stand out from the slew of more lurid horrors that poured from the region in its wake. With the idea of the cursed video tape that condemns anyone viewing it to death one week later and the briefly glimpsed vision of that jerky, stick thin, long-haired spectre, Sadako, the filmmakers gave to the world a new nightmare for the 21st Century that Hollywood couldn’t possibly compete with.


‘The Witches’ (1966) by Cyril Frankel – this has long been one of my favourite Hammer Horrors and it was only in recent years that I realised it had been scripted by Nigel Kneale. It is one of his and the studio’s best films and has been criminally neglected, imo. Following the classic template of the new schoolteacher arriving in an outwardly welcoming English village that hides a dark secret – as Rosemary would put it, “All of them witches!” – the picture is an understated and subtly menacing exercise in slow build paranoia and suspense at its most gripping. Joan Fontaine is riveting and wonderfully sympathetic as the heroine who has just returned to teaching after a nervous breakdown and who is approached by one of her pupils in a state of terror at some upcoming summer festival. Her well meaning investigations and what she uncovers influenced everything from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ to ‘The Wicker Man’ and ‘A Place To Die’ to ‘Harvest Home’, ‘Children Of The Corn’ and beyond... A 1960s horror classic to cherish!

‘The House Of Witchcraft’ (1989) by Umberto Lenzi – the ‘House Of Doom’ series thankfully concluded with a return to decent quality, well mounted, traditional Italian horror. This is another loveably clichéd and predictable but thoroughly entertaining shocker from Lenzi. The plot is that old stand-by of the hero being haunted from youth by a recurring nightmare involving his own grisly demise at the hands of a hideous crone in some creepy gothic mansion in the country. Why are we not surprised when, one summer, he and his wife hire a holiday villa in the Italian countryside and upon arriving our hero recognises the house from his dreams. Of course – this being a horror film – they stay anyway! You can guess the rest... and, yes, it involves various guests being introduced for the sole purpose of being gorily offed by the be-warted old witch who haunts the place, etc. I really enjoyed it!

‘Ringu II’ (1999) by Hideo Nakata – one of those rare sequels that works as an engrossing expansion and semi-explanation of the supernatural mystery at the heart of the original, while introducing enough new elements and tantalising questions to make it more than just a tired rehash. The plot follows on exactly where the last film left off with a new set of protagonists seeking an answer to the inexplicable deaths and disappearances surrounding the urban myth of the cursed video tape and the vengeful ghost of Sadako. These now central characters appeared in support roles in the original and the film has the same perfectly judged pacing, quality writing and understated acting that make the shock moments, when they come, all the more effective. The original players from ‘Ringu’ also crop up either as themselves, in flashbacks or as warning ghosts – all of which makes for a pleasing sense of continuity and attention to detail throughout the project. In the end this one can’t ever have as iconic a resonance as the first film and the pay-off, while hauntingly weird, lacks the same killer punch but as sequels go this really is some achievement that more than rewards concentration from the viewer and really improved, for me, on a second viewing.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 20, 2013 - 05:19 pm:   

Here's how I'd rank the 'House Of Doom' series:

1. 'The House Of Clocks' (1989) by Lucio Fulci
2. 'The House Of Lost Souls' (1989) by Umbert Lenzi
3. 'The House Of Witchcraft' (1989) by Umberto Lenzi
4. 'The Sweet House Of Horrors' (1989) by Lucio Fulci
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 03:49 pm:   

And my most recent horror triple bill:

'The Black Dragons' (1942) by William Nigh - this is one of the better more entertaining pulp horror thrillers starring Bela Lugosi from the 1940s. The plot is strikingly original and imaginative for its time and involves a Nazi/Japanese plot to surgically alter a group of fanatical Jap agents, known as the Black Dragons, and switch them with various influential US politicians and business moguls to critically destabilise the Allied War effort from within. Lugosi is in fine form as the plastic surgeon who performs the operations and is then betrayed and sentenced to death so that he can never divulge what he knows. Escaping under an assumed identity and with a new face of his own (Lugosi's face) this black garbed avenging angel sets about killing one-by-one each of the Black Dragon agents in their new identities back in the States while avoiding the authorities who unwittingly protect them. An excellent fast paced and still effective chiller this unassuming little paranoid propaganda piece pre-empted the Communist sci-fi allegories of the 1950s and was virtually remade in 'The Outer Limits' episode "The Hundred Days Of The Dragon" (1963). An unfairly neglected gem of the era, imho.

'Beyond Evil' (1980) by Herb Freed - another entertainly clichéd schlock horror cheapie buoyed by all round excellent straight-faced performances by John Saxon, Lynda Day George, Michael Dante & David Opatoshu (every one a reliable familiar face). The plot has been done to death but still holds the attention and provides plenty of adequately mounted supernatural horror set pieces and gruesome deaths. Your typical newlywed American couple decide to purchase an old colonial villa on some unnamed Caribbean island despite the local villagers warnings that is haunted by the evil spirit of a witch who was murdered there centuries ago after having sold her soul to the Devil. Before very long the pretty blonde wife (Day George) is having strange nightmares, experiencing blackouts and exhibiting bizarre out-of-character behaviour and her husband (Saxon), in desperation, first turns to the doctors, who are no help, before grudgingly seeking the aid of a local wise man and healer (Opatoshu) who claims she is the victim of possession, etc... you can guess the rest. Hardly classic material but a fine and eminently watchable horror B-picture typical of its era.

'Ringu 0' (2000) by Norio Tsuruta - the last of the trilogy and an explanatory prequel to Hideo Nakata's first two films. I had steeled myself for an unnecessary cash-in so what was my joyous surprise when the prequel turned out to be even more memorable and scary than the excellent sequel (see above). Set 30 years before the events of 'Ringu' (1998) the story concentrates on the teenage Sadako as an initially sympathetic Carrie-like misfit being bullied at school and misunderstood, or even feared, by her elders - who whisper strange rumours about the circumstances of her birth and who her real father may be... How this tale of painful coming of age ties in with the fateful psychic experiment that kick-started the video-tape curse and led to Sadako's ultimate demonic fate makes for truly riveting horror entertainment, knowing what we know and fearing what we fear. An unexpectedly excellent and thoroughly satisfying conclusion and start to the trilogy with some of the scariest set pieces in the series and a great central performance by Yukie Nakama as the ill-fated heroine/monster. Here's how I'd rank the three films:

1. 'Ringu' (1998) by Hideo Nakata
2. 'Ringu 0' (2000) by Norio Tsuruta
3. 'Ringu II' (1999) by Hideo Nakata

One of the greatest horror trilogies ever made, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 03:58 pm:   

Now comes the fun part... planning tonight's triple bill, having so many new DVDs to pick from.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 04:31 pm:   

Decided on three classics I've never seen before:

'The Camp On Blood Island' (1958) by Val Guest - the notorious and long banned ordeal Hammer horror POW movie that ties in neatly with my reading of 'Empire Of The Sun' and watching of 'Colditz'.

'Deep River Savages' (1972) by Umberto Lenzi - more extreme ordeal jungle based horror with the notorious classic that spawned the Italian cannibal boom of the 1970s.

'Black Death' (2010) by Christopher Smith - and more people doing unspeakable things to each other in a dark forest. I've heard great things about this grimy and gruesome mediaeval ordeal horror starring Sean Bean and look forward to it.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.28.164.7
Posted on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 05:15 pm:   

I watched Black Death fairly recently. It's impressively grim and unpleasant in tone.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.151.5.205
Posted on Friday, June 21, 2013 - 07:54 pm:   

I thought BLACK DEATH was pretty good. Finally caught up with it a few weeks ago.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.25.120
Posted on Sunday, June 23, 2013 - 12:06 am:   

Ah, Bride of the Monster! I wish I could claim it influenced my Incarnate, but I hadn't seen it then.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.195
Posted on Sunday, June 23, 2013 - 03:58 pm:   

I love 'Incarnate', Ramsey! I keep coming back to it when I try to decide on my favourite of your novels. I'd rank it as one of the scariest and most disturbingly nightmarish things I've ever read or that you ever wrote. There is real visionary madness at work in those pages, imho.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.59.128
Posted on Sunday, June 23, 2013 - 04:09 pm:   

Same here. While I haven't read all of the later novels, this is a masterwork. For the very first time in my life (and I consider myself well-read) I had the sense of experiencing what some of the characters were experiencing. No mean feat. Some of the imagery will stay with me forever.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 93.97.250.111
Posted on Sunday, June 23, 2013 - 05:43 pm:   

The reason Ramsey Campbell is my favourite living writer is specifically because of his longevity, prolificism and humbling consistency of quality throughout his career. Robert A. Heinlein, Patricia Highsmith & Graham Greene had that same rare quality, for me. That's why they're my four favourite popular literary authors. William Golding, J.G. Ballard & Dostoevsky may have had greater genius but they didn't provide the sheer volume of pleasure that those four did and, in Ramsey's case, still do. Long may he reign.

My next novel, after 'Empire Of The Sun', will be the long awaited 'The Grin Of The Dark'. Can't wait!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 28, 2013 - 01:13 pm:   

Just ordered these DVDs by two of my favourite, though very different, oddball directors:

'Alice' (1988) by Jan Švankmajer - his feature debut and the greatest adaptation of Lewis Carroll's fantasy masterpiece ever filmed. I've seen it twice before, on Channel 4 and on the big screen at the QFT during a season of his works, and want to watch it again as part of my current chrono watch of all his films (currently up to his 1988 shorts).

'Bad Biology' (2008) by the one and only Frank Henenlotter - I only recently found out about this return to filmmaking by my favourite extreme horror comedy director. His first since the early 90s and reports I've heard sound like business as usual. Here's hoping... because he'd yet to make a bad or any less than riotously entertaining film up to this, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 28, 2013 - 04:43 pm:   

And couldn't resist ordering these three of the greatest "lost classic" British comedy horror films (from the absolute golden era of British comedy) ever made:

'Bedazzled' (1967) by Stanley Donen - Peter Cook & Dudley Moore's finest hour. In truth, if they had never appeared in anything else they would still be remembered as cult heroes for this uniquely hilarious and insidiously creepy ultimate retelling of the Legend of Faust. Satan has never been more charming nor more deliciously wicked than here...

'The Bed Sitting Room' (1969) by Richard Lester - by far and away the great doyen of the 60s best and most ludicrously underrated, and largely forgotten, masterpiece starring basically everyone who was anyone in British comedy at that time. It is the single best post-apocalypse sci-fi/horror movie ever made, coming from a time when the concept actually meant something terrifyingly real!

'The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins' (1971) by Graham Stark - the ultimate spoof portmanteau horror movie that beat 'The League Of Gentlemen' at their own game while Tigon Productions (and Amicus) were still at the height of their powers. This outrageously neglected masterpiece is one of the most deliriously rich comedic outpourings of its golden era (see above) and subtly disturbs as much as it hilariates... growing ever more disquieting afterward, the more one thinks about it.

The above three films represent British cinema and comedy at its absolute pinnacle of creative originality, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 93.97.250.111
Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2013 - 03:52 pm:   

At long last I picked up a copy of Roman Polanski's notorious gothic horror version of 'Macbeth' (1971) - I've longed to see this for as long as I can remember. Up there with 'Straw Dogs', 'A Clockwork Orange' & 'The Exorcist' as one of the great 70s big budget, big director shockers I grew up hearing awed whispers about without being able to see them. 'Macbeth' is going straight into the next triple bill along with something suitable to make a literary theme. Hmmm...
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.19.249
Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2013 - 10:54 pm:   

Oh, thanks for your thoughts on Incarnate, Stevie!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 01:15 am:   

And thank you for writing it, Ramsey.

I've just started 'The Grin Of The Dark' and that chapter with the clowns, even though nothing tangibly threatening happens, has already freaked me out.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 02:00 am:   

Stevie, Polanski's Macbeth is marvelous!!! Second-best Shakespeare-on-film to only Olivier's Hamlet, imho. With maybe Zefferelli's Romeo & Juliet a third (or maybe another one of Olivier's in third, too).
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 12:12 pm:   

I can't wait to see it, Craig, and believe I've come up with the perfect accompaniment:

'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1925) by Rupert Julian - the digitally restored silent masterpiece, that I've never seen in its entirety, featuring Lon Chaney in one of horror's most iconic roles. I've read the Gaston Leroux novel and it's bloody marvellous - up there with 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein', imo. I am a huge fan of silent cinema, particularly the comedies and expressionistic horror films. I could never grow tired of watching them. That's just one of the reasons I'm finding the plot of 'The Grin Of The Dark' so hugely enjoyable (if that's the right word for being scared witless).

'Macbeth' (1971) by Roman Polanski - the great man's notoriously gore drenched gothic horror version of my favourite Shakespeare play (imo, this was the true originator of the classic gothic melodrama, long before Walpole came on the scene). Seeing this at last will be the fulfillment of a long held personal ambition.

'Faust' (1994) by Jan Švankmajer - which I've just ordered and saw once before when it creeped the living hell out of me. Based on Goethe it is the most nightmarishly demonic film Švankmajer ever made. I'm shuddering now at the thought of seeing it again... much of the imagery floats in the back of my mind like some hideous half-remembered fever dream.

Now that's a triple bill I'm salivating at the prospect of watching!


But first I have to watch this:

'The Magician' (1958) by Ingmar Bergman - never seen it before and just ordered it!!

'Alice' (1988) by Jan Švankmajer - the most nightmarish visualisation of Lewis Carroll's insane universe ever put on film!

'Mulholland Drive' (2001) by David Lynch - for the first time!! Just ordered it too.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 04:47 pm:   

'Faust'... I'm shuddering now at the thought... much of the imagery floats in the back of my mind like some hideous half-remembered fever dream....

You've just described my memory of Faust, too. But not the film—the 1971 album by the German band of the same name.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 01:11 pm:   

My latest triple bill:

'The Camp On Blood Island' (1958) by Val Guest – one of the most controversial films Hammer Studios ever made this exposé of the war crimes inflicted on Allied POWs by their Japanese captors during the Second World War still has the power to shock, infuriate and move a modern audience. Filmed in pristine black and white and with grim-faced commitment by a cast of familiar British character actors – who look convincingly half starved - it pulls no punches in its sadly accurate portrayal of the Japanese military’s callous disregard for human life and dignity during that time of global madness [read J.G. Ballard’s ‘Empire Of The Sun’ (1984) or Lord Russell Of Liverpool’s ‘The Knights Of Bushido’ (1958) for irrefutable corroboration]. Thankfully this isn’t just a catalogue of atrocities but works also as a genuinely gripping and suspenseful thriller, apparently based on a real incident, in which the inmates of a POW camp led by the notorious sadist, Commander Yamamitsu, learn, via a concealed radio, that the atomic bomb has dropped and Japan has surrendered... to their horror – because Yamamitsu has already vowed to slaughter every one of them if Japan loses the war! Amid the petty cruelties, physical, mental and emotional torture (they force prisoners to burn unopened letters from home) and trumped up executions being carried out on a daily basis good old André Morell (in a fantastic performance), as a wonderfully stoic British Colonel of the old school, hatches a plan to destroy the Japanese radio room – a suicide mission for the randomly selected hostages held for decapitation after any acts of sabotage or escape attempts – and to keep the news from their captors for as long as possible while they concoct an emergency last ditch plan for a mass uprising to save as many lives as they can. This is not only one of the best Hammer Horrors I have seen but also one of the most brutally authentic war movies of its era, when memories were all too fresh. Excellent filmmaking all round that everyone involved should have been commended for rather than have had to face the storm of outrage from the press and subsequent banning – to avoid upsetting Japanese sensibilities – that the film was greeted with. These things happened. They in no way condone the use of the atomic option against civilian targets but, like the Nazi Holocaust, they should not be forgotten, denied or ever allowed to happen again. End of story.

'Deep River Savages' (1972) by Umberto Lenzi – this really rather good Italian exploitation rip-off of ‘A Man Called Horse’ (1970) was a stroll in the park compared to the horrors of Blood Island, for all its scenes of rape, torture, mutilation and bloody cannibalism. An intrepid British wildlife photographer, played winningly by Ivan Rassimov, hires a boat and a local guide and goes on a cruise up-river into the emerald wilds of the Thai rainforest. Of course, this being a horror film, he pays extra to be taken deeper into the jungle than the guide is comfortable with and, while diving for underwater shots of exotic fish, ends up caught in the net ofa tribe of primitive “savages” – who have butchered the poor guide – and is taken back to their village for display as some kind of flippered fish-man. From there the plot follows that of ‘A Man Called Horse’ quite closely with initial horror at the natives brutal customs, and their degrading of him as less than human, gradually giving way to mutual respect and acceptance on both sides – after a suitably gruesome initiation rite for our hero – followed by romance blossoming with the village beauty (the luscious Me Me Lai), fighting off of rivals, much explicit lovemaking in the bushes, the resultant pregnancy and trial of giving birth without medical aid, etc. But this idyllic if somewhat unhygienic existence, complete with a little son, is doomed to be short lived when talk of the dreaded Kuru venturing into their territory is heard! The Kuru are a marauding rabble of stone age cannibals whose bloody raids introduce the explicit gore element that made the film notorious and spawned the Italian cannibal boom of the next ten years. There is only one scene of savagely naturalistic rape, murder, dismemberment and eating of human flesh but it sears the senses and is all the more effective for its isolation... in the same way that scene in ‘Deliverance’ (1972) affected the viewer. Overall this is a great old-fashioned adventure movie of survival in the wilderness and fascinating culture clash (I liked how no subtitles were used so we are left as much in the dark as the protagonist as to what is being said about him) and benefits immensely from having been filmed entirely on location. We are kept guessing right up until the final scene as to the hero’s ultimate loyalty and whether he will ever return to civilisation which provides rich emotional suspense and a powerful denouement. One of the best films of its kind that would only be bettered by Deodato’s apocalyptic ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ (1980).

'Black Death' (2010) by Christopher Smith – the latest horror offering from this talented British auteur is easily his best and most accomplished film to date, as well as his most harrowing and thought provoking. I absolutely loved ‘Creep’ (2004), thoroughly enjoyed ‘Severance’ (2006) and, after initial reticence, found that ‘Triangle’ (2009) really grew on me as a clever and rather surreal reinvention of the slasher genre... but ‘Black Death’ is something else altogether and may even have a touch of genuine profundity about it. This unrelentingly grim and gore splattered wallow in mediaeval barbarism and superstition is a fantastically convincing and gripping horror adventure with immaculately filthy period detail and a dark greyness of moral tone that perfectly captures the godless essence of the times, when the black plague ruled supreme and terror and religious persecution stalked the land. Sean Bean gives his best performance in years as the fanatical “Soldier of God” sent on a “Holy Mission” with his band of zealous cut-throats, protected by the blessing of the Church, in search of a fabled village of witches whose sorcery has kept them free from the Black Death at the price of their souls. They enlist the aid of a naive young monk, intensely played by Eddie Redmayne, as their guide through the dark forest and mist-swathed marshes, in which he grew up, that are said to hide the infernal village. Various obstacles are overcome along the way, including much satisfyingly bloody swashbuckling, before they reach their goal... a seeming Paradise nestled in a world of cruelty and pain. The film then turns into one of those great “outwardly welcoming small community that hides a dark secret and from which there is no escape” horror yarns, that I love so much, but, more than that, the overriding theme develops into a genuinely riveting examination of what truly defines Good and Evil, with all the surviving members of the expedition, most notably sad-eyed John Lynch (in another great performance), having to face soul-shattering moral dilemmas that challenge all their previously held conceptions of God and the Devil, salvation and damnation. This is brilliant filmmaking of real passion and guts in its remorseless tackling of the big philosophical questions concerning morality - rather than just being happy to entertain as another B-movie potboiler. It also contains one of the single hardest to watch torture sequences I have ever seen - on a par with Laurence Olivier’s drilling of Dustin Hoffman’s teeth in ‘Marathon Man’ (1976) but involving the whole body – and has one of the bleakest and most shattering endings of recent years. An unusually intelligent modern horror classic that is ripe for rewatching and heated debate, imo!


And next up:

'The Magician' (1958) by Ingmar Bergman.
'Alice' (1988) by Jan Švankmajer.
'Mulholland Drive' (2001) by David Lynch.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.59.128
Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 03:42 pm:   

Omg, you've never seen Mulholland Drive!? Another experience I envy you. I don't think I spoil your pleasure by saying you shouldn't try to figure out what's going on from the word go. At least one complete website has been dedicated to the puzzle that this film really is. Lynch's masterpiece, without any doubt. There's one scene I cannot bear to watch. Guess which one.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 04:57 pm:   

I missed it in the cinema at the time, Hubert, and fate decreed that I never got round to seeing it until buying the DVD this week. Really looking forward to it!
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 05:17 pm:   

Your mind will be blown with Mulholland Drive, Stevie. I believe I've worked out the major puzzle of the film... but the little puzzles, well, that might take some time. And yeah, Huw, there are scenes that make you jump, and a few disturbing moments have burned indelibly into my consciousness. Naomi Watts may never have been better.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 05:39 pm:   

I've never seen Mulholland drive either. mainly because it was directed by david Lynch.

I just don't get the adulation given to him. The only one of his films I've seen and liked was Blue velvet.

The only thing I took away from Eraserhead was confusion. It was a silly, unintelligable mess of a film. My first words on leaving the cinema after watching it were "is that it?". I hated it.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 06:13 pm:   

Don't let that deter you, Weber—I'm actually in semi-agreement with you on Eraserhead, I didn't care for it.

***sorta spoilers, I suppose***

No director has gotten closer to capturing on film what dreams are like, than David Lynch. Mulholland Drive to me is 2/3's a dream; Inland Empire (get it? "inland empire"?) is 100% dream. Like our dreams, they are chaotic, jumbled, non-sequiter, terrifying, fuzzy, romantic, surreal, disturbing, aching, semi-logical, interpretive. Give him another shot, with something else—maybe something less outré, like The Elephant Man or The Straight Story.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, July 05, 2013 - 12:14 pm:   

I seriously don't understand how anyone could fail to be impressed by 'Eraserhead'. In my opinion it is one of the most stunningly assured and original directorial debuts ever made. A film that was made on a shoestring budget by an amateur director with a cast of non-professional actors and that changed cinema forever. We can trace the influences that led up to it but David Lynch's first masterpiece was something no one had even imagined possible before... the filming of a nightmare that takes the viewer deeper inside the mind of the dreamer than has ever been accomplished by any other director - Dreyer, Bergman & Svankmajer included.

I'll never forget the mind altering effect it had on me when I first saw it as a teenager late one Friday night on telly in the early 80s. All I heard the next week in school was... "Did you see it?!"

No one could make head nor tail of it but the universal consensus was that those lucky enough to have caught it had witnessed genius at work.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, July 05, 2013 - 12:19 pm:   

I agree with you on 'Inland Empire', Craig. In my opinion it is one of the most important surreal horror films ever made and Lynch's crowning achievement as a director. It even tops 'Eraserhead' in the fucked up weirdness stakes and is an utterly hypnotic experience to sit through.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.88
Posted on Saturday, July 20, 2013 - 07:44 pm:   

Fuck!! Yes, yes, yes!! Bugger, I almost came there!

Just picked up one of my all time favourite films that I love unconditionally after only one viewing about ten or fifteen years ago one night on Film 4. It is one of the great towering cinematic masterpieces, by one of my all time favourite mad genius directors, of the 20th Century and I love it, love it, love it!!!!

Imagine a weird and funny and surreal as fuck combination of the genius of Charlie Chaplin & David Lynch at their most inspired and hypnotically fascinating and you may have some idea of the film I refer to.

It was made in the 1960s... name that insane career ending masterpiece. Anyone?

Except Weber or Tony or Sean as I already texted them after wiping the jissm off my jeans.

A film as great as '2001 : A Space Odyssey' or 'Once Upon A Time In The West' from the same era - and that's my only clue.

Okay, another clue... this director would have loved 'The Grin Of The Dark' and he's ridiculously hard to see these days. Bit of a forgotten auteur... but not by me!!!!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.239.243.86
Posted on Saturday, July 20, 2013 - 08:26 pm:   

Currently watching Michael, a remarkably good film made all the more disturbing for its naturalistic and subdued treatment of some sensationalist subject matter. The way it implies events is nothing short of masterly. Was it made before or after the Fritzl case broke? I'm going to follow it up with Haneke's The Castle - the only one of his early films i've not seen, and for some much needed light relief, i think i'll watch Coraline. If there's still time before bed, i night throw in Watchmen.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 93.97.250.111
Posted on Saturday, July 20, 2013 - 08:38 pm:   

Thanks for not spoiling the surprise, Weber! Now I'm off to see 'Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life' with the woman. It's their best film, IMO, and I haven't seen it in 20 odd years. It's been a great day!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.105.222
Posted on Saturday, July 20, 2013 - 10:40 pm:   

I can't remember the last time a film left me that shell shocked. Possibly Snowtown.

If you haven't seen Michael, find a copy. (The German film not the Hollywood piece of shit with the same title)
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.239.243.29
Posted on Sunday, July 21, 2013 - 01:04 am:   

And i now officially have a new favourite animated film. Coraline is an amazing achievement. Creepy, funny, looks fabulous and a great story. Now for the last film of the night, haneke directing a film version of a kafka novel. Sounds like a dream combination.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.13.94.61
Posted on Sunday, July 21, 2013 - 11:31 am:   

Stevie - are we thinking of another kind of castle?
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.59.128
Posted on Sunday, July 21, 2013 - 11:42 am:   

Saw "I comme Icare" for the first time, with a chilly (as always) but exceptionally good Yves Montand. Partially based on the JFK assassination, it's in the line of "Z", "État de Siège", "Three Days of the Condor" and other political films of the day. Fabulous music by Ennio morricone.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, July 21, 2013 - 02:34 pm:   

Not a castle, Ramsey. A complete city...
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.13.48.212
Posted on Sunday, July 21, 2013 - 10:51 pm:   

Ah - not Shanks, then!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.140.62
Posted on Sunday, July 21, 2013 - 11:50 pm:   

Never heard of 'Shanks', Ramsey, but thanks for the recommendation. Think silent comedy... almost.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.140.62
Posted on Monday, July 22, 2013 - 12:12 am:   

Hang on, Ramsey. I have seen 'Shanks' and it was made in 1974. That was the weird Marcel Marceau thing I remember seeing once when I was young and really didn't appreciate at the time.

The film I mean was made in the 60s and bankrupted its mad genius director. It is a masterpiece like everything he made over a 30 year career.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.105.222
Posted on Monday, July 22, 2013 - 01:13 am:   

If it wasn't for his name on the front of the packaging, I wouldn't have thought The Castle was a Haneke film.

Where's there stunning photography and composition? Where's the keeping the audience guessing? The voiceover tells us what the characters are doing as they do it, and why...

I'm glad I picked up the copy for £5 in Fopp and not the £20 copy (same edition) in HMV round the corner...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, July 22, 2013 - 12:45 pm:   

I've been off work and that busy enjoying the sun this past two weeks that I haven't had a chance for a triple bill.

Still in the pipeline:

'The Magician' (1958) by Ingmar Bergman
'Alice' (1988) by Jan Švankmajer
'Mulholland Drive' (2001) by David Lynch

Followed by:

'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1925) by Rupert Julian
'Macbeth' (1971) by Roman Polanski
'Faust' (1994) by Jan Švankmajer
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, July 22, 2013 - 12:51 pm:   

And the 1960s film I was raving about above is not, strictly speaking, a horror film but rather a weird, surreal, Kafkaesque, absurdist comedy nightmare of epic dimensions. The finest and most visionary ever made, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - 12:46 pm:   

No one worked it out yet?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.185
Posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - 10:45 pm:   

Ok... if no one can name the film in the next 24 hours then I'll have no option but to tell you.

1. It was made in the 1960s.
2. It was the director's fourth of five films.
3. It bankrupted him.
4. It is an unqualified masterpiece.
5. It was a surreal pseudo-silent comedy based on the works of Chaplin & Keaton.
6. It has all the genius of Kubrick in his prime.
7. I've only seen it once and fell instantly in love even though I hadn't a clue what it was "about".
8. The mad genius director was born out of his time but achieved artistic emortality.
9. He was a lovely human being and that comes across in every frame of every film he ever made.

If that isn't enough clues then Ibgive up ffs!!!!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.239.243.20
Posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - 10:55 pm:   

Transformers?
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - 01:29 am:   

Hang on, that's not a fair list of clues, Stevie! How the hell would *I* know what you saw once and fell in love with but didn't have a clue about?!

And "unqualified masterpiece," meaning...?

But could it be... The Fearless Vampire Killers?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - 12:38 pm:   

Nope...

As I said above, I'd rank the film alongside '2001 : A Space Odyssey' and 'Once Upon A Time In The West' as one of the indisputably great cinema masterpieces of the 1960s. My only having seen it once and been blown away by it - despite the complete lack of any discernible plot - is a clue given the sort of films I tend to admire, as waffled about at length on here.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - 04:17 pm:   

And the film is...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - 04:22 pm:   

'Playtime' (1967) by Jacques Tati.

One of the most remarkable works of cinema ever made, imho.

I've decided to collect all five of his films and watch them in chrono order. Sheer genius!
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.25.57
Posted on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - 11:12 pm:   

Forgive me, Stevie - I somehow misread your original post as saying that the film had only just been released on home video. Yes, it's wonderful - inexhaustible, I'd say. Comedy refined to the level of abstraction, almost.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - 11:54 pm:   

It's one of those perfect films that's been floating about in my consciousness, Ramsey, since my one and only chance viewing of it on telly many years ago. I hadn't come across the DVD until picking it up for £4 the other day.

I'd never seen anything like it before or since. Weird, hypnotic, beguiling, poignant, surreal and very, very funny with loads of heart and the chilly formal brilliance of Kubrick at his best. You eye literally doesn't know where to look the compositions are so stunningly detailed. I'd hold it up as a perfect example of Cinema as High Art.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.13.56.21
Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 11:57 am:   

I'd agree with all that, Stevie. We have the BFI Blu-ray, which is splendid. I was lucky enough to see the original Cinerama release. That version is said to be lost, but I wish I could recall the differences or at least read an account of the missing footage.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 01:17 pm:   

I've yet to see his fifth film, 'Trafic' (1971), and have just discovered there was a sixth that I'd never heard of... 'Parade' (1974)!!

Also his only surviving unfilmed script, 'The Illusionist', was turned into an animated feature homage by Sylvain Chomet in 2010. Apparently "Tati" appears in it in animated form and the movie was highly praised by the critics as a suitable swan song to his extraordinary career.

As for 'Jour De Fete' (1949), 'Monsieur Hulot's Holiday' (1953) & 'Mon Oncle' (1958)... need I say more?
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.29.140
Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 02:40 pm:   

The Illusionist is good - unusually melancholy, though. Trafic has some fine stuff. Parade - well, don't expect too much, but I'm glad I saw it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 03:45 pm:   

I've read 'Parade' (I'm assuming this refers to a parade of fools) was made for television as a record of a circus performance with Tati as a clown. As such I can't imagine it bearing comparison to his cinema films. But anything with the great man in it has to be essential viewing!

Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd & Tati... the four gods of silent comedy, imho. I was never that fussed on Mr Bean. Too mannered and obvious for my liking.

What are your thoughts, Ramsey?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 04:08 pm:   

Sweet Jesus!! I've just discovered the complete short films of Buster Keaton box set is available on Amazon for a paltry £25!!!!

Roll on pay day!! Most of these I've never seen before! It's like lifting a rock and finding the Hope Diamond under it!!!!

Thanks for reigniting my love of silent comedy, Ramsey!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, July 26, 2013 - 12:33 pm:   

Anyway, back to the horror triple bills. Tonight (as my pay won't be in until tomorrow) on Stevie TV Ingmar Bergman, Jan Švankmajer & David Lynch go head-to-head in a battle of the giants!

I haven't seen 'The Magician' (1958) or 'Mulholland Drive' (2001) before but this will be my third viewing of 'Alice' (1988) - arguably Jan's masterpiece and a cabinet of wonders as inexhaustible (love that word) as Ramsey correctly stated 'Playtime' to be.

You can take your join-the-dots textbook Hollywood blockbusters and stick them where the sun don't shine, imo.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.13.90.58
Posted on Friday, July 26, 2013 - 01:17 pm:   

By gum, that's a great bill!

I'm very fond of your quartet of silent comedy, Stevie, but I always return to the genius of Laurel and Hardy. I've also seen quite a few splendid rediscovered films of the period by Leo McCarey - with Charley Chase (Mighty Like a Moose), Martha Sleeper and Gene Morgan (Pass the Gravy), Anita Garvin and Marion Byron (A Pair of Tights) - all hilarious.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.2
Posted on Friday, July 26, 2013 - 01:35 pm:   

No one is a bigger Laurel & Hardy fan than me, Ramsey, and I love their silent shorts but, I'm sure you'll agree, they didn't truly come into their own as the greatest comedy duo of all time until the advent of sound. Their films of the 1930s are the finest and funniest cinema comedies ever made, imo.

But the timeless surreal visual comedy of the silent era reached its peak with Chaplin, Keaton & Lloyd and the tradition was turned into something truly unique in cinema by Tati. You know the story about his visiting of Stan Laurel, Mack Sennett & Buster Keaton in their twilight years as a goggle-eyed stammering fan? To have been a fly on the wall, eh, Ramsey.

Must check out those other silent comedies you mentioned. Thanks!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, July 26, 2013 - 04:25 pm:   

Their voices perfectly suited their on-screen personas and completed them as performers. Add to that the inspired dialogue and verbal jokes that were added to their mastery of visual slapstick and the end result was the most perfect practitioners of cinematic comedy who have ever lived. Few things make me cry with laughter but Laurel & Hardy never fail to, Ramsey.

What did you think of The Marx Brothers? For me, along with the films of Woody Allen and Monty Python, they complete the list of cinematic comedy genius. The most rarified list of them all. Other people have been funny on film but genius? Not in my experience.

I bet I've forgotten someone!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, July 26, 2013 - 04:30 pm:   

Oops... apologies to Preston Sturges!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, July 27, 2013 - 12:29 pm:   

Bloody hell! What a night! One of the most memorable cinema experiences I've ever had in the comfort of my own living room. My mind is dancing here with wild thoughts and allusions. Every one of those films was a bona-fide masterpiece of weird cinema.

From the sublime Hammeresque gothic horror of Bergman, that surely must have been some inspiration on Bava's 'Mask Of The Demon' (1960), to the nightmarish visual trickery of Svankmajer's terrifying adaptation of Carroll's innocent whimsy, and the stunning inversion of LA crime/mystery noir into something utterly bewitching and scary as feck by Lynch (I'm still trying to get my head round it but was somewhat reminded of Bradbury's 'Death Is A Lonely Business'). These are films to completely rejuvenate one's faith in moving pictures as one of the human race's greatest art forms. An incredible experience!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, July 27, 2013 - 12:43 pm:   

That's 'Pacific Rim' well and truly flushed out of my system.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2013 - 05:26 pm:   

I've just ordered a load of the great Universal horror movies cheap off Amazon and was wondering if anyone here knows if 'The Invisible Man Returns' (1940), directed by Joe May, is available anywhere on DVD? It was Vincent Price's horror film debut and was made as a direct sequel to James Whale's 1933 classic. I'm very keen to see it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2013 - 05:53 pm:   

Also ordered the definitive releases of several silent horror classics that I've never seen before and know only by reputation:

'Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde' (1920) by John S. Robertson - with the famous John Barrymore performance requiring no make-up.

'The Golem' (1920) by Paul Wegener & Carl Boese - with the clay man brought to life that was such a major influence on Whale's 'Frankenstein' (1931).

'The Phantom Carriage' (1921) by Victor Sjöström - a ghost story, featuring Death as the antagonist, that, apparently, was a major influence on Ingmar Bergman. The director, Sjöström, was unforgettable as the old professor in 'Wild Strawberries' (1957) - my favourite Bergman film that I have seen.

'Häxan' (1922) by Benjamin Christensen - which I'm actually a bit nervous about viewing, going by everything I've heard... a satanic horror masterwork that was banned until the late 60s when it was rediscovered, by William S. Burroughs, and released in heavily cut form. The director, Christensen, a right scary looking bloke, was a student of the occult and one time associate of Aleister Crowley. The no-holds barred scenes of diabolism, torture and sexual depravity - all filmed at night by firelight - are said to be shockingly explicit even by today's standards. I can't fecking wait!!

I'm going through a bit of a silent movie renaissance at the moment. Thanks to 'The Grin Of The Dark'.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.21.247
Posted on Friday, August 02, 2013 - 12:32 pm:   

Stevie:

http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Man-Collection-Returns-Revenge/dp/B0002NRRRO/ref =sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1375439472&sr=1-3&keywords=invisible+man
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, August 02, 2013 - 01:16 pm:   

Thanks, Ramsey.

I can't really justify buying that set as I already have 'The Invisible Man' (1933) - marvellous movie!! - and I'm only really keen on seeing the one official sequel with Vincent Price. Those others were in no way connected to the H.G. Wells novel and only used the "invisibility" as a gimmick.

As an aside... I can't resist asking your opinion of those old Abbott & Costello meet the Universal monster movies? I was never a massive fan of the duo but have an irresistible Scooby Doo-like fondness for those five films. Watching anyone gurning and running around looking comedy scared when pursued by "real" monsters has always been a guilty pleasure of mine - as perfected by Stan & Ollie in 'The Laurel And Hardy Murder Case' (1931). Stan closing the fleeing Ollie in the understair cupboard with the ghost is possibly my favourite moment in comedy cinema. I fell in love with them after watching that one as a very young child and being scared and laughing myself sick (literally) at the same time. I think, if I'm honest, that well done comedy horror is my favourite of all the genres.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, August 02, 2013 - 01:29 pm:   

The only other time I can ever recall laughing myself sick - I laughed that hard cornflakes actually came out of my nose - was at the chimpanzee episode of Bilko sometime in the early 80s. But I digress...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, August 05, 2013 - 04:27 pm:   

'The Magician' (1958) by Ingmar Bergman has to be one of the pivotal films in the evolution of gothic horror cinema. That's not to say the film is merely a horror movie (as if!) but that it belongs to the genre, plays with it quite outrageously and gave us many of the key scenes and themes done to perfection - as only a mega-genius of Bergman's stature could possibly have achieved. The film opens with a weird troupe of performers travelling by carriage through an eerie mist-shrouded forest (in gloriously shot B&W) and, after encountering a lost soul and taking him along, they arrive at a small Hammeresque town complete with suspicious locals and an old Inn at which they stay for the night. What follows is a classic tale of public humiliation followed by supernatural revenge that is as frightening as it is cleverly subversive and really quite funny and charming. An almost unrecognisable Max Von Sydow plays the eerily silent and spooky looking Magician of the title, and leader of the troupe, Dr Vogler, in an echo of the black caped villains of silent cinema, and his enigmatic staring presence dominates the film. He communicates only through his oddball assortment of fellow performers and is met with barely concealed scepticism and sniggering hostility by the elders of the town, who demand a private performance of the "miracles" that his fame has spread far and wide before him. The ultimate of these scoffed at "miracles" is said to be his ability to raise the dead! There follows a carefully staged performance in which all the tricks are ruthlessly revealed as obvious fakes and the Magician and his assistants find themselves publically humiliated... until the impossible happens. And I wouldn't dare spoil one moment of what follows. It is one of the most brilliantly staged and truly frightening supernatural sequences of unholy revenge in all cinema - and so much more than just that. This is a shining jewel of atmospheric adult weird cinema at its most utterly beguiling and unpredictable. An almost perfect mixing of dream logic surrealism and painfully acute character study that stands as one of the crowning achievements of its director's career and this great genre we call Horror.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, August 05, 2013 - 04:33 pm:   

I suspect that Dr Vogler and his merry band may have had some influence on a certain black faced clown of The League Of Gentleman's invention. You all know the one...
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

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Posted From: 92.8.18.49
Posted on Monday, August 05, 2013 - 10:59 pm:   

Not an Abbott or Costello fan, Stevie.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, August 05, 2013 - 11:33 pm:   

I figured that, Ramsey. Their humour was too obvious and actually quite cruel for my liking. If only the monsters had caught them.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
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Posted From: 80.239.243.192
Posted on Monday, August 05, 2013 - 11:36 pm:   

Although they are responsible for the Hoo's on first base sketch which is one of the greatest of all time.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 12:07 am:   

But Abbot & Costello made at least three fine and still eminently watchable comedies: Who Done It? (1942), the justly famous Abbot & Costello Meets Frankenstein (1948), and Abbot & Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949).
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.159.61.246
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 12:31 am:   

I can't stand Abbott & Costello. When folk find out how much I love Laurel & Hardy they always seem to think I must also love A&C.

I bloody don't.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
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Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.105.15
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 01:35 am:   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbJwwJ33TEI

If you don't think this is genius dialogue...


and of course it led to stuff like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zykLGUqr2CE
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 12:09 pm:   

Abbott & Costello were moderately talented comedians who were fortunate enough to come along at the right time and, because of their physical looks, fill the gap left in the public consciousness by the waning of Laurel & Hardy and the golden era of comedy cinema - that really ended with 'A Chump At Oxford' in 1940. Likewise the cartoon violence of The Three Stooges "replaced" the anarchic genius of The Marx Brothers at the same time and on-screen comedy was never as inspired or damn hilarious again.

Having said that I do remain fond of the Abbott & Costello meet the Universal monsters series because of the quality production values and thrill of seeing all those famous bogeymen escaping into the world of comedy. If only it had been Laurel & Hardy but we can't have everything and 'Habeus Corpus', 'Do Detectives Think?', 'The Laurel And Hardy Murder Case' (both versions), 'Oliver The Eighth' & 'The Live Ghost' as well as the haunted maze sequence in 'A Chump At Oxford' show us a perfect realisation of true comedy genius having spine-chilling fun with the horror genre.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

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Posted From: 92.13.54.251
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 12:51 pm:   

"Who's On First" is apparently based on earlier routines by other comedians, though A & C did elaborate on those, supposedly.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.159.61.246
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 01:09 pm:   

Yes, and there are many variations of the routine, including the Will Hay/Charles Hawtrey "How Hi is a Chinaman" one, from the early 'thirties.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 03:56 pm:   

As I said... moderately talented comedians who happened to come along at the right time in history to capitalise on the greats who had already perfected cinema and comedy as a match made in heaven.

Think about it. Who replaced Abbott & Costello in the public consciousness in the 1950s? Martin & Lewis. Need I say more?
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Hubert (Hubert)
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Posted From: 178.116.57.131
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 07:18 pm:   

The genius of Laurel & Hardy stuff is that even infants will laugh when they see it. The Marx Brothers are fine, too, but depend more on snappy lines and intricate situations imho.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

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Posted From: 81.159.61.246
Posted on Tuesday, August 06, 2013 - 10:17 pm:   

I think so far as Laurel & Hardy go that I always feel a warmth towards them which I never felt towards any other double act (apart, maybe and to a lesser extent, from Morecambe and Wise).
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 11:45 am:   

The genius of Laurel & Hardy is that they didn't have to try to be funny - they were naturally two very funny men.

Their instantly appealing comedic appearance, superb character acting ability (which is a lot more subtle than they are generally given credit for), consummate skill as performers, both of visual and verbal comedy, and the endearing warmth of their personalities and abiding friendship with each other (on and off screen), coupled with the hard times of global depression that their antics provided a much needed antidote for, while reflecting all the darkness but also all the fortitude of the times, is what makes them stand head and shoulders above any other comedy duo or performer you could care to mention.

The gods smiled on us when they put those two men together.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 11:56 am:   

Hubert, The Marx Brothers cracked me up as a nipper every bit as much as L&H. I grew up loving Harpo as the ultimate silent clown - just thinking about his dopey face now makes me grin - but as I got older I came to appreciate the inspired wisecracks and verbal routines of Groucho & Chico every bit as much. They covered all the comedy bases and their films still stand as split-your-sides funny comedy masterpieces imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2013 - 04:27 pm:   

How do I even begin to describe the nightmarish joys of 'Alice' (1988) by Jan Svankmajer?

I'm only glad I re-read the Alice books before watching it as they acted as some kind of whimsical antidote in my subconscious to Jan's utter trashing of the laugh-out-loud cosiness of Lewis Carroll's most famous tales. Watch this film and you won't be laughing... squirming in spellbound fascination and horror more like!

The film begins with a bored little girl idly tossing pebbles into a stream in an idyllic conutryside setting. Then she dozes off - and all bets are off. When she "reawakens" she finds herself in a dusty old room full of cobwebbed antiques and stuffed animals, one of which, a white rabbit, proceeds to rip the nails from its mountings and come to terrifying life. From there she follows the sawdust leaking monstrosity through a bleak muddy wilderness and into a desk drawer to Get-Me-The-Fuck-Out-Of-Here Land!!!!

All the scenes from Carroll's odyssey are present and correct but inhabited by the most monstrous collection of stop motion animated creatures I ever laid eyes upon - or ever want to again. The girl stumbles through it all in a mixture of baffled childhood innocence (it does exist, Joel) and utter terror that communicates itself to the shell-shocked viewer in the most indescribably unsettling terms just about imaginable.

Surrealism and nightmare logic are the order of the day in this stunning fantasmagoria of all our worst and earliest fears. As just one example of how the director utterly subverts Carroll's vision; when the Queen of Hearts cries "Off with their heads" in this version the white rabbit himself is only to willing to oblige with a wicked looking pair of rusty scissors that make the final trial sequence one of the most nightmarishly terrifying things I or Alice has ever experienced. No spoilers... but don't show this one to the kids lightly and if you are an adult of a particularly nervous or impressionable disposition the AVOID AT ALL COUNTS!!!!

This is Svankmajer's masterpiece and, in my opinion, the greatest part-animated movie that has ever been made. Just wait till you see real life Alice turn into a moving Victorian doll from all our worst nightmares... nuff said!

Best watched with the short film 'Jabberwocky' (1971) as the perfectly nightmarish intro - as I did.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, August 08, 2013 - 11:22 am:   

Before writing up my thoughts on 'Mulholland Drive' I feel compelled to watch it again tonight. It's very much one of those kind of films. Perhaps the best surreal headfuck mystery horror ever made?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, August 08, 2013 - 11:31 am:   

Making the film seem even more bizarre is that Mulholland Drive and its environs featured heavily in McCammon's monumental 'They Thirst' - just finished. My initial thoughts on the film are that, as McCammon satirically commented upon Hollywood by having it destroyed by movie vampires, Lynch was doing the same by giving us what at first appeared a straightforward Chandleresque neo-noir mystery of attempted murder, amnesia and the search for identity and then morphing it into a hellish horror story of possession and doppelgangers... kind of. Really looking forward to seeing it again already!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, August 09, 2013 - 03:55 pm:   

'Mullholland Drive'... hmmmm. It is a work of genius but I don't think as unfathomable as many people make it out to be and certainly not as dense as his masterpiece 'Inland Empire'. The changes all occur after the experience of lesbian sex between the two lead characters. One naive and the other a femme fatale. This is a story of rediscovery of hidden and unsuspected depths to the self when all was thought in order and understood. The second half of the film is all about dislocation and rediscovery of the new self dressed up, brilliantly, as a typically Hollywood neo-noir mystery thriller. The body found rotting in the flat was the femme fatale's last "victim". That's my reading after a second utterly engrossed viewing. The mysterious figures who appear throughout the narrative, as if from another world, are enigmatic messengers of the subconscious desires that the central characters all feel but have failed to acknowledge... until reality comes knocking at the door. Lynch is a genius!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, August 09, 2013 - 04:13 pm:   

Fear and excitement at the adventure she has embarked upon, and that feeling of stepping into the unknown, are all part of Naomi Watt's character's journey of self discovery. The fact that Lynch decided to tell his tale as a comment upon a fiction that she is working upon - the film she desperately wants to be cast for - is the final clue to what is really going on.

Compare Laura Dern's similar but much more surreal and multi-layered journey in 'Inland Empire', again by way of a Hollywood narrative trying to tell the story of something from the European Arthouse school of filmmaking, and one can see the progression of Lynch's vision from playing with TV soaps to playing with the popular concept of what is called "cinema". Films like this are the true legacy of Griffith's & Chaplin's original vision of the medium as the next evolutionary step in humankind's conception of Art!
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

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Posted From: 178.116.57.131
Posted on Friday, August 09, 2013 - 04:21 pm:   

The body found rotting in the flat was the femme fatale's last "victim".

This is the bit I cannot watch. We all know what is coming the moment the blonde opens the front door, hand firmly pressed against nose. The music is pretty ominous, too. Even so, the Thing on the Bed comes as a complete shock and surprise. Magnificent bit of cinema. I can't explain why, but I've always thought the corpse is the blonde.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, August 09, 2013 - 04:38 pm:   

I think the corpse was the last blonde flatmate, Hubert. This turns Laura Harring's character, Rita, into a combination of Chandleresque femme fatale and predatory vampire/doppelganger - sucking the life out of those innocents she is attracted to who try to help her and possibly explaining the attempt to destroy her at the start of the film. It's one reading anyway and I'm quite happy with it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2013 - 07:12 pm:   

Been thinking more about 'Mulholland Drive' and I'm now convinced Rita was meant to symbolise the beguiling vampiric spirit that sucks in countless young pretty Betties every year and spits them out as drained husks the other side. The evil old man behind the dumpster, who "controls everything", is, of course, Satan. I'd don't believe it is mere coincidence that, when Rita reveals her true identity, her name has changed to Camilla. The story is more or less a symbolic updating of Le Fanu's famous sexual vampire story to modern day Hollywood.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2013 - 07:16 pm:   

And everything about it from the perfectly paced direction, to the tricksy neo noir script, the brilliant performances and the haunting use of music and colour is the work of a genius at the very peak of his powers. Second only to 'Inland Empire' for me.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2013 - 11:34 pm:   

Has anyone here seen Dario Argento's brilliant episode of 'Masters Of Horror' called "Jenifer"? That story bears some parallels to 'Mulholland Drive' in my mind albeit on a much cruder shock horror level.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Sunday, August 11, 2013 - 11:59 pm:   

Yes, I quite liked "Jenifer"! It watches like a well-written horror story: the episode is from a 1964 Creepy written by Bruce Jones, and illustrated by Bernie Wrightson—and reprinted here, complete: http://www.besthorrorcomics.com/pdf/Jenifer.pdf. One of the only gems Argento's done, amidst a long string over many years of disasters....
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, August 12, 2013 - 10:56 am:   

When the cowboy (symbol of old Hollywood) said, "Time to wake up, little girl", that was the moment the truth of the illusion, that is the Hollywood dream, came home to poor innocent Betty and she was subsumed into the nightmare existence of Diane, who had already been destroyed by the vamp/femme fatale's false promises. The whole thing is a richly symbolic deconstruction of what people want to believe about the L.A. Dream Factory and what it actually represents... the loss of the self and of the soul. I believe the demonic elderly couple released from the box by Satan at the end were accusatory guilt-ridden images of Mom & Pop back home and how horrified/betrayed she feared they would have been if they could see what had become of their "little girl".
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, August 12, 2013 - 12:32 pm:   

I don't believe anyone was dreaming, or even real, in 'Mulholland Drive'. The entire film was a symbolic satire on the lure of the Hollywood Dream populated by archetypes who were making a movie directed by David Lynch. As with Michael Haneke's 'Funny Games' (1997), Lynch is playing with the very concept of the need for a cohesive narrative or rules or templates in Cinema or indeed Art. He gives us a deconstructed modern day myth dressed up as a fairy-tale dressed up as a nightmare with all the stock Hollywood characters/archetypes present and correct.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

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Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, August 12, 2013 - 12:50 pm:   

I thought "Jenifer" was magnificent and seriously scary, Craig. In fact I'm a great fan of the entire 'Masters Of Horror' series (both runs) and believe it will come to be seen as something of a lost classic in decades to come. Even the relatively weaker episodes were always compelling and really well made while at its best the show was as great as any horror cinema or even 'The Walking Dead', imho.

I haven't seen any Argento (bar his two excellent MOH eps) later than 'The Stendahl Syndrome' (1996) which I loved and thought was a seriously underrated and deeply disturbing psychological thriller made with all the director's usual flair. I look forward to seeing his later films... dodgy reputations notwithstanding.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Monday, August 12, 2013 - 04:39 pm:   

I look forward to seeing his later films... dodgy reputations notwithstanding.

Hoo, boy. I don't want to pre-prejudice you, but I think you're going to be very unhappy, Stevie. At least two of them, imho—The Card Player and Do You Like Hitchcock?—are nothing less than awful (though the latter there was a TV movie, so I guess one could forgive it somewhat).

I really have to go back and watch the whole MOH series—I've only seen a few, but loved the ones I saw. It's so great that the creator or whoever else was involved, they chose to go to, indeed, masters of horror for material. (Argento, for example, directed another episode [which I've not seen yet] called "Pelts," from a story by F. Paul Wilson.) Thanks for reminding me of this series, Stevie... it had totally dropped off my mental radar!

I had lots and lots of theories about Mulholland Drive... but I should see it again before I opine. I did think it a movie that was 2/3s a dream, and then Naomi Watts wakes up for the last surreal 1/3. Beyond that—I must revisit.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 12:08 pm:   

Got my next long planned triple bill lined up for this weekend:

'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1925) by Rupert Julian - which I've only ever seen clips of before and this is the fully restored and remastered version.

'Macbeth' (1971) by Roman Polanski - a film I've longed to see ever since my teenage years due its extreme bloody horror reputation and the fact it's the only film from Polanski's glory days that I could never get to see.

'Faust' (1994) by Jan Švankmajer - I saw this once before, late one night on Film 4 back in the 90s, and it disturbed the living hell out of me. A dark satanic part-animated rendering of Goethe's immortal 'Faust' (1808-31) that I'm crapping myself at the thought of watching again. He takes the legend and breathes unholy life into it like never before...
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.13.61.203
Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 01:45 pm:   

I'm with Craig on those later Argentos, but I did think Non Ho Sonno rather better. And Dracula is at least fun - well, we thought so.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 11:55 pm:   

My plan with Argento, Ramsey, is to do a chrono watch once I've got all the DVDs - including the TV stuff. So it'll be a while till I get to the later ones. For me he is the best horror specialist director of them all and I admire him for always sticking with the genre (a bit like your good self).

I've only a few left to get so expect lots of Argento in upcoming triple bills.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, August 18, 2013 - 05:07 pm:   

What a bloody marvellous triple bill!! Watched back to back last night I was stunned by how unconsciously apt my choice of three films was. All I had planned was a literary theme, including; Gaston Leroux's great gothic horror novel, 'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1910), my favourite Shakespeare play, 'Macbeth' (1606), and Goethe's existential horror epic, 'Faust' (1806-31), but what I got was a fascinating trilogy of Faustian bargains struck with the Dark Arts for worldly success at the cost of the Soul. Can anyone on here see where I'm coming from?

Reviews and analysis to follow...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.102
Posted on Monday, August 19, 2013 - 02:09 am:   

The thematic trilogy I was referring to is this:

In 'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1925) the heroine sells her soul to the devil, in the form of Erik the Phantom, a "master of the dark arts", in return for his criminal sabotaging of the career of her rival so that she can sing the female lead in Gounod's 'Faust' (1859). All he asks in return is her love and obedience which she agrees to out of pure artistic ambition and then reneges on when the full horror of what she has tied herself to is revealed and all the sweet, beautiful music he has created is forever corrupted.

In 'Macbeth' (1971) the title character is a noble and loyal servant of the King, even unto death, until the powers of darkness, in the form of those hideous witches, reveal a possible future worldly glory he had never before even entertained for himself. They effectively offer him temptation, against his own inner nature, and a bargain, that if he chooses to believe in their prophecy he will fulfill it himself, whereas, if he had continued to scoff and explained away their initial success as coincidence, as was his first rational reaction, none of the horror that followed would have happened and his and Lady Macbeth's souls would have remained their own. Shakespeare externalised the evil in mankind as a dark tempting force from beyond every bit as much as in the legend of Faust.

As for Svankmajer's bollock shrivelling nightmare reimagination of Goethe's ultimate telling of that same satanic legend, 'Faust' (1994). Set in contemporary Prague it features a humble everyman character of no great ambition being lured forcibly into a satanic pact that, once accepted as real and embarked upon at face value, as with Macbeth's bowing to the superior power of the witches, leads remorselessly downward in a terrifying spiral of damnation. As each pinnacle of earthly success is scaled the narrative structure and look of the film becomes ever more surreal, fracturing the reality of the protagonist's world as completely as anything Ramsey Campbell or David Lynch ever imagined in their darkest moments of soul dread.

The overall message would seem to be that acceptance of the supernatural gives a reason to succumb to temptation as, if there are forces superior to us and in control of our destinies, then who are we to defy them. In their bargains with the mythical Phantom, the three witches and Mephistopheles himself we see as stark a depiction of the self deception at the heart of human existence as Art has ever provided us with. We choose our own destinies and the gods be merely the excuse we use to calm our collective conscience.

Get past the illusion of individuality and all that soul torment goes out the window, folks.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, August 19, 2013 - 03:07 am:   

For my next horror triple bill I've decided on a personal tribute to Hammer Horror with the "recent" film represented by 'The Wake Wood' (2011) by David Keating.

Now just need to decide on something from earlier than 1968 and something from their later period...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, August 19, 2013 - 01:10 pm:   

I've decided to go with some of the more obscure Hammer Horrors and have tried to pick as varied a selection of their output as possible:

'The Gorgon' (1964) by Terence Fisher - which I only have vague hazy memories of seeing as a kid but I remember being scared.

'Fear In The Night' (1972) by Jimmy Sangster - the last of their more subtle psychological thrillers and one that I believe I've never seen before.

'The Wake Wood' (2011) by David Keating - the film that marked Hammer's excruciatingly long awaited revival and I've heard nothing but good reports about it. Fingers crossed.

So that's mythological monsters, psycho thriller and rural witchcraft to look forward to...
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.10.67
Posted on Monday, August 19, 2013 - 06:39 pm:   

Wake Wood was pretty good but I thought it suffered from being a bit too similar to another movie/novel (which I won't name as it would count as a spoiler).
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - 04:20 pm:   

Back to last weekend's triple bill:

'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1925) by Rupert Julian was a majestic experience to sit through for an avid horror and classical music fan like myself. I love silent cinema and find it utterly hypnotic [only one of the reasons I reacted so ecstatically to last year’s wonderful homage, ‘The Artist’] but understand that it is a rarefied experience that takes more of a suspension of disbelief and acceptance of a different viewing mindset than most people nowadays are willing to invest. I count myself lucky to have been born at a time when silent cinema was regularly shown on TV as the peerless entertainment it still is. I grew up in love with Chaplin, Keaton & Lloyd [make way for Harold Lloyd!!], awed by Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ (1927) [a film I still insist is as much horror as sci-fi] and haunted in my dreams by Max Schreck levitating erect and nightmarish stills of Lon Chaney, and those eyes.

Rupert Julian’s epic melodrama still stands as one of the crowning achievements of that glorious era and has something of everything in its by-in-a-flash entertaining 93 minutes - operatically overplayed horror, including one of cinema’s undeniably great monsters, mystery, romance, humour, excitement and pathos – but, most of all, and what I found most impressive, was the soothing pleasure of letting the grand gothic imagery and magnificently emotional orchestral score just wash over me like some kind of ultimate mood experience in which the heightened unrealism of the storytelling (as with opera and ballet) creates the effect of looking in on another world and other beings that one can't imagine ever having actually existed on earth. It is this overwhelming playing with the primary senses of sight and sound, stripped of distracting dialogue and background noise, that makes watching the best silent movies such a profound experience. To give oneself up to and be swept along by such silent masterpieces as this is to be transported not only back in time but into a weird fantasy world as bewitching and disturbing as the promise of Fairyland itself.

Lon Chaney’s iconic make-up and intense performance gave us one of the great grotesques in cinema history, from any era, and still packs a punch today, after the marvellous unmasking scene and the impeccable restraint shown in the mesmerising build-up of mystery and suspense, as to just who or what is the half-glimpsed Phantom said to haunt the Paris Opera House. This is a horribly scarred (externally and internally) poor pitiful wreck of a man who has made himself into a Devil in human form, driven by hatred for the rest of the race who made him a pariah, yet humanised by his fanatical passion for great opera, and who meets his nemesis in the beautiful operatic understudy, Christine Daae, she with the face and the voice of an angel. Hopelessly in thrall he approaches her as a masked admirer and together they embark on a diabolical pact to ensure her immortality as one of the Great Sopranos, singing the part of Margeurite in Gounod’s ‘Faust’ (1859).

As one of the great tales of impossible unrequited love this story takes some beating and I can only wish that some 20th Century genius, like Igor Stravinsky, had chosen to turn it into the great musical Work of Art it deserved to be... rather than the cheesy musical we got! It would have worked equally well as one of the great operas or ballets but, as that never happened, the next best thing is to feast your eyes and your ears and let your higher emotions wallow in this perfect integration of unforgettable imagery and music – oh, to see it on the biggest screen possible with live orchestral accompaniment!

As a horror film this masterpiece is equally important as it virtually invented all the major tropes of the form and still manages to send shudders down the spine every time the unmasked Chaney is on screen, while his portrayal of a remorseless homicidal maniac with a penchant for elaborate cruelty is in no way played down – the gleeful murder sequences still have the power to unsettle the viewer – but, for me, the most horrific and poignant sequence of the film is the climactic chase and how it ends... in utter brutality, making us wonder who was the real monster all along. Magnificent filmmaking and a magnificent Work of Art!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - 04:37 pm:   

Btw, I have read Leroux's novel and it is every bit as magnificent!

One of the truly great gothic horror novels and one of the great love stories of all time.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - 05:02 pm:   

Having watched 'The Phantom Of The Opera' now it has given me an even greater appreciation of what Dario Argento was attempting and what he gloriously achieved with 'Opera' (1987). It is more or less a giallo remake for the rock 'n' roll generation and one of his greatest films, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, September 05, 2013 - 12:34 pm:   

My most recent and thoroughly enjoyable triple bill was:

'She Wolf Of London' (1946) by Jean Yarbrough
'The Pit And The Pendulum' (1991) by Stuart Gordon
'The Ruins' (2008) by Carter Smith

and lined up next:

'Häxan' (1922) by Benjamin Christensen
'The Devil Rides Out' (1968) by Terence Fisher
'Martyrs' (2008) by Pascal Laugier
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Thursday, September 05, 2013 - 04:44 pm:   

The Ruins was a great premise, but ultimately for me disappointing, if I'm remembering it correctly. I know I've seen that Pit and the Pendulum, but I remember nothing about it... it was with Lance Henriksen, right? Or maybe I'm thinking of that other Poe one....

I've long wanted to see Häxan, tell me how it is. Too, with Martyrs, which has made me hesitate hearing how graphic it is—yes, sometimes even I am rendered squeamish by potential displays of ugly violence. But I also hear it's quite good, so....
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 176.26.69.174
Posted on Thursday, September 05, 2013 - 06:25 pm:   

With The Ruins I thought the novel was superior to the film. The carnivorous plant becomes far more frightening in the novel as more of its nature and abilities are revealed.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2013 - 12:15 pm:   

A very brief rundown of instant reactions to my last nine horror films:

'The Gorgon' (1964) by Terence Fisher - another of Hammer/Fisher's stone cold classic gothic horrors with Cushing & Lee in entertainingly atypical roles and a haunting majesty to its tale of doomed love and ancient curses.

'Fear In The Night' (1972) by Jimmy Sangster - decent psychological suspense thriller with a great menacing performance by Cushing but would have worked better as an hour long 'Thriller' type TV episode and Sangster is no director.

'The Wake Wood' (2011) by David Keating - gloriously atmospheric and intelligent low key throwback to the classic folk horrors of the late 60s/early 70s. An extremely well done and satisfying minor classic of the form that builds to a wonderfully nightmarish climax.

'She Wolf Of London' (1946) by Jean Yarbrough - thoroughly engrossing and entertaining mixture of classic Universal horror atmospherics and Agatha Christie-like murder mystery with Mom from 'Lost In Space' playing cinema's first female werewolf... or is she? A cherishable one-off of no little originality.

'The Pit And The Pendulum' (1991) by Stuart Gordon - an unexpected joy from start to finish this marvellously OTT and riotously funny spoof of the Corman Poes has to be one of the most underrated horror comedies of the 90s with a fantastic eye-rolling pantomime villain performance by the great Lance Henriksen. It looks great too and Gordon doesn't shirk on the ridiculous gore effects. A truly wonderful and criminally neglected gem of its kind!

'The Ruins' (2008) by Carter Smith - I am so sorry I missed this on the big screen. It is one of the best made and best looking Lovecraftian horror films of recent years with a wonderfully tense, grim and gritty jungle set-up and a truly frightening and original monster. I'd put it on a par with J.T. Petty's 'The Burrowers' (also 2008) - what a great year for horror that was!!

'Haxan' (1922) by Benjamin Christensen - beautifully made and hypnotically fascinating portmanteau horror epic that takes us through the dark history of witchcraft and devil worship from ancient times to the present via various stunningly realised recreations of infamous cases and frighteningly imaginative scenes of black masses and conjurings of horned devils and hideous demons that still have the power to disturb the viewer. I'm about to watch it again in the 1968 version narrated by William S. Burroughs with a modern jazz score featuring one-time Mother Of Invention, Jean-Luc Ponty, on electric violin.

'The Devil Rides Out' (1968) by Terence Fisher - no introduction necessary... this is hands down Hammer, Fisher and scriptwriter Richard Matheson's great Horror masterpiece!! A film that sucks the viewer in and doesn't let go from first second to last. Ridiculously entertaining, breathlessly fast paced and gloriously straight faced with a pitch perfect cast giving their all and convincing us utterly that the diabolic convolutions of Dennis Wheatley's infamous pulp shocker actually do make sense! A near miraculous achievement by all concerned. I love this film!!

'Martyrs' (2008) by Pascal Laugier - Jesus Christ!!!! This is heavy shit and one of the most gruelling extreme ordeal horror films I have ever watched... as much because of the harrowing intensity of the acting as for the sickening violence and cruelty on display. It is also an unquestionable game changing masterpiece of modern horror at its most uncompromising and intelligent!! Only for those with very strong stomachs, folks.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2013 - 01:13 pm:   

For my next triple bill I've decided on a personal tribute to the late lamented Richard Matheson:

'The Incredible Shrinking Man' (1957) by Jack Arnold - one of my Top 10 films of all time and probably the most sucessful filming of any of Matheson's stories, scripted by the man himself, based on what is, for me, his best novel, 'The Shrinking Man' (1956). Haven't seen it in nearly 20 years and I can't fecking wait!!

'The Legend Of Hell House' (1973) by John Hough - again scripted by the great man himself, from his 1971 novel 'Hell House', and I've never seen it before!

'The Box' (2009) by Richard Kelly - based on Matheson's famous short story "Button, Button" (1970). Surely it can't be that bad...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.106.47
Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2013 - 02:25 pm:   

I thought the Box was excellent. Flawed by an overexplanatory and not entirely convincing script but really creepy throughout and it looks brilliant.

A snippet of conversation overheard from a couple of girls that left the cinema behind me after this film - "I feel really creeped out now but I don't know why"

I may have to rewatch Southland Tales. See if it's better second time round. Maybe watch it sober this time.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, September 24, 2013 - 03:47 pm:   

'Macbeth' (1971) by Roman Polanski is, without doubt, one of the great unassailable big budget cinema classics of the 1970s. In terms of directorial brilliance, beautiful location camerawork - in Northumberland with its glowering dark grey skies and rugged scenery (a million miles away from the stagebound adaptations we were used to) - and pitch perfect casting of serious yet relatively unknown British thespians who, crucially, all looked the parts they were asked to play and had the talent to go with it, and the inspired script’s reverential approach to Shakespeare's text while refusing to follow the stage directions and giving us cinema buffs all the spectacle, action, gore and horror we expect, Polanski, and Kenneth Tynan as co-writer, at the height of their powers, gave us what is the finest translation of the immortal Bard into the world of Cinema, as an Art unto Itself, that has ever been produced, imho.

The films strengths are legion. From the previously mentioned location cinematography, the mud and the blood and grime-caked costumes creating an almost palpable stench of the Middle Ages (think 'Monty Python And The Holy Grail'), the most casually naturalistic delivery of Shakespeare's text ever put on film (one accepts the language utterly as just the way these people talked), the inspired decision to film the soliloquies as interior monologues with the actor's faces subtly reflecting their thoughts, adding yet more to the realism of the production, the casting of great but little known upcoming British actors, rather than grandstanding stars, all of whom throw themselves into the famous parts as if their lives depended on them... Jon Finch (stunningly intense in the performance of a lifetime as Macbeth), the beautiful Francesca Annis (by turns cruel, seductive and fragile as Lady M), Martin Shaw (immensely tragic as Banquo - and making me fully understand why he came to despise being "famous" for the character of Doyle in 'The Professionals'), John Stride (chillingly slimy as a very "Iagoish" Ross), Terence Bayler (a fearsome force of nature as the avenging Macduff), Nicholas Selby (the essence of doomed regality as King Duncan) and with even Keith Chegwin getting a look in as a surprisingly effective youth of the court!!!!

There, that’s my gushing gut reaction praise for the film, as adaptation, out of the way... and so to my thoughts on ‘Macbeth’ as, perhaps, the finest horror story ever written, and to Polanski’s being drawn to the tragedy on the back of his own personal horror.

Macbeth is a born warrior and survivor who prides himself on his physical and tactical skill in battle and on his passionate loyalty to Scotland and who is loved and admired by all those who serve under him. As introduced, at the start of the story, Macbeth is also a man filled with pride and joy at the successful “man of action” hand that fate has dealt him, as trusted general to King Duncan, and who revels in his fierce friendship with his fellow warrior and loyalist, Banquo.

These two friends, in the aftermath of a glorious victory fought for the honour of King and Country, find themselves unexpectedly approached by the predatory powers of darkness in the form of three hideous witches (opening the film with perhaps the most unsettling intro sequence I have ever seen - where the hell did Polanski find the nightmarish crones he cast for these parts?!), who can sniff out a proud soul ripe for corruption without even drawing breath. Their plan is simplicity itself... they will plant the seeds of ambition in the garden of Macbeth’s pride by a series of seemingly impossible predictions leading to his “inevitable” crowning as King of Scotland – a position he never aspired to and laughs at the thought of even being considered for. Yet still the witches push their unholy clarity of vision, while refusing to elaborate upon the details, by a simple yet ultimately fatal initial prediction, regarding the Thane of Cawdor, that the two friends are stymied by having come true almost as soon as they leave the demonic trio. And thereby hangs the tragedy of Macbeth...

Who, when beset by superstitious dark thoughts, does a man inevitably turn to but the woman he loves, and how, when faced with the promise of her man attaining glory, does a woman inevitably react but with words of love and encouragement. Considering this was the Middle Ages, when a woman’s fate (apart from those witches) was entirely reliant on the success of her man, then Lady Macbeth’s motive for driving her hubby into an act of bloody murder and unforgiveable treachery is almost understandable. But she completely forgot to take into account the ferocity of Scottish nationalism and the flip-side of a soldier’s Pride when seduced by Envy and turned into unholy Wrath!

Are there parallels to be drawn with Roman Polanski’s career and that of Sharon Tate, happily ensconced in their Hollywood castle, and playing with the forces of LA darkness – from La Vey to Manson – until she pays the ultimate price and he is shot down in flames of ignominy at the very height of his glory? That is for the viewer to decide and for Roman to know and for the true story, perhaps, never to come out.

Personally, I see this version of ‘Macbeth’ as very much a cathartic exercise for the director. This is a tragedy that was invited in by a psychically damaged (from his trial-by-fire youth) great man losing sight of his place in the world and bowing to the temptations of ambition, power and fame. Polanski was still wrapped in profound grief as he was making the film and this cannot have failed to communicate itself to everyone else involved in the production, thus, I would suggest, giving the work its overpowering intensity. The graphic and brilliantly choreographed scenes of bloody violence, whether in combat or by stealthy murder, are completely convincing because of their unforced naturalism and chilling matter-of-factness while the famous scenes of supernatural horror, involving those awful witches and one of the most terrifying ghosts ever put on film (that sequence is a horror tour-de-force) create an overwhelming feeling of dread in the viewer from first scene to last – made almost unbearable by Polanski’s masterful use of heightened sound effects and ominous silences devoid of distracting music. There are also a number of supremely disturbing nightmare sequences that plague the sweating, tossing and screaming Macbeth and recall the equally surreal dreams of Rosemary from the director’s previous masterpiece.

Yes, I would rank this beautiful film as the single best and most authentic Shakespeare adaptation I have seen as well as one of the outstanding cinema masterpieces of its glorious decade. It is also one of the most effective gothic horror films ever produced. In all of that I am in complete accord with Craig's appraisal.

This was Roman Polanski at the absolute height of his directorial powers and at the lowest ebb of his life. Watch and wonder...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, September 24, 2013 - 04:06 pm:   

Jan Svankmajer's 'Faust' (1994) is set in contemporary Prague and follows the insidious induction of an unremarkable everyman character into a Satanic pact by the subtlest of means. While walking home from work one day he is handed a flyer by a pair of weirdly enthusiastic ordinary looking blokes. On getting home he absent-mindedly looks at the leaflet and discovers it is a map with a certain backstreet location highlighted. He then finds an egg (symbol of the soul) hidden inside a loaf he is slicing up for his tea and is disturbed by an errant chicken appearing from nowhere! That night his sleep is plagued by nightmares (or are they?) in which he sees the two strange gentlemen gazing up at him from the street below - their eyes hideously glazed like zombies while they clutch the aforesaid chicken. Next day he is compelled to follow the map to the derelict location it marks and from there all bets are off...

Note that this man, like Macbeth, did not ask the Devil into his life but was approached and seduced from outside. What he discovers in that rundown building defies belief.

Svankmajer throws all the demonically surreal imagery he has in his arsenal at the viewer as "Mr Everyman" turns into Dr Faustus and pits his wits against Mephistopheles himself in an attempt to learn the secrets of the universe and attain what every human being craves - reassurance and happiness.

The two previous films that most pointed the way to this surreal horror masterpiece are Emil Radok's seminal 1958 film, 'Doktor Johannes Faust', for which Jan supplied the nightmarish puppet effects, and the director's own early gothic horror masterpiece, 'Don Juan' (1969), with the return of those hideously clacking life-sized wooden mannequins.

Visual highlights include; Faust's first frenzied creation of a horribly animated clay homonculus that grows from embryo to monster before his terrified eyes (thus proving the efficacy of magic before his Soul has been given up), the summoning of a bollock shrivelling horned demon from Hell - that keeps morphing into an image of Faust himself, the mysterious old man with his newspaper wrapped pound of bloody human flesh being chased by a very determined dog, a graphic sex scene with a tittering wooden figure into which a vagina has been drilled, the Devil appearing on the streets of Prague swathed in body-length overcoat, slouched hat and scarf - to all but one unfortunate woman who cathes a glimpse of what lies under the brim, Faust forcibly encased in wood to become a living effigy himself (echoing Alice's transformation into a rosy cheeked Victorian doll) and so many other memorably diabolical scenes that seer their way into the stunned viewer's consciousness that I can't possibly describe or wish to recall them all.

This is a graphically explicit surrealist horror masterpiece that beats David Lynch & David Cronenberg hands down at their own game. And if I do ever watch it again it will be in many years time!!

For all the stream of consciousness madness, however, the film, like von Trier's 'Antichrist' (2009), is surprisingly faithful to the accepted horror movie template of an innocent individual digging ever deeper into things better left well alone... and the ending is a thing of petrifying perfection!!

Not one for the even slightly easily disturbed... or those who demand any kind of making sense.

Yes, it was that memorable a triple bill!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 12:54 am:   

For my next triple bill I've decided on a trip to Egypt:

'The Mummy' (1932) by Karl Freund - I haven't seen this since I was very young when it went completely over my head and only subliminal memories remain. So this may as well be a first viewing of one of Boris Karloff's most iconic star-making horror films. I am reliably informed it was based on the Arthur Conan Doyle tale, "The Ring Of Thoth" (1890).

'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb' (1971) by Seth Holt - Hammer's excellent adaptation of Bram Stoker's 'The Jewel Of Seven Stars' (1903) featuring the sexiest woman ever to star in one of their films, the absolutely jaw-droppingly beautiful Valerie Leon. It does not belong to their official Mummy series but is something far more subtle and beats the big budget 1980 adaptation, 'The Awakening', hands down.

'Bubba Ho-Tep' (2002) by Don Coscarelli - I've long wanted to see this being a big fan of Bruce Campbell and having heard that this is the finest performance he ever gave! It looks and sounds wonderful and, rather surprisingly, was based on a 1994 short story by Joe R. Lansdale of the same title.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.230.135
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 02:20 am:   

Not that suprising that it's based on a joe lansdale story. Lansdale also scripted the film. I have a copy of the script somewhere- as well as the film. It's as good as you're hoping it is
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 05:07 am:   

Bubba Ho-Tep is good, but it's a tad slow-paced. The movie's strange, as if the premise didn't tip you off to that: it's almost exactly equal parts "indie"—all the good and bad that term conjures (for me, at least)—and horror/fantasy. Or horror-fantasy, more accurately (for me again, at least).

I enjoyed your essay on Macbeth, Stevie; you've voiced nearly precisely what I think about that film. It's indeed one of Polanski's best, but I reserve the best slot still for Rosemary's Baby.

Olivier's three Shakespeare films could almost be considered a connected series all their own, in their own way. Done in (in order) 1944, 1948, and 1955, they each sort of look and feel like what I think of those times: the rousing battle cry surge of the WWII years (Henry V); the dark noir post-War years (Hamlet); and the color-drenched emblematic samples of the inching-along decadence of the 50's—one of those big stagey dinosaurs that would lead to the independent film revolution of the 60's (Richard III). They are each such exquisite masterpieces, that to compare them to another's adaptation/s—like Polanski's, or Zefferelli's—would only prove needlessly damaging to one; pyrrhic, the other. And then there's the actors who play in the Bard's plays that have been put to film: there, Anthony Hopkins's Othello (1981) or Michael Hordern's Prospero (1980) or Ian McKellan's Richard III (1998), and others, would all demand laurels.

But yeah, for me, too, when all's said and done... Polanksi's is in the top five or so, most certainly.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 10:24 am:   

Here's how I'd rank just the horror films of Roman Polanski, Craig:

1. Rosemary's Baby (1968) - for me the second greatest horror film ever made, after 'The Exorcist' (1973)
2. Macbeth (1971)
3. Repulsion (1965)
4. The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)
5. The Ninth Gate (1999)
6. The Tenant (1976)

The first four are masterpieces of the genre and the last two are both very fine indeed, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 10:59 am:   

I think the main success of Polanski's 'Macbeth' is that he set out to film the story as naturalistically as possible, using Shakespeare's text, rather than to make a stagey film of the play. In that he succeeded magnificently!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 02:35 pm:   

As it's a quiet day in work and I'm bored I've decided to make a list of all the triple bill horror films I've watched this past three years (fuck me, that long!) ranked in order of my own personal appreciation. I view this as an interesting experiment and have no idea whether the old, modern or recent films will come out on top. I have suspicions that we are currently experiencing, or just out of, a new golden era of horror cinema to rival the 1970s... but who knows? Watch this space!
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 176.26.69.174
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 03:22 pm:   

Speaking of mummy movies I'd highly recommend watching Luc Besson's The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec. I saw it recently and loved it - more charm and humour than all three of the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies put together.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 04:50 pm:   

As it's a quiet day in work and I'm bored I've decided to make a list of all the triple bill horror films I've watched this past three years...

Really? Wouldn't you rather just stretch your legs and go over and bang Suzie, the redhead HR assistant, in the broom closet?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 06:06 pm:   

Just worked out I've watched 39 triple bills over the last 3 years. Here are all those films ranked in order of merit:

1. 'Peeping Tom' (1960) by Michael Powell
2. 'Mulholland Drive' (2001) by David Lynch
3. 'Profondo Rosso' (1975) by Dario Argento
4. 'Macbeth' (1971) by Roman Polanski
5. 'Videodrome' (1983) by David Cronenberg
6. 'The Devil Rides Out' (1968) by Terence Fisher
7. 'Alice' (1988) by Jan Švankmajer
8. 'Opera' (1987) by Dario Argento
9. 'The Magician' (1958) by Ingmar Bergman
10. 'Häxan' (1922) by Benjamin Christensen
11. 'Faust' (1994) by Jan Švankmajer
12. 'Marebito' (2004) by Takashi Shimizu
13. 'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1925) by Rupert Julian
14. 'Basket Case' (1982) by Frank Henenlotter
15. 'Martyrs' (2008) by Pascal Laugier
16. 'The Wolf Man' (1941) by George Waggner
17. 'I Spit On Your Grave' (1978) by Meir Zarchi
18. 'Ringu' (1998) by Hideo Nakata
19. 'Donnie Darko' (2001) by Richard Kelly
20. 'The House By The Cemetery' (1981) by Lucio Fulci
21. 'The Burrowers' (2008) by J.T. Petty
22. 'House Of Wax' (1953) by André de Toth
23. 'Long Weekend' (1978) by Colin Eggleston
24. 'Ju-On : The Grudge II' (2003) by Takashi Shimizu
25. 'The Reptile' (1966) by John Gilling
26. 'The Brides Of Dracula' (1960) by Terence Fisher
27. 'The Ghoul' (1933) by T. Hayes Hunter
28. 'Black Death' (2010) by Christopher Smith
29. 'Dog Soldiers' (2002) by Neil Marshall
30. 'The Eye' (2002) by Oxide & Danny Pang
31. 'The Witches' (1966) by Cyril Frankel
32. 'Slither' (2006) by James Gunn
33. 'Coraline' (2009) by Henry Selick
34. 'The Frighteners' (1996) by Peter Jackson
35. 'The Ruins' (2008) by Carter Smith
36. 'REC' (2007) by Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza
37. 'The Mystery Of The Wax Museum' (1933) by Michael Curtiz
38. 'The Camp On Blood Island' (1958) by Val Guest
39. 'Lord Of Illusions' (1995) by Clive Barker
40. 'The Gorgon' (1964) by Terence Fisher
41. 'Torso' (1973) by Sergio Martino
42. 'Cannibal Apocalypse' (1980) by Antonio Margheriti
43. 'Dementia 13' (1963) by Francis Ford Coppola
44. 'Night Train Murders' (1975) by Aldo Lado
45. 'Ringu 0' (2000) by Norio Tsuruta
46. 'Cold Prey' (2006) by Roar Uthaug
47. 'The Ninth Gate' (1999) by Roman Polanski
48. 'Deep River Savages' (1972) by Umberto Lenzi
49. 'Reincarnation' (2005) by Takashi Shimizu
50. 'Last Cannibal World' (1977) by Ruggero Deodato
51. 'Dumplings' (2005) by Fruit Chan
52. 'Ringu II' (1999) by Hideo Nakata
53. 'The House Of Clocks' (1989) by Lucio Fulci
54. 'Living Dead Girl' (1982) by Jean Rollin
55. 'Cannibal Ferox' (1982) by Umberto Lenzi
56. 'Basket Case II' (1990) by Frank Henenlotter
57. 'The Eye II' (2004) by Oxide & Danny Pang
58. 'The Wake Wood' (2011) by David Keating
59. 'The Orphanage' (2007) by J.A. Bayona
60. 'REC2' (2009) by Juame Balagueró & Paco Plaza
61. 'The Addiction' (1995) by Abel Ferrara
62. 'House Of The Long Shadows' (1983) by Pete Walker
63. 'Demons Of The Mind' (1972) by Peter Sykes
64. 'The Toolbox Murders' (1978) by Dennis Donnelly
65. 'Castle Freak' (1995) by Stuart Gordon
66. 'The Children' (2008) by Tom Shankland
67. 'The Pit And The Pendulum' (1991) by Stuart Gordon
68. 'Taste Of Fear' (1961) by Seth Holt
69. 'She Wolf Of London' (1946) by Jean Yarbrough
70. 'Cat In The Brain' (1990) by Lucio Fulci
71. 'Basket Case III : The Progeny' (1991) by Frank Henenlotter
72. 'WAZ' (2006) by Tom Shankland
73. 'Wendigo' (2001) by Larry Fessenden
74. 'The Eye III : Infinity' (2005) by Oxide & Danny Pang
75. 'The Little Shop Of Horrors' (1960) by Roger Corman
76. 'Aenigma' (1987) by Lucio Fulci
77. 'Orphan' (2009) by Jaume Collet-Serra
78. 'Rogue' (2007) by Greg McLean
79. 'The Black Dragons' (1942) by William Nigh
80. 'The House Of Lost Souls' (1989) by Umberto Lenzi
81. 'The Corpse Vanishes' (1942) by Wallace Fox
82. 'This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse' (1967) by José Mojica Marins
83. 'The Stuff' (1985) by Larry Cohen
84. 'Cold Prey : Resurrection' (2008) by Mats Stenberg
85. 'Fear In The Night' (1972) by Jimmy Sangster
86. 'The Screaming Skull' (1958) by Alex Nicol
87. 'Shock' (1946) by Alfred L. Werker
88. 'At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul' (1963) by José Mojica Marins
89. 'The House Of Witchcraft' (1989) by Umberto Lenzi
90. 'Mausoleum' (1983) by Michael Dugan
91. 'Whispering Corridors' (1998) by Park Ki-hyeong
92. 'The Killer Shrews' (1959) by Ray Kellogg
93. 'Snowbeast' (1977) by Herb Wallerstein
94. 'Beyond Evil' (1980) by Herb Freed
95. 'Zombie Honeymoon' (2004) by Dave Gebroe
96. 'Revolt Of The Zombies' (1936) by Victor Halperin
97. 'The Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires' (1974) by Roy Ward Baker
98. 'Attack Of The Crab Monsters' (1957) by Roger Corman
99. 'Attack Of The Giant Leeches' (1959) by Bernard Kowalski
100. 'A Bucket Of Blood' (1959) by Roger Corman
101. 'Cannibal Ferox II' (1985) by Michele Massimo Tarantini
102. 'The Monster Walks' (1932) by Frank R. Strayer
103. 'The Heirloom' (2005) by Leste Chen
104. 'The Brain That Wouldn't Die' (1959) by Joseph Green
105. 'Ghosthouse' (1988) by Umberto Lenzi
106. 'The Bat' (1959) by Crane Wilbur
107. 'The Invisible Ghost' (1941) by Joseph H. Lewis
108. 'King Of The Zombies' (1941) by Jean Yarbrough
109. 'The Ape Man' (1943) by William Beaudine
110. 'Zombie Nosh' (1988) by Bill Hinzman
111. 'Bride Of The Monster' (1955) by Edward D. Wood Jnr
112. 'The Sweet House Of Horrors' (1989) by Lucio Fulci
113. 'The Indestructible Man' (1956) by Jack Pollexfen
114. 'The Monster Maker' (1944) by Sam Newfield
115. 'Drive In Massacre' (1977) by Stuart Segall
116. 'The Creature From The Haunted Sea' (1961) by Roger Corman
117. 'Scared To Death' (1947) by Christy Cabanne

That was fun! And now it's home time...
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Thursday, September 26, 2013 - 03:01 am:   

Donnie Darko is #19?!?

Actually, I'm surprised #1 is Peeping Tom, Stevie. I liked that film, but not that much.... You're making me think I should need to see it again.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, September 26, 2013 - 11:48 am:   

I love 'Peeping Tom', Craig. It would be in my Top 10 horror movies list. It's one of those films that keeps getting better, more chilling and emotionally affecting every time you see it. An absolute masterpiece of the highest order!!

As for 'Donnie Darko'... I saw it in the cinema on first release and was half impressed, half bemused by it and sort of filed it away as one of those oddly unquantifiable movies I really didn't know if I liked or not. I watched it for the second time recently, in the 20 minutes longer Director's Cut version, and was quite amazed at how great it was. Brilliantly directed and acted, thoroughly original, disturbing as hell, extremely funny (far more so than I had remembered) and with a hell of an emotional wallop. Yeah, I now consider it one of the great deservedly cult classics!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, September 26, 2013 - 02:52 pm:   

Right, as an interesting but not very scientific experiment I am going to separate the above movies into Old, Modern & Recent categories then give each category a score based on the films' rankings. The category with the lowest score will thus come out on top... and I have no idea which one it will be. My gut instinct tells me that the modern horror films made from 1968 to 1993 should win. But let's see. Watch this space, yet again. Aye it's quiet again in here.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, September 26, 2013 - 03:16 pm:   

What a shock result!!

Old Horror Movies = 2745

Modern Horror Movies = 2277

Recent Horror Movies (made over the last 20 years) = 1881

I know that's only based on my own selections but the law of averages would still seem to dictate, much to my surprise, that horror films have been evolving and improving since the dawn of cinema!!

This makes me want to do the same experiment for every horror film ever made. But don't hold your breaths!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, October 09, 2013 - 02:08 pm:   

As the above experiment was so wildly inaccurate due to my selection of only the best recent horror films and a surfeit of less good old and modern efforts I've decided to completely update my Top 100 Horror Movies list and apply the same rules. Most of the work has already been done so it's just a matter of slotting in those newly watched over the last few years. Watch this space...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, October 10, 2013 - 10:55 am:   

Just to explain... the upcoming Top 100 only includes films I have actually seen (for obvious reasons).

Therefore horror aficionados will notice the absence of quite a few undoubted masterpieces - most notably among the works of Mario Bava.

I also feel myself beset by the old listmakers debate of where to draw the line at the definition of "horror". Many, many great cinematic masterpieces that straddle the lines between Horror/Fantasy, Horror/Sci-Fi and Horror/Macabre Thriller will therefore not be included but when the Horror element - i.e. the filmmaker's intention to scare or creep out the audience - is to the fore then works of Sci-Fi (e.g. 'Alien'), Fantasy (e.g. 'Alice') & Thrillers (e.g. 'Seven') will be included.

Here goes...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.221.46
Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2013 - 07:20 pm:   

In the middle of a triple bill just now. I've watched the Zombie Diaries - got about two through before I realised I'd seen it before and wasn't massively impressed that time either. I followed it up with Stakeland, a fantastic road movie through a vampire apocalypse wasteland of America. This may be one of the best vampire movies of recent years.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.221.46
Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2013 - 07:30 pm:   

Still trying to decide on number 3. More zombies or a human threat? If the human threat, Citadel or Serbian Film?
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.221.220
Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2013 - 09:27 pm:   

Just took me 15 minutes to open the cellophane on Citadel. I nearly gave up and watched Norwegian Ninja itsead because that one's already out of the wrapper.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.222.120
Posted on Sunday, October 20, 2013 - 12:11 am:   

Citadel is like something Gary MacMahon would have written on a particularly nihilistic day. It's brilliant stuff. Urban decay and horror at its grimmest
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.220.102
Posted on Sunday, October 20, 2013 - 12:57 pm:   

Tonight's triple bill - bloodstorm (more nazi zombies), Jonah Hex and hostel 2. A trashy night in.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.140.51
Posted on Thursday, November 07, 2013 - 12:37 am:   

As I'm off work tomorrow it's time for another horror triple bill. I've decided on an eclectic mix:

'Mesa Of Lost Women' (1953) by Ron Ormond & Herbert Tevos - often hailed as "one of the worst films ever made" I've long wanted to see this. It sounds wonderful!

'Watch Me When I Kill!' (1977) by Antonio Bido - an obscure but highly thought of Italian giallo from the classic period of such shockers. I know nothing about it and can't wait!

'The Mist' (2007) by Frank Darabont - finally going to see this apparently controversial and divisive adaptation of the greatest short work Stephen King ever wrote. Again I'm rather excited!

Then it'll be time to write up all the others recently watched...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.39
Posted on Thursday, November 07, 2013 - 12:13 pm:   

First up was this personal tribute to the late great Richard Matheson:

'The Incredible Shrinking Man' (1957) by Jack Arnold - in my opinion this marvellous film was Arnold's greatest achievement in a glorious run of genre classics that spanned the 1950s. It is also the finest and most faithful screen adaptation of any of Richard Matheson's works and one of a trio of timeless genre masterpieces from that golden decade that will live forever as works of true cinematic genius. No prizes for guessing the other two... they're both b&w and in my Top 10 horror movies list. The nightmare story of Scott Carey is a film noir fable for the ages about the cruelty of existence in a universe governed by chance. If he had only gone for the beer himself or been a bit quicker getting off the deck in the ever haunting opening scene none of the terrible things that followed would have happened. Matheson's own gloriously literate script, Arnold's positively Hitchcockian direction of the suspense set pieces, the unforgettable intensity of Grant Williams' performance as the doomed everyman growing impossibly smaller and smaller while his pride and determination not to give in to fate, cats and spiders grows exponentially larger and the still wondrous special effects that convince us utterly the impossible is really happening all combine to make this one of the most perfect and powerfully affecting science fiction/horror/fantasy films ever made!! It is as flawless an adaptation of the author's, imo, best novel, 'The Shrinking Man' (1956), as could ever possibly have been realised and one of my Top 10 films of all time. The ending never fails to send shivers of awe through me. Sheer genius!!!!

'The Legend Of Hell House' (1973) by John Hough - I'd never seen this great haunted house shocker before and was again amazed at the literacy of Matheson's script, based on his own novel 'Hell House' (1971). At first glance this appears to be a shameless rip-off of Shirley Jackson & Robert Wise's 'The Haunting Of Hill House' (1959)/'The Haunting' (1963) until one realises that Matheson's intentions were deliberately to recall that philosophical supernatural masterwork, with its four person team of paranormal investigators staying at a notoriously haunted mansion (Hill House becomes the Belasco House) in order to crack its mysteries, and then cleverly present a counter argument to its conclusions in which a rational scientific explanation for all the paranormal events supersedes the spiritual dimension and makes the notion of a properly haunted house actually seem feasible! The genuinely frightening gothic atmospherics and modern shock horror set pieces are cranked to the max by a clearly talented director and a top notch cast treating the material with deadly straight-faced respect - Roddy McDowall (in another iconic genre role) as the close-lipped only survivor of a previous research team, Clive Revill as the driven nuts-and-bolts scientist determined to prove that spirit manifestations have a measurable basis in hard tangible fact, Gayle Hunnicutt as his initially sceptical wife along for the ride and soon seduced by the evil of the house and Pamela Franklin as the overly sensitive and romantically minded young medium who feels the house trying to communicate with her but cannot quite fathom its message. Old trouper Michael Gough also makes another memorable and here uncredited horror movie appearance, in two key scenes at beginning and end of the film, as Emeric Belasco whose fear of death and demonic vitality is at the heart of Matheson's inspired solution to the haunting. This is yet another of the startlingly intelligent and multi-layered adult horror films that made 1973 the greatest year the genre has ever known. Any other year it would easily have topped the heap! Great stuff!!

'The Box' (2009) by Richard Kelly - this is one of those beautifully made big budget horror films that is so good in so many ways that its ultimate failure comes as damnably frustrating. The fault must all be laid at the door of the writer/director who takes a perfect little chiller of a horror story by Richard Matheson, "Button, Button" (1970), and turns it into a monstrously over-ambitious and self-indulgent pseudo-existential reality warping sci-fi/horror epic, involving all-powerful alien entities from Mars(!!), that completely swamps and negates the simple pleasure of the original tale. We have a mysterious stranger present an ordinary couple with a plain box and a button that he says if they press it they will receive a million dollars tax free but that someone "whom they do not know" will die as a direct result of their decision. That's it! A simple moral dilemma fable that could never have worked as anything but a half hour 'Twilight Zone' episode, with the mystery of the box and the nature of its deliverer left hauntingly ambiguous. The bizarre extraneous plot elaborations Kelly unashamedly shoehorns in, for all the creepy atmospherics he manages to sustain and undoubted directorial assurance he displays (the film looks a dream!), turn this misguided glory project into a top heavy mess of a movie. A great shame for the first half of the film is a wonderfully chilling adaptation... and the story should have stopped where Matheson did!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.39
Posted on Thursday, November 07, 2013 - 06:51 pm:   

I've also been consistently impressed by those Richard Matheson scripted hour long Season 4 episodes of 'The Twilight Zone' (1963) I've been watching recently [write ups to follow]. I firmly believe his genius as one of the 20th Century's greatest genre writers - spanning novels, short stories, TV and film scripts - will continue to grow ever more venerated with the passage of time.

Now for that great Egyptian trilogy I saw a few weeks back...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.106.30
Posted on Monday, November 11, 2013 - 03:04 am:   

An impromptu non-themed triple bill for me today -

It started with Nightmare on Elm Street (original). We all know it. There's nothing I can really say about it that you don't already know - except that I really enjoy this film even though Johnny Depp could have been switched for a planl of wood for all the emotional deppth of his performance. Freddie is - for the most part - quite scary in this one, unlike in the sequels.

Second film was Shiver - a spanish horror I picked up in Poundland recently. I had no knowledge of anything about this film except that it's from the same producers as pan's laburinth (a fact that means nothing in terms of film quality).

It was excellent. It's a sort of murder mystery with tropes taken from vampire films and feral/devil child films but all turned neatly on their heads and used in a strikingly original manner. Very atmospheric and well written and acted throughout.

Just out of interest, s quick check on IMDB reveas that the young lad at the centre of the story - Santi - was in Devil's Backbone (also playing a character called Santi. Also the actor playing the landlord - Dimas - was in Julia's Eyes playing a character called Dimas.

Anyway - a great film and highly recommended.

I finished the triple bill off with The Eye 2. This was genuinely creepy with several scenes I think are going to stick with me however hard I try to forget them... Nearly as good as the original but there were aspects to the ending that i thought spoiled it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, November 11, 2013 - 11:51 am:   

Picked up four absolute classics for a couple of quid each at the weekend for future triple bills:

'It Came From Outer Space' (1953) by Jack Arnold & scripted by Ray Bradbury (which I never realised before). One of those timeless films that made the 1950s the golden era of sci-fi cinema. The monsters really scared me as a kid and I've always loved the film - like all Jack Arnold's genre work.

'The Naked Lunch' (1991) by David Cronenberg. Haven't seen this since first release in the cinema and remember being rather freaked out by it.

'Event Horizon' (1997) by Paul Anderson. One of the most genuinely frightening and underrated horror films of its decade, imo. A one-off classic from this director that came as a breath of fresh air at the time.

'A Serbian Film' (2010) by Srdjan Spasojevic. I know this film only by its notorious reputation and was rather surprised to pick it up for a couple of quid second hand in town. Now I'm wondering what two films to possibly match it with. In the running: 'Blood Feast' (1963), 'The Last House On The Left' (1972), 'Henry : Portrait Of A Serial Killer' (1990) & 'Man Bites Dog' (1992) - for varying reasons and after consultation with my good friend, Weber.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, November 11, 2013 - 12:05 pm:   

I agree, Weber, 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984) is one of Craven's unquestionable horror classics but it is also a film, like 'Scream' (1996), that is increasingly hard to love because of what it spawned.

For my money the director's two best works were also his least commercial and most leftfield: 'The Serpent And The Rainbow' (1988) & 'The People Under The Stairs' (1991). But, by God, he hasn't half made some utter shit!!!!

'Swamp Thing' (1982), 'Deadly Friend' (1986), 'Cursed' (2005), etc...
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.57.218
Posted on Monday, November 11, 2013 - 12:07 pm:   

I've always thought Event Horizon took its cue from John Wyndham's creepy short story "Survival". A rollercoaster ride of a film, especially when viewed in a proper cinema.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, November 11, 2013 - 12:10 pm:   

Actually, Weber, I've just double checked and ICFOS was only based on a Bradbury short story and was actually scripted by Harry Essex - he even won a Hugo Award for it!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, November 11, 2013 - 12:15 pm:   

I agree, Hubert. I haven't seen it since it was first released in the cinema, when it blew me away, and been looking out for the DVD cheap for years. Reappraisal to follow a suitably deep space sci-fi/horror themed triple bill. 'Planet Of The Vampires' (1965) & 'Alien' (1979) immediatly spring to mind.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, November 11, 2013 - 04:42 pm:   

And now it's time to write up those three Egyptian horrors:

'The Mummy' (1932) directed by Karl Freund & written by John L. Balderston: This has to be one of the best scary yet subtle and intelligent horror films ever made. After the genuinely terrifying opening sequence - a horror tour de force - we settle down into a Lovecraftian tale of undead reanimation and a love story that spans the centuries - clearly inspired by Bram Stoker's 'The Jewel Of Seven Stars' (1903) as much as the Arthur Conan Doyle story, 'The Ring Of Thoth' (1890). It shouldn't come as any surprise to students of Forteana that Egyptian horror was in the air and ripe for plumbing at that time due to the stories surrounding the discovery of King Tut. Well, this film is the ultimate cinematic tapping of that particular vein. Boris Karloff (as Ardath Bey) isn't a bit scary until we realise what he actually is and the camera focuses in on his abhorrent face - and those unholy eyes. Then all the horrors of Hell, that sent that poor sap, Norton, insane in the first place, are readily apparent. The visceral horror returns in several scenes but is never more gruesome than when we realise exactly what Imhotep has in store for poor misguided Helen (Ankh-es-en-amon reborn) in the stirring climax. I was lucky enough to read Bram Stoker's exceptional novel just before seeing this and can now state that is as excellent and faithful (in spirit) an adaptation of that work as Murnau's 'Nosferatu' (1921) was of 'Dracula' (1897) or Whale's ''Frankenstein' (1931) was of Mary Shelley's equally influential masterpiece (1818).

'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb' (1971) directed by Seth Holt & written by Christopher Wicking: Now this was an intended adaptation of Stoker's 'The Jewel Of Seven Star' (1903) and, as such, did, imo, equally as good a job of getting to the heart of the horror of the novel, in an hour and a half running time, as Jimmy Sangster did with 'Dracula' back in 1958. Yes, it isn't anywhere near as exciting as that story (though it is a damn sight more intriguing) and suffers, slightly, from the absence of a tangibly demonic villain but, as an exercise in respecting the viewer's intelligence and pure atmosphere, with the excellent cast (Valerie Leon [oh, momma, to think of her in that black negligee - down boy ffs!], Andrew Keir, James Villiers, Mark Edwards, Hugh Burden, Aubrey Morris, George Coulouris & Rosalie Crutchley (as fine a cast of familiar faces as graced any Hammer Horror) we're talking one of the finest and most gothic of all the later Hammer's, when they were too often lambasted for having lost the plot (bollocks!). This is one to wallow in more for the sheer storytelling craft and committment of everyone involved than to expect gore and tits (sorry, lads, she doesn't get them out, ffs - but we can still dream) but, yet, that horrible hand haunts me still!

'Bubba-Hotep' (2002) written & directed by Don Coscarelli - Oh, dear God, what an unexpected joy this wonderful movie was!! If Bruce Campbell had never appeared in any other movie or Don had never directed 'Phantasm' (1979) then, it is my honest opinion, they would both still be venerated by horror fans for this absolutely marvellous one-off of a cult horror/comedy/tragedy classic!! How can I begin to describe the unique pleasure this film instils in the viewer? Based on an "impossible" to film novella by Joe R. Lansdale from 1994 somehow they pulled off a miraculous achievement. Bruce is the not-dead (as opposed to undead) Elvis Presley in every single word and mannerism, and the foul-mouthed script is one of the funniest and cleverest I have heard in many a long year. Sometimes magic happens when a film is made by a talented bunch of people but rarely does it strike the same moderately talented director twice. Don Coscarelli clearly had the angels smiling on him when this project and these people came his way. We have a hilariously grouchy old Elvis lookalike (or is he?) giving off to all and sundry while he awaits death in a depressing old folks’ home where his only friend is an even more demented black man who insists he is John F. Kennedy – dyed black and with a bag of sand in his head where the piece of brain flew out. These two crotchety imbeciles on their zimmer frames come to suspect that a reanimated ancient Egyptian mummy is entering their home and sucking the souls from those near death by whatever orifice is handy! The staff think they are nuts – as indeed they are – so it is up to these two old duffers to take the on the powers of darkness by themselves! It’s as bloody mental as it sounds but, by Christ, does it work, not least by paying respect to the elderly, infirm and unloved in ways that few films have ever approached before. The film is hilariously funny, genuinely scary and heart-achingly poignant, in ways that defy anything other than alchemy, and will forever stand as one of the crowning achievements of its genre. Absolutely fucking marvellous!!!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - 04:36 pm:   

Don't get me wrong... I love bad cinema, when it is made with heart and enthusiasm, but, by God, even Edward D. Wood Jnr would have been ashamed to be involved with the awful pile of cack that is 'Mesa Of Lost Women' (1953), nominally directed by Ron Ormond & Herbert Tevos (without ever talking to each other, it would seem!). This patched together attempt at storytelling jumps all over the place without any attempt at logic but, sort of, involves a mad scientist (Jackie Coogan - god help him!) who has hidden himself away on an inaccessible mesa in the Mexican desert to conduct his fiendish experiments at creating a race of human/spider hybrids with which he plans to take over the world! The men all turn into shrivelled dwarfs while the women end up potential Miss World contenders who are able to turn into a giant and curiously immobile spider when the fancy takes them. Either that or some dangly mocked up giant spider legs intruding from off-screen while the latest hapless victim screams their last. Christ! I'm actually making this load of nonsense sound good ffs. Anyway, an eminent scientist is invited down to help with the reclusive one's experiments but rebels in horror and escapes only to go mad and turn into a gun-toting maniac who hijacks a plane, that happens to crash on the same mesa, and... oh, I give up. It's dreadful and even the unintentional laughs are too few and far between to rescue it. But at least it wasn't 'Scared To Death' (1946). Go thou and shudder!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - 05:20 pm:   

That was followed by a typically well made Italian giallo thriller, 'Watch Me When I Kill!' (1977), directed by Antonio Bido (an Argento wannabe if ever there was one). It looks and sounds as good as any of the Italian horrors of its era and has an intriguing whodunit-style plot involving a faceless killer horribly torturing and bumping off a number of people who knew each other during the War (no prizes for guessing where this one is headed) and who finds him/herself(?) having to target an innocent witness to one of the murders (Paola Tedesco) and her boyfriend turned amateur detective (Corrado Pani - whose sympathetic performance dominates the movie). You've got the usual intriguing plot strewn with red herrings and hints of dark secrets from the past, gorgeous cinematography and scene compositions, well handled gruesome death and suspense sequences at regular intervals, in between the investigating, and a great Goblin-like soundtrack raising the rafters along with our heartbeats. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a slavish but well done copy of early Argento but it doesn't quite make it to classic status. Well worth seeing as a warm-up to the likes of 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage' (1969), etc...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - 05:24 pm:   

Next up... 'The Mist' (2007) by Frank Darabont. Get ready.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.106.30
Posted on Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 02:31 am:   

Actually, Bubba Ho Tep was scripted by Lansdale from his own story. I know, I've got the script book on my shelves...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 11:26 am:   

That would explain the quality of the script, Weber, which I honestly didn't think Coscarelli capable of (with full respect to the man). But I distinctly remember seeing the credit "written & directed by Don Coscarelli".

Do you think a similar thing might have happened with 'It Came From Outer Space'? The literacy of that film is one of the things that makes it great, also.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.221.171
Posted on Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 01:33 pm:   

Well i know for definite there's no short story in Bradbury's back catalogue called It Came From Outer Space and you can hear definite quotes from his early stories in the film. I think the screenplay Bradbury wrote was redrafted by the other writer.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.165.252.173
Posted on Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 04:30 pm:   

To me the creatures in The Mist look like they come from a Disney movie. Or Pirates of the Carribean, maybe. They were as disappointing as the mutants in I am Legend. Come to think of it, that giant squid in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954 - is it possible?), looks convincing enough. Sorry, uncle Walt!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 05:07 pm:   

Let's just say I have passionately mixed feelings about the film and cannot yet decide if it's a curate's egg or a misunderstood classic of its genre (as is the original novella).

Proper write-up to follow...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.221.40
Posted on Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 07:16 pm:   

I saw the mist in the cinema when it came out and loved it. The creatures looked plenty real to me. I have noticed that CGI effects never work properly on the small screen. Even the LOTR films are less than convincing on my telly when I found them flawless in the cinema. I think the small screen sharpens the edges and makes the fx stand out as fx
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.165.252.173
Posted on Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 08:17 pm:   

A plausible explanation. The light saber fights between human actors and CGI droids in the last Star Wars looked a tad lame, too. On the other hand, the wrestling match between the Engineer and the giant facehugger in Prometheus looks just fine.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 04:50 am:   

I now think (having finally read it) that King's "The Mist" is a novella not able to be filmed; and I only know this now, because I saw what was.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.49.187
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 11:36 am:   

Don't you think the scene in the hangar with the tentacle didn't do fully justice to King's text? Not to mention the spider 'things' etc. The behemothic creature was a good try to visualise the indescribable, and I can live with the explanation that the mist was really a military experiment gone awry. King can be a bit too open-ended at times.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 03:19 pm:   

The military experiment gone awry is heavily hinted at in the novella, Hubert: it's King's explanation, though it's left maddeningly vague. The film would have been better as a shaky-cam 1st person docu-terror, or a TV miniseries. I still think it was shot as a pilot, but that idea was scrapped, and the fleshed it out as a film; I'll bet that was the case….
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 03:34 pm:   

Not "maddeningly vague"!

I love ambiguity in horror and it is something literature does better than any other medium. Just read Ramsey Campbell (in supernatural mode) or Robert Aickman or Walter de la Mare for the proof of that. What frustrates me about much of King's fiction is that often he makes his fantastical plots as tangible and unambiguous and ultimately unconvincing as his characters and physical descriptions of impossible events are convincing (the very reason we read him and love him in the first place, and ceaselessly forgive him his self-indulgences) when a little open-ended ambiguity plot-wise, as in; "The Mist", 'Salem's Lot' or 'The Stand', would have transformed the likes of; 'It', 'The Tommyknockers' or 'From A Buick 8' into great works, rather than mere entertainingly well told joy-rides.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 03:42 pm:   

If I remember the novella correctly - and I haven't read it in many years - in the opening pages the Mist spreads across a lake from the direction of a Top Secret Military Base and that's all the "explanation" King supplies or needed to supply. Something their militaristic boffins had been working on (as with HAARP, so beloved of us Forteans) that had ripped asunder the structure of time and space... allowing them through the gap. I consider "The Mist" to be King's most successful work in the Lovecraftian vein.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 03:51 pm:   

I'll concede that, Stevie. You're right about the explanation; the narrator keeps bringing it up throughout the story, what happened on that base—but what, we don't know. My "maddeningly" is perhaps a compliment: I want to know more, and maybe that's a good thing, that I'm so intrigued. I also kinda wish King had gone back to continue this tale—it's left dangling, crying out for more—and not necessarily The Shining…. (though, has anyone here yet read the sequel?)
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 04:19 pm:   

If he had given us more then the haunting sense of cosmic awe and sheer incomprehensible terror that his lovingly crafted characters (and us readers) experience at the end of the story would be completely negated. "The Mist" holds up as a near perfect work exactly as it stands and thank fuck no one over the years managed to convince the man to write a continuation!! Always remember... "Less Is More".
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 04:37 pm:   

'The Shining' is King's greatest horror masterpiece and I am very dubious about the sequel. A few King-fan mates have read the sequel and said they enjoyed it but that it's nowhere remotely near the stature of the original. I'll read it myself, in time...

Still looking out for a copy of 'Carrie' in the second hand shops to start that chrono read. Also 'Julia' by Peter Straub and 'The Curse' by Charles L. Grant. Already read McCammon's 'Baal', so keeping my eyes peeled for 'Bethany's Sin' (never read it). Next for Barker is 'Galilee'. And Fowler is 'Rune' - the first novel to feature Bryant & May (how I miss them). And as for Ramsey, I must get round to ordering 'Thieving Fear'!
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 176.248.120.78
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 04:59 pm:   

Also the fact that the two soldiers killed themselves suggests that they had some idea of what was happening and how hopeless the situation was. That would strongly imply it was a military experiment.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.49.187
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 06:31 pm:   

'The Shining' is King's greatest horror masterpiece and I am very dubious about the sequel.

Is this out yet?
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.220.76
Posted on Friday, November 15, 2013 - 08:07 pm:   

Doctor Sleep came out a couple of months back. I've not heard anything but good reports about it so far.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.159.211.80
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 01:02 am:   

I've heard a couple of "well, it's ok, but..." reviews. It's sitting on a bookcase here and I'll make up my own mind soon.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 03:49 am:   

Couldn't we just have King telling us what the hell was going on in "The Mist," Stevie? He doesn't have to write it into the story, but there's no reason he couldn't lay it out for us anyway.

How sad, in many ways, that a sequel to The Shining (in which I share Stevie's assessment) has received so little fanfare, awareness, cultural impact, water-cooler talk, etc. I mean, people here on this very bulletin board—real horror fans!—aren't even sure it's out yet or not. That surely speaks to the industry, or to King, or the state of horror, or... I don't know, something….
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.106.30
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 12:29 pm:   

King has always followed up on his characters in future books. 11-22-63 has cameos from the surviving cast of IT, I'm pretty certain that Halloran has appeared in at least one other novel. This one is Danny Torrance's follow up. I see no reason to be dubious about it.

There was a major fanfare all over the interwebs and the real world when Dr Sleep was released. King was on the talk show circuit plugging it and I believe he even crossed the pond at one point but only visited Southern England.

All that Hubert not being sure tells us is that Hubert is slightly out of the loop (sorry Hubert) but IIRC Hubert doesn't live in an English speaking part of the world (or am I getting you mixed up with someone else?)
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.59
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 03:04 pm:   

'The Shining' is one of the great iconic horror masterworks of 20th Century literature, Weber, in much the same way, say, '2001 : A Space Odyssey' is an unassailable monument in the realm of sci-fi cinema. I was as dubious, for the same reasons, as I was when '2010 : Odyssey II' came out. 'Doctor Sleep' is sure to be a great read but was it really necessary and does its existence as a lesser work add to or detract from the original? It's an old debate. Would you not be a tad dubious if John Cleese unexpectedly announced a 'Fawlty Towers' Series 3?
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 04:34 pm:   

I guess I want too much, as usual. I mean, if a book doesn't reach Harry Potter or Fifty Shades or Twilight level cultural consciousness, then it's not a cultural event…? That's unfair, and stupid. Perhaps it's lamentable, the fact that the world has so fragmented, in its consumption of entertainment; and there are scores more entertainment items than there were when, say, The Shining first debuted. This very weekend is the launch of the Playstation 4, and this has caused people to line up at local Best Buys and other electronics stores for a couple of days now… the video game industry practically dwarfs Hollywood… so what hope can any even bestselling novel have, to claw its way into mass recognition? Little. Sadly.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.222.83
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 05:10 pm:   

It would depend on the reasons for making Fawlty Towers 3. King certainly doesn't need the money so his reasons for Dr Sleep are purely creative. I've not read it yet but from what i can tell it's a sequel in the same way that needful things is a sequel to the dark half or cujo. They share central characters. I may be wrong about that. I've avoided reading too much about it as I don't want any spoilers. I see no reason to be dubious about it or to dismiss it already as a lesser work.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.60.93
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 05:24 pm:   

Slightly out of the loop? Probably. Admittedly I'm not as enthusiastic about horror as I once was and there are other forms of literature to explore, 'mainstream' or otherwise. Notable exceptions are ye Landlord (of course), Lovecraft, Machen, Hodgson, in brief: the 'canonical' writers. Plus I read German, French and Dutch-language texts all the time, which widens my scope to no end. Believe me, there's a huge difference between the, say, French approach to horror and the Anglo-Saxon variety. And you're right about my whereabouts: I live in Belgium, a problematical and very boring country at best.

I've noticed I get confused sometimes with Huw, who lives in Taiwan.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.59
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 07:49 pm:   

Hubert, do you know the Dutch novella "The Happening" written by Belcampo some time in the 50s I believe. It virtually set the template for the monstrous apocalyptic horrors of King's "The Mist". Only in that case Mrs Carmody was actually right! It's a brilliantly weird and frightening story about the biblical "end of days" descending on a quiet Dutch village and has demonic monsters every bit as terrifying as in King's work.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.59
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 07:52 pm:   

I'm in no way dismissing 'Doctor Sleep', Weber, just expressing reasonable doubts about the wisdom of billing it as a sequel to his greatest and most imperishable horror novel.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.59
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 07:57 pm:   

Good point, Craig. 'Doctor Sleep' does need to be judged on its own merits and not as a sequel to an unmatchable cultural object like 'The Shining'. I have doubts but will reserve judgement until I have actually read it. I thought I made that obvious.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.59
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 07:59 pm:   

In Belcampo's work they come out of the rain as opposed to the mist.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.59
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 08:20 pm:   

You can find it in Fontana's 'European Tales Of Terror' (1968) edited by J.J. Strating.
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.60.93
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 08:59 pm:   

Thanks for the Belcampo hint, Stevie. I'll try to find the original text. I know 'Belcampo' was a pseudonym used by Herman Pieter Schönfeld Wichers, but that is all.

As for Doctor Sleep - it cannot be called a proper sequel to The Shining without the resurrection of good old Jack, can it? He's the (anti)hero of the Overlook, not Danny.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.106.30
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 09:10 pm:   

Stevie, you've passed judgement on it here already when you said "does its existence as a lesser work add to or detract from the original?" thereby already dismissing it as a lesser work.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 176.248.120.78
Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 - 11:08 pm:   

F. Paul Wilson's Nightworld was a pretty good novel with a similar feel to The Mist, as I recall. Massive sinkholes start appearing across the world, releasing increasingly horrific (and large) monsters. There's one particular scene involving a worm-thing and its babies that has stuck with me for years.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.140.55
Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2013 - 07:51 am:   

'The Mist' (2007) by Frank Darabont is, imho, a near perfect visualisation of Stephen King's great pulp horror novella from 1980 - when he was at his absolute peak as a writer and still relatively unscathed by the double-edged sword of huge success and popular adulation. Sorry, Craiog, but it is. As a rollercoaster ride of unrelenting character based tension and escalating suspense the writer/director and excellent ensemble cast really couldn't have done a better job. What a pleasure it was, too, to see all those familiar character actor faces from 'The Walking Dead' again. In truth the film played out like a small scale test run of that greatest of all apocalyptic horror TV series. The intensity of the acting and truth of the character reactions was a lovingly crafted testament to King's original skill at convincing us the impossible was really happening to real people and I take my hat off to everyone concerned.

However, the film, wonderfully intense and entertaining as it is, is not without its irritating flaws and pales into nothing more than a fairly faithful (for the most part) tribute when compared to the timeless excellence of the novella. I thought the presentation of the monsters was refreshingly restrained and the intercutting between CGI and model effects pretty well done on the whole. Ultimately the monsters are not the point of the story but merely the vehicle by which the character arcs develop and Darabont, like King, was right to keep them mostly in the background. The tentacle sequence could perhaps have been a bit more subtle and not as long drawn out but, as a first shock to the system realisation of the physical horrors these poor schmucks faced, it still worked pretty damn effectively. After that I found the infrequent monster attack sequences to be as well done as anyone could have hoped for given all the modern technology available to fantasy film makers.

The real heart of the movie was in the utterly convincing and gripping long between attack sequences of character development and social disintegration. The influence on King of one of his, and my, favourite novels, William Golding's 'Lord Of The Flies' (1954), couldn't have been more apparent as we watched the engrossing battles for leadership develop and the swing in the balance of power, driven by "mortal terror", towards Mrs Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden, stealing the show in a powerhouse performance) and her fire and brimstone doomsaying. All that was just perfect and equally as effective as Darabont's inspired realisation of 'The Walking Dead'!

My main gripe with the film and what took me so long to make my mind up about it was in the few changes Darabont did see fit to make to the story (not the special effects, which were fine). In the novella King gave us a few hints about work at a top secret military base in the mountains having somehow been responsible for the disaster and left it at that but in the movie Darabont chose to make the military explanation far too explicit for my liking which took away much of the Lovecraftian eeriness of the plot and just felt too pat an attempt to explain things to us "dumb" viewers.

This was never more frustrating than in the completely unnecessary and heavy-handed very final scene. That was totally misjudged, imo, and the film should be recut leaving it and a few other of the military explanation scenes out. Then it would have been a well nigh perfect adaptation of what I still insist is King's most successful piece of Lovecraftian weird fiction. Am I nit-picking? The film is after all Darabont's vision and these material changes of the uncanny into the tangible were his to have the right to make. I think in that one element his judgement let him down and reduced what was so bloody nearly a masterpiece into just an excellent thrill-ride of a horror movie. The film should have ended either with their glimpse of that towering thing in the mist or with poor old David (Thomas Jane, who was excellent throughout) standing awaiting his unseen fate with a final fade to black.

And that's my final assessment.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.140.55
Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2013 - 08:21 am:   

Now for another triple bill and I don't feel up to the extreme horrors of 'A Serbian Film' yet. So, picked at random, three horror films I've never seen before:

'The Devil Bat' (1940) by Jean Yarbrough - more Bela Lugosi mad scientist schlock horror. Should be good for a laugh.

'The Phantom Of The Mall : Eric's Revenge' (1989) by Richard Friedman - a typical 80s schlock horror slasher updating of Gaston Leroux's great novel. Ditto.

'Wilderness' (2006) by Michael J. Bassett - recent schlock horror ordeal nasty from one of the new wave of British horror directors.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 - 02:38 pm:   

Well that was an entertaining day of horror viewing:

'The Devil Bat' (1940), directed by Jean Yarbrough and written by George Bricker & John T. Neville, is one of the stronger Lugosi horror vehicles of the 40s (when he appeared in some awful dross) and is played mainly for macabre laughs with Bela clearly enjoying hamming it up as outwardly charming, inwardly seething, Dr Carruthers, the disgruntled employee of a super-rich perfume business that made its fortune on the back of his original formula, sold to them for a pittance. As he slaves away in the company labs perfecting new scents he secretly works on a sinister project of his own in his personal secret laboratory, creating a giant mutant vampire bat, as you do, that he trains to attack and kill anyone wearing his latest limited range after-shave lotion, that he then presents to each of the hated company heads in turn before releasing his monstrous pet into the night to track them down and, driven wild by the scent, tear the throat out of each of them one-by-one! Really quite a clever little plot for one of these poverty row type schlock horrors. The bat itself is about the size of a large eagle and as endearingly “convincing” as any of the rubber bats that flew through the Universal horrors while the action rattles along nicely and the star has a jovial twinkle in his eye as he delivers his deadpan lines as the unsuspected killer – no one could make the word “goodbye” sound as deliriously blood freezing as Lugosi in this kind of form. It’s an enjoyable bit of hokey fun with the forgotten comic duo, Dave O’Brien & Donald Kerr, playing a bumbling pair of investigative journalists. The “Made in Japan” joke is still genuinely laugh out loud funny but it was no surprise the act are now forgotten as Lugosi wipes them off the screen with his wilfully OTT performance. Good daft fun!

‘The Phantom Of The Mall : Eric’s Revenge’ (1989), directed by Richard Friedman and written by Scott J. Schneid, Tony Michelman & Robert King, was a perfectly entertaining and ridiculously eighties (Jesus, the hair and the clothes!!) updating of Gaston Leroux’s ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ (1910). This time the masked and horribly scarred madman haunts the rafters and ventilation ducts of a newly opened mega-mall in a small American town and harbours a secret love for one of the popular pretty young shop-girls, Melody Austin (Kari Whitman), while decimating the security and maintenance staff in a variety of imaginatively nasty ways. The backstory, laid out from the beginning, is that this Phantom was Melody’s former boyfriend, Eric Matthews (Derek Rydall), who was believed to have died, along with his parents, in an arson attack on their home, which just happened to be the one home refusing to sell up on the proposed site of the new mall. Of course powerful local interests turn out to be behind the attack and the plot gallops along nicely as Eric uncovers the truth and takes ghastly revenge on all of those involved while growing increasingly jealous at Melody’s growing fondness for hunky local journalist, Peter (Rob Estes). It’s corny as hell with hilariously wooden acting but the make-up and gore effects are well done and there’s never a dull moment in its length. I thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was and the nostalgia/cringe value is priceless.

‘Wilderness’ (2006), directed by Michael J. Bassett and written by Dario Poloni, is easily the most accomplished and gripping film by this new wave British horror director I have seen to date. ‘Deathwatch’ (2002) and ‘Solomon Kane’ (2009) were fine entertaining genre movies but this one beats both of them hands down, imho. It’s an interesting variant on the backwoods slasher genre with a stronger than usual script and backstory explaining the maniac’s motives and boasts a fine young cast throwing themselves into their parts with gusto. The likes of this film and ‘Cold Prey’ (also 2006) prove that there is life in the old dog yet. The set-up has a group of violent young inmates of a northern borstal being sent for rehabilitation to survive for a week, with their no nonsense warder (Sean Pertwee), camping and fending for themselves on a remote, uninhabited and heavily forested Scottish island – as communal punishment for the suicide of one of their fellow dormitory inmates (whose father was in special forces... hint, hint) due to a brutal campaign of bullying and humiliation by two of them, whom the rest refuse to squeal on. Once there it doesn’t take long before this motley crew realise they are not alone and, in fact, are being hunted by a faceless and heavily armed killer who appears able to merge into the trees and undergrowth at will and who is backed up by a pack of vicious Alsatians trained to kill at his whistled commands! The action and tension never lets up for a second, the acting and direction are superb and the gore effects (one long drawn out horrible death in particular) extremely effective and sickening. The films mixes elements of; ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ (1932), Golding’s ‘Lord Of The Flies’ (1954), yet again, ‘Friday The 13th’ (1980), ‘Predator’ (1987) and ‘Dog Soldiers’ (2002) to wildly entertaining effect. Just try to work out who will live and who will die and who will get what they deserve and who will suffer unnecessarily and I guarantee you’ll be wrong. A brilliant piece of B-movie schlock horror that has been rather overlooked in the last decade of horror excellence and I feel sure is bound to gain future cult status.

As an interesting aside I noticed that this randomly picked triple bill ended up having a very definite theme of righteous revenge in which the bad guys were more sympathetic than the victims. Each of them would have worked as typical short stories in ‘The Pan Books Of Horror Stories’ series and all of them were thoroughly entertaining.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 - 03:37 pm:   

And for my next treat I've decided on a triple bill of paranoid horrors:

'It Came From Outer Space' (1953) by Jack Arnold - one of the greatest films of its decade, irrespective of genre, this was based on a story written for the screen by Ray Bradbury (no doubt inspired by Heinlein's 'The Puppet Masters' (1951)) and adapted by Hugo Award winning Harry Essex. The Internet is great for this kind of research!

'Horror Express' (1972) by Eugenio Martin - simply one of the best Hammer Horror movies that Hammer never made, one of the best paranoid horrors of its wondrous decade and the last genuine masterpiece that Cushing & Lee appeared in together. Should bear interesting comparison to the previous film.

'Pontypool' (2009) by Bruce McDonald - I've heard intriguing things about this apparent low-key paranoid twist on the zombie/homicidal contagion horrors that have been so popular of late and look forward to it immensely.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - 07:55 am:   

I'm not quite so hard on The Mist like I used to be; I actually look at it as a failed pilot for TV that was salvaged by turning it into a film (there's long been precedent for this in film, from Destination Nightmare/The Veil/Jack the Ripper [1958] to Mulholland Dr. [2001], etc.). I agree fully with your assessment about the ending, Stevie; had they kept in that haunting final scene in the abandoned Denny's (what the British equivalent of our ubiquitous American diner Denny's, I wonder...?), I think that alone would've improved the film to no end. But having now read the novella, I also agree with you, that the film would never be able to capture that magic—King at some of his best.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - 11:20 am:   

You should have a look at what Darabont did with 'The Walking Dead', Craig. The zombie apocalypse scenario has never been better presented in any medium, imho.

I don't think 'The Mist' would have worked as a similar long running series as the more we saw of the world King created the more the effect of the original novella, and indeed the film, would have been watered down and made less mysterious. I really did think it was a great, extremely gripping and well acted horror movie that was flawed by a few misjudgements on the part of the writer/director. It wasn't the cruelty of the ending that I disliked - in fact I found Darabont's refusal to give the audience the happy ending they craved to be positively revolutionary in these days of committee meeting Hollywood pap - but rather it was the negation of the mystery at the heart of King's story that was so frustrating.

'The Walking Dead' gave Darabont a much more solid platform to flesh out all the ramifications of a global supernatural apocalypse that actually benefited from showing us every physical detail and social ramification of the event. It's an increasingly impressive masterwork for which 'The Mist' was a highly entertaining test run.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.220.111
Posted on Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - 01:31 pm:   

But darabont war sacked from walking dead sometime in season 2
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - 02:31 pm:   

First I heard, Weber. The show is still ultimately his vision and the last season wouldn't have had anything like the same resonance without the in-depth character build up of the first two seasons. The long quiet episodes of 'The Walking Dead', without any zombie attacks but lots of intense King-like character building, are directly comparable to the same sequences of character development in 'The Mist' that made it such an entertaining movie.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - 02:44 pm:   

The specific thing I loved about 'The Walking Dead' and 'The Mist' was the concentration on characters and the fact that the supernatural horror of their situation was merely an excuse for showing us the devastating social effects of a breakdown in society and a plunge back into the laws of the jungle. Both works owe everything to the likes of Wells' 'The War Of The Worlds' (1898), Stewart's 'Earth Abides' (1949), Wyndham's 'The Day Of The Triffids' (1951), Golding's 'Lord Of The Flies' (1954), Christopher's 'The Death Of Grass' (1956) and King's 'The Stand' (1978), as much as Romero's vision in the 'Dead Trilogy' (1968-85), imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, November 23, 2013 - 03:12 am:   

That latest triple bill offered up two genuine genre masterpieces of their eras and one interesting and original but frustrating failure from recent times.

'It Came From Outer Space' (1953), directed by Jack Arnold and written by Harry Essex, from an original screen story by Ray Bradbury, that really deserved a co-screenwriter credit as the beautifully poetic dialogue in the film is all his, should need no introduction for fans of great genre cinema. This was the first of the eerily intense desert set sci-fi/horrors of the 1950s that would become a wonderful cliche over the following years and it also set the template for the rugged maverick scientist hero (Richard Carlson, who was never better than here) and his feisty yet screamingly vulnerable pointy boobed paramour/sidekick (Barbara Rush) who invariably are the only thing standing between us and alien annihilation. Every element of this picture is absolute perfection! From the gorgeously atmospheric cinematography of the bleak desert landscapes to the director's effortless mastery of composition and storytelling to the memorably quotable and unusually literate script and the compelling gravitas and desperation of the performances, not to mention the brilliant score, that mixes orchestral and early electronic music to startlingly original effect. Belonging to the paranoid strand of 50s sci-fi, that was kick-started by Robert A. Heinlein's great novel, 'The Puppet Masters' (1951), and reached its most iconic expression in Jack Finney and Don Siegel's 'The Body Snatchers' (1954)/'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956), the film is as thought provokingly untypical as it is still genuinely chilling. The memorably bug-eyed gelatinous alien monstrosities that take human captives and adopt their form, so they can move among us unnoticed, present themselves as non-hostile and merely want to repair their crashed ship before going on their way but the unrelenting tension of the film is all based around their and the human characters' inability to trust what they do not understand. Fear of the unknown on both sides drives the action and results in inevitable violence and a self-fulfilling prophecy of hostile alien invaders able to destroy all life on Earth, if they so choose. Only Carlson's thinking outsider can hold back the baying mob and talk reason to the rattled and dangerous Xenomorphs but the final coda makes it clear he has only gained the human race a brief respite. One of those films that rewards endless rewatching and grows more ominous in its implications each time. This was Jack Arnold's first of a string of timeless masterpieces that made their decade the absolute golden era of such fare. Its effectiveness and entertainment value hasn't dated a single day!! Love it!!!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 06:22 pm:   

'Horror Express' (1972), directed by Eugenio Martin and written by Arnaud d'Usseau & Julian Zimet, is one of the great and most original mergings of classic gothic horror atmospherics and high concept science fiction, a genre perfected by H.P. Lovecraft, that has ever been made, imho. Inspired as much by John W. Campbell Jnr's "Who Goes There?" as it was by its adaptation, 'The Thing From Another World' (1951), the likes of 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956) and, most of all, the gloriously lurid Hammer Horrors that its two stars - Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing, in never better form - became famous for, this film is the visual pulp equivalent of one of the great Robert E. Howard stories i.e. perfect in every respect!

Lee plays a stuffy, bad tempered and oh so Victorianly British professor on an archaelogical expedition to Manchuria, who discovers a perfectly preserved frozen specimen of an unknown species of prehistoric ape-man, chips it out in a block of ice and sets out to transport it west on the Trans-Siberian Express, at the turn of the last century. On the train he encounters an old professorial rival, played by Cushing, who is immediately made curious and suspicious by his secrecy surrounding the contents of the crate. Of course the anthropoid monster then proceeds to thaw out, escape and work its way one-by-one through the passengers and staff as their train hurtles unstoppably through the bleak snow-swept terrain!

But this is no ordinary harum scarum monster movie, like 'Alien' (1979), say, but a surprisingly intelligent and well scripted essay in how to confound the viewer's expectations in the format of a schlock horror crowd-pleaser. The truly frightening and brilliantly made-up monster itself (it gave me nightmares as a kid - particularly that scene in which it hovers over the two sleeping children!) is removed as a threat relatively early in the movie and one is left feeling disappointed and oddly perturbed... until the true nature of the evil aboard the train becomes apparent and we realise that, from here on in, all bets are off!! Paranoia sets in as all those left alive realise that the person standing next to them might not even be human, while the corpses, with their bloody boiled white eyeballs continue to pile up, and there is no way any of them can get off the train!!

The sadly unsung Spanish director, Martin, keeps the fear and suspense cranked to the max throughout, in true Carpenterish fashion, and the grand guignol gore effects, jump-out-of-your-skin moments and unrelenting sense of escalating tension are flawlessly well done. Every time you think the horror has peaked the film pushes you just that one step further into unimaginable terror! The supporting cast, particularly Julio Pena (as the hard-headed police inspector), Telly Savalas (awe-inspiringly macho as a sadistic Cossack officer), Alberto de Mendoza (who all but steals the show as a deranged Russian priest and probable kin to Rasputin) and Silvia Tortosa (as the requisite beautiful damsel in distress) are all uniformly perfect in their roles. Even the bit part players all look and act exactly right, in the manner familiar from all those great Hammer films the director had obviously studied obsessively. If ever a cheaply made pulp horror movie was more than the sum of its parts it is this one!! And it boasts the most iconic final shot that its two horror superstars ever appeared in, imho. Absolutely fecking well fantastic PURE HORROR entertainment at its most perfectly realised!!!! Once again, I love it!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 06:58 pm:   

'Pontypool' (2009), directed by Bruce McDonald and written by Tony Burgess, based (well) on his own clearly ingenious novel, 'Pontypool Changes Everything' (1995), is so almost a great paranoid horror/sci-fi movie that its ultimate failure as a work of cinema is intensely frustrating. The good things are all in the wonderful script and the acting from a virtual cast of four (Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly & Hrant Alianak) and the bad is all down to the torpidly plodding stagebound quality of the direction.

Perhaps this is one great horror story that would have worked better as a stage or radio play than a film for it would have taken a truly great director to turn the claustrophobic tale of four people trapped inside a dark and dingy radio station while the rest of humanity outside succumbs to an airborne contagion, that they are unwittingly broadcasting, into anything like a truly satisfying movie. As each of the four of them either succumb to the weird contagion or fear that they are the only uninfected one left, while being unable to leave, the tension keeps promising to build but is frittered away by pedestrian handling. Story, acting and the unique central premise, that turns the homicidal contagion/zombie apocalypse scenario on its head, are all inspired and extremely effective but the treatment sadly doesn't do them justice. Oh to see someone like David Fincher attempt a remake! A fascinating and fitfully impressive curate's egg if ever there was one, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.63
Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 08:44 pm:   

I'm now planning this weekend's triple bill and I fancy some good old "cheer you up" horror comedy, for the festive season, I think...
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 2.217.37.97
Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 10:08 pm:   

Speaking of The Mist and The Walking Dead...

"Despite the commercial failure of Frank Darabont’s excellent adaptation of Stephen King’s supernatural novella THE MIST (a modern genre masterpiece in my opinion which recently featured in our underrated King adaptations feature), it appears The Weinstein Company is working alongside the writer/director with a plan to bring the story to the small screen. Since its release back in 2007, Darabont’s film led by the brilliant Thomas Jane, has gone on to find an appreciated audience in much the same way as John Carpenter’s celebrated 1982 sci-fi horror classic THE THING.

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker of such classics as THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE GREEN MILE and who is no stranger to television (having worked on The Shield, The Walking Dead and currently gangster series Mob City) has proposed 10-part series. It’s currently unknown if this will be a retelling of the Dimension film; continues from that shocking conclusion or offer a different perspective from those events."
http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2013/11/30/frank-darabont-developing-series-base d-mist/
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.63
Posted on Thursday, December 05, 2013 - 10:32 pm:   

Wow!! That's some news, David. Thanks for that. It is a seriously underrated movie, imo. Not perfect but certainly underrated.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, December 09, 2013 - 03:31 pm:   

For my horror comedy triple bill I've decided on three of the best, most star studded and quintessentially British examples ever made:

'The Wrong Box' (1966) by Bryan Forbes - I've always been a fan of this underrated director and consider this his best film. It's a stone cold classic dark British farce based on a work by Robert Louis Stevenson and has one of the greatest comedy casts ever assembled. Witness; John Mills, Ralph Richardson (who steals the show in a hilarious performance!), Michael Caine, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Nanette Newman, Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Wilfrid Lawson, Thorley Walters, Cicely Courtneidge, Diane Clare, Gerald Sim, Irene Handl & John Le Mesurier! They're all in great form and I haven't seen this wonderful movie in maybe 30 years.

'Theatre Of Blood' (1973) by Douglas Hickox - possibly the greatest and goriest horror comedy of the 1970s with an almost equally great cast of comedy greats. Witness; Vincent Price (in his most delicious ham role), Ian Hendry, Diana Rigg, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Milo O'Shea, Eric Sykes, Harry Andrews, Dennis Price, Diana Dors, Jack Hawkins, Coral Browne, Robert Morley, Joan Hickson, Charles Gray, Madeline Smith, Robert Coote & Renée Asherson (you know them all). I haven't seen it in far too many years!

'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004) by Edgar Wright - I consider this film to be the most perfectly realised and hilarious horror comedy of recent years. Once again the cast is remarkable and they are all in the best form of their careers. Witness; Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy, Jessica Stevenson, Peter Serafinowicz, Rafe Spall, Martin Freeman, Reece Shearsmith, Tamsin Greig, Julia Deakin, Matt Lucas (he doesn't irritate me as much as the other one), Mark Donovan. Believe it or not this will be my first rewatch of the film since seeing it in the cinema on first release - when I came out with my eyes dancing!

I'm really looking forward to this one!!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.221.243
Posted on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - 09:21 am:   

Best zom-com ever made is Peter Jackson's Brain Dead aka Dead Alive. While it doesn't have the subtlety that Shaun of the Dead has, the laugh quotient is so much higher and the zombie mayhem is so brilliantly done, it eclipses Shaun on every other level. In recent years Juan of the Dead and Cockneys vs Zombies have both Imho also surpassed Shaun on the laugh quotient - which makes them better comedies by definition.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - 03:54 pm:   

Comedy is the hardest of all genres to judge critically. Its purpose is to make the viewer laugh and that's something very different for all of us.

Some people find the 'Carry On' films and people like Roy Chubby Brown to be uproariously hilarious. I find him to be painfully stupid and immature and think only a few of the 60s Carry Ons really stand up as timeless comedies, imho.

Some people find Monty Python just plain stupid unintelligible nonsense and Woody Allen to be boring while others, God bless them, can't see what's so side-splitting and loveable about Laurel & Hardy, 'Sgt Bilko' or 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'. To me, off the top of my head, they never fail to reduce me to tears of laughter.

'Shaun Of The Dead', imho, belongs in the absolute front rank of great cinema horror comedies. So too does 'Braindead'.

In the end... if it bends it's funny, if it breaks it ain't funny. Right, Craig?
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - 04:48 pm:   

That's right, Stevie. Don't forget either: Comedy, is tragedy plus time. The night Lincoln was shot, you couldn't joke about it. But time has gone by, and now it's fair game.

I loved both Shaun of the Dead and Brain Dead/Dead Alive. Can't we just agree, they're both pretty damn funny? (Zombieland had its funny moments, too [mostly in the scenes with Bill Murray].)
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - 05:04 pm:   

Both 'Shaun Of The Dead' and 'Braindead' are in my Top 100 Horror Movies list. So, I guess, we already do agree.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - 05:25 pm:   

Btw, tangent, to what I can only assume is nearly the polar opposite of horror/comedy—have you seen A Serbian Film, Stevie? It came to mind again the other day. I haven't seen it, kinda want to... but I fear it might be just too much for even me to take....
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - 05:35 pm:   

I picked it up on DVD recently but haven't had the will to watch it yet, Craig. Some night when I'm feeling suitably nihilistic I'll probably match it with something like 'Blood Feast' and 'The Last House On The Left'. Talk about a crescendo of horror!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.66
Posted on Monday, December 16, 2013 - 11:48 pm:   

What a DVD haul I picked up today! And all for a couple of quid each!!

Earth Vs The Flying Saucers
20 Million Miles To Earth
What A Carve Up!
Dr Terror's House Of Horrors
Queen Of Blood
A Bay Of Blood
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (70s version)
The Entity
The Return Of The Living Dead
eXistenZ
Giallo

Points awarded for who can work out which of the above I've never seen before. They're every one a classic!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 94.118.44.117
Posted on Saturday, December 21, 2013 - 07:44 pm:   

For my latest triple bill, to be watched with my latest horror loving girlfriend, I've decided on sheer supernatural terror:

'The Haunting' (1963) by Robert Wise - she hasn't seen it before!!

'The Entity' (1983) by Sidney J. Furie - ditto!!

'Sinister' (2012) by Scott Derrickson - for the first time for either of us!

If I never see her again after tonight you'll know why, hur hur...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2014 - 11:25 pm:   

A slight alteration to the format this time with a triple bill of old sci-fi horror movies:

'This Island Earth' (1955) by Joseph M. Newman - for me this is second only to 'Forbidden Planet' (1956) as the finest and most beautiful to look at pure "outer space" science fiction film of its glorious decade. This is the one with the shambling brain-headed crab-pincered Mutants - one of Hollywood's most memorable monster creations. Haven't seen it in way too many years.

'Earth Vs The Flying Saucers' (1956) by Fred F. Sears - the great Ray Harryhausen's third major film and one of his most fondly remembered. I saw it once before as a teenager and remember being impressed by how seriously it treated the material and by how truly callous the aliens were. This is how I like my alien invasions!

'Queen Of Blood' (1966) by Curtis Harrington - first viewing of this low budget forerunner of 'Alien' (1979) by the talented horror auteur, Harrington, who would go on to make a name for himself in the 70s. I've heard good things and with a cast that includes Basil Rathbone, John Saxon & Dennis Hopper it's surely got to be worth the watching!

To be followed by a triple bill of 70s/80s sci-fi horror and three of the last 20 years. I'm in that kind of mood.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, January 13, 2014 - 07:09 pm:   

And for the rest of my sci-fi horror marathon:


'The Incredible Melting Man' (1977) by William Sachs - I have hazy subliminal memories of this being on in a mates house on video back in the 80s but can remember next to nothing about it as I think we were too pissed. It was one of the earliest films to feature the special effects genius of Rick Baker.

'The Deadly Spawn' (1983) by Douglas McKeown - saw it once before on grainy video many moons ago and remember absolutely loving it as one of the most entertaining 50s alien invasion homages of the 1980s. If I remember correctly it is also very, very funny and could well have kick-started the boom in these kind of loveable genre piss-takes.

'The Hidden' (1987) by Jack Sholder - haven't seen this marvellously entertaining movie since it was first released and really looking forward to a long overdue re-evaluation. I thought it was one of the best made genre movies of its decade!


To be followed by...


'Species' (1995) by Roger Donaldson - saw it in the cinema at the time and found it hackneyed but entertaining hokum with quality production values and a stunning cast. Time for a re-watch after - fuck me! - nearly 20 years!

'Event Horizon' (1997) by Paul W. S. Anderson - again this is a first rewatch after its original cinema release for me. This unheralded sci-fi epic blew me away at the time with its spectacular visuals and originality while also scaring the living daylights out of me in a way no similar movie had done since 'Alien' (1979). Which brings me to...

'Prometheus' (2012) by Ridley Scott - I went to see this twice in the same week last year, in 2D and 3D, and thought it were fecking brilliant!! The most successfully Lovecraftian sci-fi horror movie that has possibly ever been made, imho. I already know it rewards rewatching and concentration and I'm just as excited about this first DVD watch, with all the extras and, hopefully, more clues and/or explanations, as the beginning of a first chrono watch of the entire Alien Saga so far. Yep, all five movies over coming triple bills.


I'm currently bedbound with a badly injured knee and my leg in a splint after a fall at the weekend so have never been more glad of my blessed DVD collection, folks.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 10:34 pm:   

That was the most entertaining series of movies I have watched in a long, long time. Write ups to follow.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 - 10:46 pm:   

Triple bill time again:

'The Amazing Transparent Man' (1960) by Edgar G. Ulmer.

'Alien' (1979) by Ridley Scott - the director's cut version to compare with my recent viewing of 'Prometheus' (2012).

'Zombieland' (2009) by Ruben Fleischer.

A nice eclectic mix.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.108.205
Posted on Thursday, January 23, 2014 - 02:08 am:   

I had a themed triple bill on Sunday. The films were Repo - The Genetic Opera, Shadow Puppets and Ghost Writer.

Can anyone name the linking theme/thing...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, January 23, 2014 - 07:09 am:   

The stage?
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.108.205
Posted on Thursday, January 23, 2014 - 08:59 am:   

nope
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, January 23, 2014 - 06:00 pm:   

Still housebound so another triple bill:

'The Vampire Bat' (1933) by Frank R. Strayer - long wanted to see this purported lost classic that is said to be up to the quality of the great Universal horrors of the same period.

'Aliens' (1986) by James Cameron - again the director's cut version. I'm enjoying this. The motives of Weyland Corp. make a lot more sense now watched in chrono order.

'Bad Biology' (2008) by Frank Henenlotter - the king of gross out horror comedy's big comeback movie that I've never seen before and have heard good things about.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.175
Posted on Saturday, February 08, 2014 - 06:46 pm:   

Time I started writing up some of those recent sanity saving horror triple bills. This was my great British horror/comedy night that was almost criminally entertaining:

'The Wrong Box' (1966) directed by Bryan Forbes and written by Larry Gelbart & Burt Shevelove - based on a rare comic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson this is almost the quintessential macabre British farce with a remarkable cast of comic talent all in great form. A group of Victorian children are selected to be part of a tontine [a kind of lottery cum life savings scheme that was all the rage at the time and also featured as a plot device in Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May adventure 'Seventy-Seven Clocks' (2005)] with whichever one of them lives the longest collecting a fortune in interest on the death of the penultimate member. After an entertaining series of unfortunate accidents, over the ensuing decades, the last two survivors, now doddery old codgers, turn out to be John Mills and Ralph Richardson and this provides the incentive for a motley crew of scheming relatives on both sides to launch conflicting stratagems to ensure that their family reaps the final reward by the removal of their last rival. Pitch black hilarity, murder and mayhem ensues with misidentified corpses popping up all over the place. Boasting first rate production values and period detail as well as uniformly pitch perfect and very funny performances by all concerned this is one of the finest black comedies of its era, imho. Ralph Richardson somehow manages to steal the show even though Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, John Mills, Michael Caine, etc are all at the top of their comedic game. This is my favourite Bryan Forbes film. Highly entertaining stuff!

'Theatre Of Blood' (1973) directed by Douglas Hickox and written by Anthony Greville-Bell - perhaps the most gloriously entertaining and gleefully gruesome horror comedy of its glorious decade this macabre ode to the bloodier side of Shakespeare provided Vincent Price with his greatest and most wilfully OTT role as the immortal thespian, Edward Lionheart. I've watched this marvellous movie countless times and still love every demented moment of it. The series of murders of great British character actors (Michael Hordern, Dennis Price, Arthur Lowe, Harry Andrews, Jack Hawkins, Coral Browne, Robert Morley & Ian Hendry) based on the works of the Bard has never been rivalled on screen for sheer imagination and Grand Guignol excess. Add to that Diana Rigg, Milo O'Shea, Eric Sykes and Diana Dors, among other familiar faces, all providing sterling support and you have one of the strongest casts ever to grace any horror film. The plot is basically an even more assured rerun of 'The Abominable Dr Phibes' (1971) with a flamboyant madman returning from the dead to exact fitting revenge on the group of thoroughly unsympathetic cads who were responsible for his downfall and "demise". Immensely influential on the current crop of horror/comedy fanboys the balance between genuine laughs and seriously disturbing horror has rarely, if ever, been so perfectly judged. A masterpiece of its kind that will live forever... just like its star!!

'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004) by Edgar Wright - since the turn of the century and, I would contend, the surprise runaway success of a certain innovative TV show called 'The League Of Gentlemen' (1999-2002) there has been a veritable explosion of inspired excellence in the unfairly maligned field of horror/comedy in television and cinema. I have always wondered why certain diehard horror fans decry the very mention of the two genres being put together when, to me, they have always been the most natural of bedfellows. Horror entertainment is, by its very nature, comfortably divorced from what we like to call normal everyday life while humour is our greatest escape from that same world of tedium. Add the two together and you get escapism in its purest form. For me this absolutely wonderful instant masterpiece of the form is the greatest achievement in horror/comedy of recent times. I will never forget the experience of first seeing it in the cinema 10 years ago and walking out onto the street after literally beaming with happiness. Acting, writing, direction, pacing, laughs, scares, horror, pathos, excitement, gore and special effects are all judged and delivered to absolute perfection. There was magic in the air when this team of modern comedy talent got together and the result was a film that will be loved by generation after generation, every bit as much as the likes of; 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967), 'Young Frankenstein' (1974) or 'An American Werewolf In London' (1981). Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost - fresh from the success of their wonderfully bizarre sitcom, 'Spaced' (1999-2001) - would go on to complete a trilogy of such genre spoofs, and the follow ups, 'Hot Fuzz' (2007) and 'The World's End' (2013), were almost as perfectly realised and hilariously entertaining but nothing they ever do again will top SOTD, imho. It's just one of those films and is hands down the ultimate comedic statement on George A. Romero's whole zombie apocalypse scenario!

Now that was what I call a memorable night!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.175
Posted on Saturday, February 08, 2014 - 07:16 pm:   

And I'm just about to settle down to my latest horror marathon. The theme this time is auteurs of the weird and fantastic:

'Isle Of The Dead' (1945) by Mark Robson - one of the few Val Lewton horror productions I've never seen and starring my old mate, of late, Boris Karloff! I've been holding this back for a special treat.

'Alien³' (1992) by David Fincher - perhaps the most underrated of the series, I haven't seen it since first cinema release and look forward to a serious reevaluation in proper context.

'Tideland' (2005) by Terry Gilliam - I was gutted to miss this in the cinema, which is where all Gilliam's films should be watched, but I'm still just a bit excited at the thought of this first viewing of what many claim to be his great misunderstood masterpiece!! Assessment to follow...

So that's horror, science fiction and fantasy from three of the supreme masters of cinema. Here goes!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.244
Posted on Monday, March 03, 2014 - 06:44 pm:   

Just picked up a copy of 'Berberian Sound Studio' and looking forward to it. Sounds excellent!
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 176.253.221.53
Posted on Monday, March 03, 2014 - 11:10 pm:   

Berberian Sound Studio is the one film I saw last year that has really stuck in my head, the imagery of the final scenes particularly. I thought it was superb.
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The Jackalmaster (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.81
Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2014 - 01:57 pm:   

Finishing off my first chrono watch of the Alien saga today and starting The Fly series with this randomly picked triple bill:

'The Fly' (1958) by Kurt Neumann - the definitive adaptation of George Langelaan's great horror novella. I still slightly prefer it to Cronenberg's inspired remake (to be rewatched soon).

'Puppet Master' (1989) by David Schmoeller - from what I can vaguely remember this was the only half decent effort in a bafflingly long running franchise that has resulted in 10 films to date.

'Alien Resurrection' (1997) by Jean-Pierre Jeunet - I haven't seen this since first release in the cinema and would rank it as easily the weakest and most formulaic of the series. Time for a hopeful reappraisal.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2014 - 07:33 pm:   

Just spent all day sorting all my DVDs and horror books back into order and feeling quite chuffed looking at them.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2014 - 08:07 pm:   

Time to get up-to-date with the last few months triple bills:

'The Haunting' (1963) directed by Robert Wise and written by Nelson Gidding - watched for maybe the fourth or fifth time I still got something new from this flawless adaptation of Shirley Jackson's great horror masterpiece, 'The Haunting Of Hill House' (1959), and enjoyed its pitch perfect atmospherics afresh when watched with a girlfriend who hadn't seen it before and was just a bit freaked out. It works as a straight traditional haunted house frightener and as a fascinating portrait of mental disintegration that leaves the viewer haunted by teasing ambiguities and several possible readings - just like the book and unlike the bloody atrocious 1999 remake.

'The Entity' (1983) directed by Sidney J. Furie and written by Frank De Felitta - but if she was scared by that movie she was positively terrified by this absolute classic no holds barred supernatural shocker, as I knew she would be, hur hur. I consider this one of the most genuinely frightening horror movies ever made and never fail to be mesmerised by Barbara Hershey's agonisingly tortured performance as the ordinary single mother living in suburbia who is relentlessly brutalised by an invisible sexual attacker. Few films have shown the unimaginable 'other' intruding on everyday reality with such conviction and for that reason I rank this one of the greatest Lovecraftian horror films ever made. The apocalyptic climax makes that particularly apparent.

'Sinister' (2012) directed by Scott Derrickson and written by Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill - we were both impressed by this atmospheric and creepy modern ghost story but had to agree that it paled into a work of mere professional entertainment beside the two earlier films. Clearly influenced by the Asian horror boom, with its utilisation of modern technology as a portal through which the supernatural intrudes, this was competently made and frequently very scary, with a typically intense and compelling performance from Ethan Hawke, but I found the direction to be frustratingly heavy handed in the later scenes of ghostly manifestation - when a bit more subtlety would have made the film much more effective. It's good solid spooky entertainment but not quite the modern classic many made it out to be.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2014 - 09:10 pm:   

Now into my epically entertaining series of sci-fi/horror triple bills with the oldies up first:

'This Island Earth' (1955) directed by Joseph M. Newman and written by Raymond F. Jones, Franklin Coen & Edward G. O'Callaghan - one of the most intelligent and beautifully made sci-fi movies of the golden era that gives us a particularly subtle and disturbing - the more one thinks about it - alien invasion scenario hidden under a blanket of godlike technological benevolence. The iconic bug-eyed Mutants are an unforgettable creation even though they only appear in a handful of scenes. My own reading of the film is that those zombie-like green monsters are how we would have ended up had the Metalunan 'friendly' invasion plan come off... I'd rank this right up there with 'Forbidden Planet' (1956) and 'The War Of The Worlds' (1953) in the top rank of colourful big budget 50s sci-fi films that are every bit as captivating today as they ever were.

'Earth Versus The Flying Saucers' (1956) directed by Fred F. Sears and written by Curt Siodmak, George Worthing Yates & Bernard Gordon - now this is a wildly entertaining, fast paced and imaginative military invasion from outer space with no subtlety at all but maximum ruthlessness and arrogance on the part of the strikingly Grey-like alien attackers. It represents the complete inverse vision of Spielberg's 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind' (1977) and has to be seen as equally influential on the whole UFO phenomenon in the public consciousness of the last century... now all but petered out. Flying saucer expert Major Donald E. Keyhoe was famously involved as some kind of technical expert in the making of the movie, much as J. Allen Hynek was in Spielberg's epic. The film should be remembered as much for its huge sociological effect as for Ray Harryhausen's wonderful special effects.

'Queen Of Blood' (1966) written and directed by Curtis Harrington - now this was a real find and an unexpected joy of seriously mounted low budget sci-fi/horror that far transcended the pittance spent on it due to the raw talent of its writer/director and the sheer luck he had in acquiring Basil Rathbone at the jobbing tail-end of his career and John Saxon & Dennis Hopper at the beginning of their's! Made in gloriously luminous colour and with amazingly impressive sets and special effects, made on a shoestring, it should be as venerated as John Carpenter's 'Dark Star' (1974) for the achievement in film-making it represents. The crew of a spaceship on a mission to Mars pick up the sole survivor of a crashed alien ship, in the form of Florence Marly's eerie green-skinned plant-woman thing, who awakens and proceeds to decimate them one-by-one on the claustrophobic return journey by leeching their blood using her glowing-eyed hypnotic powers. The whole film oozes atmosphere and contains sequences of genuinely frightening power that prefigure similar scenes in the virtual big budget remake 'Alien' (1979). A real lost classic if ever there was one with a truly thought provoking and disturbing ending that haunts me yet.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2014 - 01:09 am:   

And the modern sci-fi/horror triple bill:

'The Incredible Melting Man' (1977) written and directed by William Sachs - piss-poor effort to emulate the horror of 'The Quatermass Experiment' (1955) that is made interesting only by the gruesome make-up effects of Rick Baker, before he hit the big time. The direction is non-existent, he merely points the camera ffs, the dialogue is atrocious, and the acting, by all concerned, is like watching a convention of somnambulists. An astronaut returns horribly scarred as the only survivor of an ill-fated deep space mission and proceeds to morph into a pile of bloody gloop as he escapes and rampages across the countryside killing anyone who strays into his path. Somehow the film makers turned such a "how could it fail" horror premise into something as dull as watching an episode of 'Emmerdale'!

'The Deadly Spawn' (1983) written and directed by Douglas McKeown - absolutely brilliant low budget cult classic that entertains on every level and belies its meagre budget with breathtaking aplomb. This was the film that launched a string of lovingly crafted and darkly comedic homages to those old 1950s "small town beset by alien monster" movies we all love so much. It's scary, exciting, funny, touching, gruesome as hell, filled with surprising narrative twists (try guessing who will die and who will survive) and has one of the most memorably grotesque Lovecraftian monstrosities in motion picture history gobbling up a uniformly likeable cast of unknowns. And the ending is one of the most "fuck me" awe-inspiring of the 1980s. A real joy to watch!

'The Hidden' (1987) directed by Jack Sholder and written by Bob Hunt - another ridiculously entertaining stone cold 80s sci-fi/horror classic. Kyle McLachlan first played an oddball FBI agent here and the mismatched buddy cop chemistry between him and Michael Nouri, coupled with nauseating special effects and a perfect balancing of horror, humour, thrills and poignancy, turned what could have been another run-of-the-mill LA based potboiler into something approaching genius. The action never let's up for a second and is masterfully sustained through to a breathtakingly suspenseful climax and a devastating coda that is as genuinely moving as it is disturbing in what it implies. A near perfect thrill ride of a movie that hasn't dated a day, for all the nostalgically way-out fashions. Definitely one of the best genre movies of its decade!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2014 - 10:56 am:   

And my recent sci-fi/horror triple bill:

'Species' (1995) directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dennis Feldman - billed as something to get as excited about as 'Alien' (1979), due in no small part to the design involvement of H.R. Giger, this star studded big budget sci-fi/horror turned out to be a hokily entertaining but uninspired retread of themes that had previously been nailed by Nigel Kneale and has to be seen as a frustrating waste of the talents involved. Natasha Henstridge may be beautiful, in an icy kind of way, but she can't act for toffee and was fortunate to be cast as an alien shapeshifter here - almost as fortunate as Arnold Schwarzenegger in his breakthrough film 'The Terminator' (1984). It's fun while it's on and has some memorable set pieces and impressive special effects but just lacks that extra spark of energy and originality that would have made it live in the memory. Just another run-of-the-mill LA based potboiler...

'Event Horizon' (1997) directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and written by Philip Eisner & Andrew Kevin Walker - released without any fanfare this turned out to be the real deal and the single most frightening deep space sci-fi/horror movie since Ridley Scott's 'Alien' (1979). It is the science fiction equivalent of one of those old haunted ship stories with a salvage crew being the first to explore a derelict starship that had vanished without a trace on its maiden voyage seven years before. What they find is terrifying! Visually the film is a jaw-dropping achievement and the Lovecraftian script never puts a foot wrong, working by a gradual build-up of cosmic awe tempered by fear of the unknown and ending in hair-raising satanic terror straight out of 'The Exorcist' (1973). Of the creative talent involved only Andrew Kevin Walker would go on to any comparable success so this has to be seen as one of those chance alchemical meetings, of which not much was expected, that resulted in a real one-off genre classic of stark terror!

'Prometheus' (2012) directed by Ridley Scott and written by Jon Spaihts & Damon Lindelof - third viewing of this long awaited prequel to the film that defines the sci-fi/horror genre (and kept popping up in comparisons above). This is the single best thing Scott has done in decades and proves what a visionary director he can be when he sticks to science fiction. It knocks spots off every other sequel in the franchise by returning to the original vision and expanding upon it in different directions while staying true to what hooked us in the first place. I've discovered new depths and subtleties to this glorious epic after each watch and consider it a resounding success, especially given the gargantuan expectations the film makers had hanging around their necks while planning and making it, and I would urge any fan of this stuff to play it first in a complete chrono watch of the Alien Saga, as I just did, to get whole new layers of meaning and enjoyment out of the series. Balancing high concept theorising of the origins of mankind and a Lovecraftian sense of cosmic awe with having to deliver atmospheric scares and high octane action the script and pacing gets everything just about right and leaves enough tantalising mysteries to the viewer's imagination to fuel a whole new "must see" franchise from the original 1979 "boogeyman in space" premise. A stunning to look at modern masterpiece of its kind that respects its audience's collective intelligence and their demands for entertainment! Now roll on the follow-up...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2014 - 09:28 pm:   

Followed by:

'The Amazing Transparent Man' (1960) directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and written by Jack Lewis - a routinely entertaining B-movie spin on 'The Invisible Man' (1933) that sees a notorious safe cracker broken out of prison by a ruthless gangster with a plan to get super-rich due to his kidnapping of a scientist and his invention that transmits temporary invisibility to anyone lying underneath its ray. The criminal anti-hero (Douglas Kennedy) agrees to go along with the plan unaware that the very first time he submits to the process he has signed his own death warrant due to absorbing a lethal dose of radiation - something his dastardly employer had refrained from telling him - thus providing shades of 'D.O.A' (1950) style nihilism to the narrative. The rest of the movie is a part heist, part revenge film noir crime thriller with an invisibility gimmick that passes the time pleasantly enough but isn't anything to write home about. It's kind of like watching a feature length quite good episode of 'The Twilight Zone'.


'Alien' (1979) directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon - when it comes to sci-fi/horror cinema there are two genuinely frightening and otherworldly films that always spring first to my mind; Don Siegel's 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956) and this timeless masterpiece, that made Ridley Scott's name as a visionary auteur.

It's hard to underestimate the phenomenal impact this terrifyingly claustrophobic deep space shocker had on its first release, nor the tremendous influence it has had since, and the film still looks sensationally good and is one of those irresistibly intense 'stories well told' that never fails to suck the viewer in no matter how many times they have seen it before. The extra scenes in the Director's Cut version only provide the icing on the cake.

Everything just came together perfectly to scare the pants off audiences worldwide... from Scott's effortlessly precise direction and O'Bannon's wonderfully measured slow-build script, that combine to deliver some of the greatest suspense sequences and shock moments ever put on film, to H.R. Giger's beautifully grotesque production design and ingeniously repulsive (truly) alien monstrosity (the most frightening monster in movie history) and, perhaps most importantly, the casting of one of the most talented groups of actors ever to grace a sci-fi blockbuster - their commitment to the project means we feel the characters' fear in this one like no other entry in the franchise. This was one of the horror cinema milestones that made the 1970s the greatest era of them all and it hasn't dated a single day!!

I found it an interesting experience to watch this right after its prequel - of 33 years later - as it gave whole new shades of sinister meaning to the motivations of Ian Holm's traitorous android and his mysterious programmers back home on Earth. And comparing the production design of both films was fascinating and only made 'Prometheus' (2012) look all the more impressive in my eyes.


'Zombieland' (2009) directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick - I'd heard good reports about this latest in a long line of zombie horror comedies that followed in the wake of 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004) but, in truth, while the performances by a fine cast are extremely likeable and the black humour is nicely balanced with often gut-churning horror there really isn't anything new or inspired enough here to get excited about. The film meanders along from one 'seen it all before' apocalyptic set piece to the next with 'so what' predictability and is livened only by a memorably funny sequence involving Bill Murray, playing himself as a survivor holed up in his Holywood mansion, that at least injected some knowing post-modern satire. As for the rest of it... it's just another competently mounted big budget zombie flick with a Grade A cast that pales into insignificance beside the achievements of early Romero, SOTD and 'The Walking Dead' TV show. Watchable and fairly fun but that's it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, March 16, 2014 - 02:44 pm:   

'The Vampire Bat' (1933) directed by Frank R. Strayer and written by Edward T. Lowe Jnr - now this was a real gem of low budget quality horror that deserves to be remembered every bit as fondly as any of the Universal horrors of the same era and boasts a great deal more originality than any of them. Filmed on the same sets as 'Frankenstein' (1931) and 'The Old Dark House' (1932), that they shrewdly rented from the company, the story involves a remote German village being terrorised by a series of deaths that bear all the signs of vampirism, and send the locals into a baying superstitious panic, with every stranger or local oddball falling under suspicion of being "one of them". The cast is exceptional, again belying the film's meagre budget, and includes; Lionel Atwill as your typical mad professor, Dr Von Niemann, who may know more about the killings than he is letting on, Kong's old sweetheart, Fay Wray, again the screaming damsel in distress, Melvyn Douglas as the requisite rugged hero and rationalist who is convinced something other than vampires is preying on the town, and poor old Dwight Frye - the definitive Renfield in Browning's 'Dracula' (1931) - as a gurning simpleton who thinks of the bats that infest the area as his only "friends" and labels himself prime suspect as a result. All the elements come together to create a perfect little classic of atmospheric horror that is a joy to behold! They don't make 'em like this anymore...


'Aliens' (1986) written and directed by James Cameron - I've always loved this film but had niggly doubts about it at the same time, right from the first time I watched it, with breathless expectations, clutching my popcorn in the cinema. The truth is, while it entertains in spades and is glorious to look at, Cameron's gung-ho vision pales beside the unrelentingly grim claustrophobic terror of the original. But the film is such a resounding success on every other level that it would be ridiculous not to applaud the achievement in popular cinema it represents.

The most inspired element of Cameron's expansion of Dan O'Bannon's understated hints in the original script was in the revealing of the full biological life cycle of the alien. The thing that decimated the crew of the Nostromo turns out, terrifyingly, to have been merely a worker ant, or single cancerous cell, in a teeming/festering colony of nightmarish proportions... with something we haven't yet seen at the centre of it. The implications of this ultimate horror, combined with the naive kick-ass attitude of the space marines in the first half of the film, creates a powerful sense of rising tension in the clued-in viewer's mind that is masterfully controlled. This was the director at the very height of his powers and this film remains his masterpiece, imho, before he got carried away with his own success and turned into an egomaniac.

Following the central explosion of terror sequence, when the realisation of just what they're up against kicks in, the tone changes to one of backs-against-the-wall "get the fuck out of here" desperation and non-stop action/suspense that batters any demands for subtlety into submission. I could have done without the Spielbergian introduction of the cute little moppet, Newt, but her character did provide the impetus for Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) to turn into an iconic super-heroine so even there the director judged what he wanted to deliver to perfection. One jaw-dropping and seemingly climactic action set piece follows another, riveting the viewer's attention to the screen and draining all doubts from the mind, until... the film ends, the adrenaline subsides and one's higher faculties come back up for air.

It's a brilliant rollercoaster ride of an experience and one of the greatest movies of its decade but it set the franchise on a whole new course from which Scott & O'Bannon's original vision never fully recovered and saw cinema's greatest boogeyman ultimately morphed into a wrestling caricature - that one has to see as entirely Cameron's fault. So, yes, like its predecessor, it's an endlessly rewatchable masterpiece, but one that sowed the seeds of its own, and its director's, artistic destruction.

Meanwhile the revelations of just what depths of depravity Weyland Corp will stoop to to reel in their deadly prize, with any number of innocent human beings seen as just so much live bait, make me wonder about the motivations of the Engineers in 'Prometheus' (2012). It would seem they look upon us as just as much a spreading cancerous disease, devoid of higher morals and existing only to survive and procreate, as we look upon the Aliens.


'Bad Biology' (2008) directed by Frank Henenlotter and written by Frank Henenlotter & R.A. Thorburn - the infamous schlock horror director's big comeback movie, after a 17 year hiatus, is like the ultimate no holds barred culmination of what all his earlier sleazy classics had been building up to. He returned with a determination to shock like never before which may or may not have been a good thing. Once again we follow the anguished misadventures of a biological mutant but this time, instead of a parasitic twin, it's the poor sod's own grotesquely mutated penis that is causing all the trouble! Reclusive New Yorker Batz has a problem - his cock is a four foot long snake-like monstrosity with a life and a will of its own that demands to be fed pussy 24/7 and that he is forced to keep under control by injecting it with horse tranquillisers and strapping it to his body with masking tape!! Meanwhile militant feminist Jennifer was born with seven pulsating clitori (yep, we get to see them in the film's most outlandish shot) and craves ever greater sexual fulfilment like an orgasm addicted junky. The only problem is the men she sleeps with end up fucked to death!! When these two freaks of nature meet, each desperate for love, understanding and a sexual partner who will survive their attentions, it isn't just the sparks that fly. Every bit as sick and depraved as it sounds this jet black and virtually pornographic sex comedy is like something the adolescent David Cronenberg would have dreamt up in one of his wildest nightmares. The monster penis is a hideous stop motion animated creation that looks like a boa constrictor with a bad case of warts and has as devilishly selfish a personality as his smaller lookalike cousin Aylmer from Henenlotter's masterpiece 'Brain Damage' (1988). I enjoyed it in a goggle-eyed "what the fuck" kind of way, and it certainly is outrageously funny, but I'm also not surprised it didn't rejuvenate the director's career as the unrelenting onslaught of bad taste really is tough to take - even for a hardened veteran like me! Something of a 'watch with caution' recommendation is needed for this undeniably effective and certainly unforgettable "cult classic".
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 94.11.203.246
Posted on Sunday, March 16, 2014 - 09:01 pm:   

Unusually, the Alien franchise might be about to be redeemed in a video game. The new game Alien: Isolation is a pure horror game all about being trapped on a space station with one intelligent, deadly xenomorph and has been getting a lot of positive hype. Also, you play Ripley's daughter being manipulated by Weyland-Yutani.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-07-how-alien-isolation-restores-the-ho rror-of-the-1979-original
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, March 17, 2014 - 11:50 am:   

Since 'Aliens' I've seen the franchise as a kind of schizophrenic entity with the two sides of its nature forever at war with each other. You have the intense purity of Scott & O'Bannon's original horror vision vs the need for ever more spectacular gung-ho action set pieces that Cameron brought to the series. As much as I loved 'Prometheus' even Scott, by that stage, felt the need to beef things up with an all action climax that did jar somewhat with the carefully built atmospherics of the rest of the movie. If one wants a near perfect illustration of what is wrong with the big budget studio system then the evolution of the Alien franchise is a textbook example.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - 03:14 pm:   

Now this was a particularly satisfying triple bill:

'Isle Of The Dead' (1945) directed by Mark Robson and written by Ardel Wray - a real treat of subtle literate horror for a discerning adult audience that was just typical of the series of exceptional horror films produced by Val Lewton in the 1940s. I hadn't seen it before and loved every minute of its haunting atmospherics and intense philosophising script and poetic dialogue - with a resonance worthy of Ray Bradbury, imho. It is these qualities of rare intelligence and depth, coupled with first rate direction, chiaroscuro cinematography and acting, that we expect from Lewton, and his carefully nurtured stable of talent, and this is one of his very best pictures. Boris Karloff gives possibly the most tortured and multi-layered performance of his career as the ultra-rational military man, General Pherides, gradually overcome by a resurgence of peasant superstition in the face of an intangible enemy he cannot fight. Along with seven other unfortunate individuals he finds himself quarantined on a small Greek cemetery island following the death of one of their companions from what appears to be plague. This group soon splits into two factions (not unlike the supermarket customers in 'The Mist' (2007)) of those who believe the death was due to plague, led by Dr Drossos (Ernst Deutsch), and those who fall under the spell of a superstitious old crone, Madame Kyra (Helene Thimig), who insists there is a vorvolaka - a kind of Greek female vampire - among their number who will prey on each one of them in turn unless they destroy her first! Suspicion falls upon beautiful young peasant girl, Thea (Ellen Drew), and as the film progresses the threat to her safety increases as the weakening and death of each of them in turn continues while she appears ever more vibrantly blooming with health. This is one of the most intelligent and persuasive explorations of the psychological effect of fear on a small group that has ever been filmed and I found it utterly mesmerising. Who will be next to die? Who will be next to swing over to belief in the supernatural? Can reason and common sense prevail in the face of rising terror? The tension becomes palpable with Karloff as the key figure holding things together, as self-appointed leader of the group, and the battle he endures between his hard won military discipline and the whispering voice of his superstitious peasant upbringing allows the actor to really shine in the role. The action builds to an unforgettably tense climax and I found the ending almost unbearably moving. I'd rank this as one of the finest psychological horror movies ever made! Quite sublime!!

'Alien³' (1992) directed by David Fincher and written by David Giler, Walter Hill & Larry Ferguson - of all the recent rewatches in the Alien Saga this was the one I got most out of as it was only the second time I'd seen it since first release, 22 years ago, and my first watching of the full Director's Cut version (and what a director he turned out to be). The film I just watched makes a mockery of my memories of the disappointing and disjointed mess I thought I had watched way back then. Fincher and the scriptwriters were bloody mindedly determined to return the franchise to the nihilistic vision of the original movie, which is to be applauded, but studio interference resulted in an unsatisfactory and poorly edited action oriented version being given theatrical release. The extra scenes here restore their film to something as close to the original vision of what they wanted to make as we're ever going to get and I'd describe this version as something of a lost classic that recaptures much of the grim claustrophobic terror of 'Alien' (1979). Right from the opening scene all the jarring heroic elements of Cameron's first sequel are ruthlessly dispensed with and we are plunged into a dark new world of madness, despair and death on a rundown prison planet, inhabited by murderers, rapists and religious maniacs, with Ripley arriving among them as a hollow eyed harbinger of doom. Nothing but unrelenting horror, bloodshed and hopelessness follows with even the brief but memorable resurrection of the android, Bishop (Lance Henriksen), resulting in a wish to switched off, preferring to be "nothing" rather than "less than what he was". That scene sums up the film-makers intentions throughout this grim toned opus and Bishop's sentiments are explicitly echoed by the no longer gung-ho Ripley once she realises her own fate has already been sealed. Leavening the sombre tone, the shock and suspense moments, particularly in the thrillingly tense climactic chase sequence, are all the more effective for the smoother flow of the recut and the single creature stalking the darkness is once again proved infinitely more frightening than the ravening hordes of 'Aliens' (1986), while the ending, in which the series' most iconic character is irrevocably wiped from existence, is revealed to be actually rather moving, rather than what I remembered as melodramatically overblown. The franchise (excluding the inspired prequel) really should have ended here with that supreme sacrifice, imho. The finished product is by no means perfect - the prevailing yellow murk becomes cloying rather than claustrophobic, the moments of CGI animation detract from the convincing solidity of the creature and the prisoners' final acceptance of marytrdom doesn't really convince - yet, Fincher's debut feature is nonetheless certainly underrated, and an admirably brave attempt to eradicate the influence of James Cameron from Scott & O'Bannon's original vision. Ultimately, in this reworked form, it has to be seen as a refreshingly pessimistic "fuck you" success story.

'Tideland' (2005) directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Terry Gilliam & Tony Grisoni - nothing could have prepared me for the shock horror impact of this stunningly bleak and disturbing gothic fantasia from modern cinema's greatest maverick. Talk about taking suicidal artistic risks and putting your reputation on the line ffs!! It may not quite be his masterpiece - nothing will ever top 'Brazil' (1985) - but this absolutely marvellous psychological horror/fantasy is without doubt Gilliam's single bravest and most personal statement as a film-maker! It follows the bizarre adventures of an imaginative little waif called Jeliza-Rose (played with remarkable conviction by young Jodelle Ferland - a major new talent if ever there was one) as she comes to terms with the death of her junky mother (Jennifer Tilly) and her ageing rock star father (Jeff Bridges at his most demented) whisking them off to his long dead old mother's derelict shack in the remote wilds of the great prairie in a moment of "fuck it all" abandon. Once there she finds herself left to her own devices and descending into a lonely interior world of imaginary friends and fantastical invention, inspired by her love of 'Alice In Wonderland', while dear old dad gives up on life in a drugged up haze, that she calmly accepts as the way things have always been. Gilliam's impassioned introduction to the movie states that the story is a testament to the survival strength of childhood, how children can cope with anything by turning it into a great adventure, but in truth what we watch as the film unfolds is the unravelling of an innocent young mind in the face of unrelenting horror. From infancy this little girl has known nothing but chaos, madness, drug addiction and thoughtless abuse at the hands of the two people she unconditionally loves and when they are taken away from her and she finds herself cast adrift as a stranger in a strange new land there is only one place to hide... not in game playing but in a near feral state of basic survival and the search for company and help, whether it be from her schizophrenically articulate collection of dolls' heads, talking squirrels, rabbits and fairy fireflies or from other real human beings she encounters and dangerously fantasises into mythical beings. The director spares us none of the physical horror of a naive little girl left to cope in such circumstances and her plight becomes ever more heartbreaking as her dislocation from reality increases. Things get even more unsettling when her nearest neighbours are introduced, the terrifyingly witch-like Dell (Janet McTeer) with her eccentric habit of taxidermy and her mentally subnormal teenage brother Dickens (Brendan Fletcher in an awesome performance that is at once pitiful and deeply disturbing). The film's most controversial and disquieting element is in the developing relationship between Jeliza-Rose and Dickens, that grows from playful friendship - with him as her brave sea captain - to an innocent pretence of 'boyfriend and girlfriend' love that threatens to take on a horribly inappropriate physical aspect the more intimate they get, while hints we get of the boy having been the victim of long term sexual abuse have the viewer squirming with horror and beginning to understand the nihilism that overtook our young heroine's family. Truly nauseating dark family secrets are revealed, that make those of the yokels in 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) or 'Psycho' (1960) look halfway normal, without any understanding on the part of the girl as innocent Carrollian fantasy is subverted into a metaphor for unspeakable yet all too real horror. I loved the dream-like metaphysical nature of the inevitably apocalyptic denouement and the illusion of a happy ending it provided and was left haunted by that little girl's plight and what it says about the spectrum of human nature... from ultimate "evil" to transcendent "good". A visionary masterpiece to rank alongside 'Brazil' (1985) and 'Twelve Monkeys' (1995)? Oh yes, people, and very much a gothic horror movie to boot!!!! Now I wonder what he has in store for us in 2015...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - 03:25 pm:   

Has anyone else noticed that Terry Gilliam produces a masterpiece exactly every ten years starting with 'Monty Python And The Holy Grail' (1975)?
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Lincoln (Lincoln_brown)
Username: Lincoln_brown

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 101.119.28.207
Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 02:19 am:   

Nice to see some love for the third Alien installment. The first is a masterpiece, the second is 'ok', the fourth is one of the worst films I've ever seen at the cinema. I was fucking angry when I walked out.
I find it amazing that people rate 'Aliens' the best of the series.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 03:14 am:   

'The Fly' (1958) directed by Kurt Neumann and written by James Clavell - based on the classic 1958 horror novella by George Langelaan (that can be found in 'The 2nd Pan Book Of Horror Stories' (1960)) this bizarre chiller still stands as one of the most memorable and truly gripping horror films of its decade and one of the best films of Vincent Price's career. I always remember my Mum telling me about this scaring the crap out of her in the cinema as a young woman and the effect on someone who came to the story fresh is understandable given the glossy production values and masterful build up of mystery and suspense behind that seemingly innocuous title. What starts as an engrossingly tragic murder mystery and reassuringly familiar family drama soon morphs into a vision of nightmarish scientific terror that would have been all too convincing given the monumental technological and medical breakthroughs the public were then experiencing on a daily basis. The trailer, introduced by a rattled looking Price and included on the DVD, is a masterclass in understated tantalisation of an audience that really whetted the appetite for this first viewing in some 20 odd years. What could be so scary about a common housefly one is made to think... What makes the film so unsettling is the deadly seriousness with which the excellent script and straight faced cast approach the material and the film's Frankensteinian warning against trying to play God with the forces of nature. There is a feeling of almost Shakespearean tragedy in its story of a good man with a loving family brought low by his honourable attempts to better the lot of mankind. David Hedison as the doomed scientist transformed into a hideous part man/part fly monstrosity and aware that his reason is dangerously slipping away, Patricia Owens as his heartbreakingly loyal wife brought to the edge of madness by having to keep his intolerable secret, Vincent Price as the anguished brother trying to make sense of the unthinkable tragedy he finds himself engulfed by and young Charles Herbert as the innocent child unaware of the troubles that are about to tear his idyllic life apart all give impeccably intense and moving performances that carry the viewer through the most outrageous convolutions of the plot with complete conviction - right up until that unforgettably nightmarish ending that I would rank as one of the most memorable in genre cinema. It's a well nigh perfect horror film and a still potent allegory of the dangers of too swift technological advances that resonates more ominously than ever in these days of instantaneous global communication of all thinkable information and the sociological fracturing that came in its wake. A bona-fide horror/sci-fi masterpiece with a rich emotional core that was lacking from Cronenberg's inspired but chilly remake. Its power and relevance hasn't diminished one iota with the years, imho.

'Puppet Master' (1989) directed by David Schmoeller and written by Charles Band & Kenneth J. Hall - one of a string of horror comedies that Charles Band was involved with in the 80s involving diminutive monstrous villains causing bloody mayhem this was, weirdly, the most successful of the lot, leading to a ten film franchise ending (we hope) in 2003. I say "weirdly" because this is one of the weakest entries in the sub-genre with very little to commend it beyond some impressive stop motion animation effects and imaginatively gruesome killings. The direction is woefully flat and plodding, the acting non-existent, with its star, Paul Le Mat, looking like he's on anti-depressants and ready to burst into tears at any moment, while the plot - which tries to reference 'The Haunting' (1963) and 'The Shining' (1980) with its team of psychics camped out in a haunted hotel - makes very little sense and exists only to provide a string of outlandish death sequences at the hands of the animated puppets that are the film's only saving grace. Best stick with the likes of; 'Gremlins' (1984), 'Ghoulies' (1985), 'Critters' (1986), 'Troll' (1986), 'Child's Play' (1988) or 'Leprechaun' (1993), all of which, for all their faults, show this up for the substandard cheapjack hokum it is - yes, that bad! Even the final twist is incomprehensible and we are left completely in the dark as to the little monsters' ultimate fate. I, for one, won't be bothering with the rest of the series to find out. Very poor indeed.

'Alien Resurrection' (1997) directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and written by Joss Whedon - good looking, frequently nightmarish and mindlessly entertaining as it is this still stands as a redundant and unnecessary continuation of a franchise that came to a fairly satisfying conclusion the last time around. Jeunet and Whedon weren't really the people to have brought on board as their pyrotechnic video game idea of film-making makes the all action heroics of Cameron's 'Aliens' (1986) look positively subtle by comparison. The ridiculously contrived and scientifically impossible script sees Ripley and the Alien Queen brought back from the dead by "cloning" some 200 years after they were both incinerated into molten atoms and this viewer never quite reached the suspension of disbelief necessary to go along with Whedon's blatant money-making ploy. That's a shame because there is much to admire here in the production design and truly grotesque special effects, particularly in the nauseating lab scene, when Ripley confronts her earlier clone sisters, and the strikingly Lovecraftian sequence of unholy birth that acts as the film's climactic tour de force. There are flashes here of a true visionary at work but the script's insistence on trying to emulate the one-peril-after-another structure of 'The Poseidon Adventure' (1972), with one eye on how each breathlessly "cool" fight, chase, action and suspense sequence could be turned into a playable level on a computer game, completely negates whatever good work the director and effects people managed to squeeze in. Also there is a jarring injection of juvenile humour in several sequences that really grates on the nerves and had no place in the Alien universe. A real giggling fanboy's wet dream of a movie that ultimately makes no sense and pales into formulaic insignificance beside any other entry in the series.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 03:20 am:   

What did you think of 'Prometheus', Lincoln? I still think it was seriously underrated and easily the second best film in the series to date.

Here's how I'd rank all five:

1. 'Alien' (1979) by Ridley Scott.
2. 'Prometheus' (2012) by Ridley Scott.
3. 'Aliens' (1986) by James Cameron.
4. 'Alien³' (1992) by David Fincher.
5. 'Alien Resurrection' (1997) by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 04:20 am:   

And for my next triple bill I've decided on:

'Return Of The Fly' (1959) by Edward Bernds - again starring Vincent Price I've never seen this before and know it only from much loved stills.

'Prince Of Darkness' (1987) by John Carpenter - a film I remember with great fondness and haven't seen since it was first in the cinema back in my wayward youth!

'Headspace' (2005) by Andrew Van Den Houten - I know nothing about this other than that it got good write-ups, has a quality cast and is supposed to be based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Here's hoping...
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Lincoln (Lincoln_brown)
Username: Lincoln_brown

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 101.119.29.207
Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 09:43 am:   

I thought it was ok, Stevie. Will definitely give it a re-watch at some time.
I really liked the mystery of the crashed ship, and the 'space jockey', and the solving of that mystery was never going to satisfy me.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - 04:43 pm:   

I understand your reservations entirely, Lincoln, and think the same thoughts put many fans of the original movie off the prequel. I went in with an open mind and was won over by the new Lovecraftian direction they took the franchise in and the sheer ambition of the backstory that created a whole new vista of truly cosmic mysteries to be puzzled over.

Ultimately 'Alien' (1979) was nothing more than an exceptionally well made and imaginative monster movie, with a political intrigue angle and good looking sci-fi trappings, while 'Prometheus' (2012) moved the series into the realms of properly high concept "big question" science fiction.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 94.11.203.246
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2014 - 04:01 pm:   

I loved the visual design of Prometheus and the interesting way they opened up the Alien universe. My main problem was the fact that all the characters acted like characters in a horror movie, rather than the scientists they were supposed to be. Nobody seemed all that awed that they were walking around in an alien structure, the biologist found an alien lifeform and immediately picked it up for a closer look...actually, this sketch sums it up perfectly: http://youtu.be/yFYmv6t_Xyg
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2014 - 06:06 pm:   

I thought the early exploration sequences were the best and most gripping part of the movie. The two idiots who got left behind were off their faces on dope and terrified into the bargain. I particularly liked the moment when they were told a lifeform reading had been picked up to the west so they immediately scarpered east. That was before they holed up and started smoking. I've found that 'Prometheus' gets better with every viewing and have watched it three times already to date. I really hope they produce a sequel to the prequel.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2014 - 06:17 pm:   

But now it's triple bill time again to put in a skint Friday night:

'Curse Of The Fly' (1965) by Don Sharp - again haven't seen it before. Stars Brian Donlevy this time instead of Price. This will complete my first ever viewing of the original trilogy.

'Prozzie' (1983) by Ulli Lommel - the synopsis makes it sound like a video nasty era spin on Hitchcock's 'Marnie' (1964). Other than that I know nothing.

'Berberian Sound Studio' (2012) by Peter Strickland - yes, folks, I'm finally going to see it and I'm unfeasibly excited. Great to see Toby Jones get a starring role for once. He's a wonderful actor.
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Lincoln (Lincoln_brown)
Username: Lincoln_brown

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 101.119.29.207
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2014 - 10:11 pm:   

Can't wait to read your thoughts on 'Berberian...' - one of my favourite recent films.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2014 - 03:09 pm:   

Hmmm... I watched 'Berberian Sound Studio' late last night and don't know what to make of it. The weirdest film I've seen since 'A Field In England' and similarly unfathomable on a first watch. It has stuck in my head and was the first thing I found myself thinking over on waking so I'm going to have to watch it again... now.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2014 - 03:19 pm:   

I remember the first time I had such a reaction to a film. I was fourteen, I believe, and caught David Lynch's 'Eraserhead' late one Friday night on telly. My first reaction was "laughably badly made, meaningless, unfollowable rubbish". When I awoke the next morning images from the film were all that filled my mind and it continued to haunt me all weekend until I had to beseech my mates in school the following week if any of them had seen it too. Some had and all who had were similarly haunted and disturbed. That was my introduction to the head melting joys of non-linear surreal storytelling. I've never looked back.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2014 - 05:01 pm:   

But first:

'Return Of The Fly' (1959) written and directed by Edward Bernds - filmed in b&w, rather than the original's glorious colour, the story continues about 15 years after the events of 'The Fly' (1958), and again stars Vincent Price. André Delambre's son, Philippe (Brett Halsey), is now a grown man and brilliant scientist determined to follow in the footsteps of his unfortunate father and succeed where he failed by perfecting a matter transmitting device as a monument to his genius - against Price's horrified warnings of dire consequences. Now, the famous stills from this movie make it obvious that the son suffers an identical accident to his dear old dad, ending up with a hideously oversized fly's head and "arm", and that had me wondering about how on earth the script would get around such a seemingly daft coincidence. I needn't have worried for an interesting corporate espionage angle is included in the story this time, as Philippe's innocent seeming lab assistant friend, Alan (David Frankham), is, in reality, a ruthless criminal determined to steal his design plans for a rival company. Noting Philippe's phobia of flies, following the events of his childhood, this rather sadistic villain deliberately places a fly in the device before sending its inventor through and absconding with the plans. What follows is an entertaining but unremarkable monster movie cum noir revenge thriller, as the resultant fly headed mutant escapes the lab and sets about tracking down and killing his treacherous assistant and the men he was working with one-by-one. Enjoyable fast paced B-movie nonsense played with refreshing commitment but it really isn't a patch on the first film.

'Prince Of Darkness' (1987) written and directed by John Carpenter - this was the one pure horror movie from what I call the director's "cartoon trilogy", that also included; 'Big Trouble In Little China' (1986) and 'They Live' (1988). The three films marked a last blast of freewheeling pulp creativity following his unsatisfactory dalliance with trying to be taken seriously as a film-maker - that resulted in the under-powered 'Christine' (1983) and the truly execrable 'Starman' (1984). 'Prince Of Darkness' is an unholy mess of a movie that makes very little sense but it is also great daft fun with an irresistible kinetic energy that marks it as clearly the work of the same man who made such wing-and-a-prayer classics as 'Dark Star' (1974) and 'Assault On Precinct 13' (1976). I believe the director's tongue was set firmly in his cheek throughout all three films made at this time and, most importantly, he was having fun again making them. The scriptwriter credit "Martin Quatermass" is an obvious clue to his intentions and the plot of this satanic potboiler throws everything bar the kitchen sink at the viewer. We have a secret order within the Catholic Church (conveniently based in L.A.) hiding the blasphemous truth behind the visitation of Christ, we have a pseudo-scientific/philosophical explanation for the existence of Satan as a solid biological entity, we have alternate universes, time travel, dream manipulation, demonic possession, the Great Old Ones returning from "outside", etc... all thrown together in a wildly entertaining stew that moves with such pace and gusto it batters the viewer's moments of "hang on a minute" befuddlement into grinning submission. If ever a genre film was made to pay lip service to one's higher faculties while revelling in its nonsensical pulpiness it was this one. A minor classic horror potboiler with Grade A production values that owes more than a nod to the similarly freewheeling spirit of its Italian cousins from the same period. This may have been Carpenter trying to pull a Fulci, and capturing the spirit of such films with a nod and a wink, but it also goes to prove that, truly, he peaked as a genre director with 'The Thing' in 1982.

'Headspace' (2005) directed by Andrew Van Den Houten and written by Steve Klausner & William M. Miller - while not entirely successful, the pacing is way too sedate, this is still one of the more interesting and fairly original Lovecraftian horror movies I have seen from recent years. The story involves a young city dweller, Alex (Christopher Denham), following an encounter with an enigmatic chess player (Erick Kastel), being beset by strange nightmares and crippling daytime migraines that eventually result in collapse and hospitalisation. MRI scans reveal that this unremarkable young man is somehow managing to utilise the full untapped potential of his brain and tests reveal that he is rapidly turning into a super-genius of frightening power - compare with the excellent sci-fi movie 'Limitless' (2011). However, as his mental capacity increases, so too do the nightmares, while waking visions of a hideous pig-snouted demon - straight out of Hodgson's 'The House On The Borderland' (1908) - begin to haunt Alex and coincide with a series of brutal murders, possibly the work of some wild beast, that are terrorising the city. Desperate to know what is happening to him Alex seeks out the chess player who turns out to be a psychotic artist, his apartment filled with paintings of disturbingly lifelike demonic monstrosities, and they enter into a weird battle of wits over an increasingly antagonistic series of chess games. While outside the killings continue... Livened by a memorable series of big name cameos, including; Olivia Hussey, Udo Keir, Dee Wallace, William Atherton, Mark Margolis, Sean Young & Larry Fessenden, and featuring top quality non-CGI gore and monster effects and a rare level of intelligence for this kind of film I'd call this something of a lost gem that takes its inspiration from Lovecraft - notably the stories 'Pickman's Model' (1927) and 'From Beyond' (1934) - without being slavishly imitative or descending into Gordian levels of humorous mockery. It takes a while to get going and the director clearly isn't a natural talent but this is an admirable effort at something different for all that, imho. Well worth seeking out.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2014 - 07:28 pm:   

I got more out of 'Berberian Sound Studio' on a second wider awake viewing and see it now as an intense character study of mental disintegration in an alien environment with a brilliantly subtle yet anguished central performance by Toby Jones and a fantastic and typically haunting soundtrack by one of my favourite modern bands, Broadcast, which I hadn't realised! Full write-up to follow but did anyone else find this film quite Campbellian in its psychological intensity and slow build nightmarishness.

Meanwhile, it's time for another triple bill to put in the pre-pay day weekend:

'Bedlam' (1946) by Mark Robson - this is the only Val Lewton production I still haven't seen and again stars Boris Karloff in a period horror, this time inspired by the Hogarth painting, 'The Rake's Progress'. An undoubted treat lies in store!

'The Fly' (1986) by David Cronenberg - first viewing of this seminal classic in about 20 years. Along with 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1978), 'The Thing' (1982) and 'The Blob' (1988) it is one of a mere handful of genre remakes that actually equalled, if not bettered, the great original version.

'Versus' (2000) by Ryuhei Kitamura - one of the films chiefly responsible for the all conquering Asian horror boom of the last decade. I haven't seen it before but know its reputation well. Let's see something new done with zombies, please!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2014 - 03:20 am:   

I thoroughly enjoyed that and already got planned for tomorrow:

'It Came From Beneath The Sea' (1955) by Robert Gordon - I have vague memories of seeing this once before as a kid and loving it. It was only the second major film to feature the special effects of Ray Harryhausen.

'The Fly II' (1989) by Chris Walas - I'd always previously shied away from watching this seemingly ill-advised sequel but have heard surprisingly good reports about it recently so fingers crossed...

'Cherry Tree Lane' (2010) by Paul Andrew Williams - if this horror movie is anything like the quality of the director's first two films, the modern low-life crime masterpiece, 'London To Brighton' (2006), and the seriously underrated, imo, jet black horror comedy, 'The Cottage' (2008), then it's gotta be good. Again, fingers crossed...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2014 - 02:22 am:   

That was another entertaining day's viewing and that's The Fly series completed. For tomorrow I have planned:

'Fiend Without A Face' (1958) by Arthur Crabtree - one of the scariest sci-fi/horror movies of the 50s that has long been a firm favourite of mine. The stop motion animated brain monsters gave me nightmares as a child and I've loved the film ever since. Haven't watched it in too many years.

'Macabre' (1980) by Lamberto Bava - first viewing of this highly thought of directorial debut by the son of arguably Italy's greatest horror director. Lamberto turned out to be a damn fine film maker himself. I know nothing about this one, thankfully.

'Mum And Dad' (2008) by Steven Sheil - first viewing of one of the most notorious extreme ordeal horror movies of recent years. Looking forward to it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2014 - 02:12 pm:   

Here goes, folks:

'Curse Of The Fly' (1965) directed by Don Sharp and written by Harry Spalding - in this final part of the trilogy Philippe Delambre, having been cured of his fly affliction at the end of the last film, is now a middle-aged man, played by Brian Donlevy, with two grown scientist sons of his own, Martin (George Baker) and Albert (Michael Graham), and all three of them are still engaged in secret experiments to finally perfect the blessed matter transmitter. They have now progressed to having two labs, one in Montreal and the other in London, between which they hope to teleport live subjects. Unfortunately their earlier experiments had resulted in the horrible transmogrification of two lab assistants and Martin's wife, Judith (Mary Manson), into shambling mutants, ftheir flesh twisted out of all recognition, whom they hide away in locked cells to be taken care of by a sinister couple of Chinese servants (Burt Kwouk & Yvette Rees). When eldest son, Martin, has a whirlwind romance while away from home and bigamously arrives back with a beautiful new wife, Patricia (Carole Gray), he unwittingly sows the seeds of the family's destruction as she can't help but pry into affairs that "don't concern her", much to embittered Philippe's annoyance... you can guess the rest. Thankfully the film makers were brave enough not to force another unlucky fly mutation into the plot - making this perhaps the only monster movie not to feature the monster of the title - but instead concentrated on "mystery of the locked room" atmospherics, familiar from 'Jane Eyre', as seen through the increasingly neurotic heroine's eyes as the perennial unwelcome stranger in the house. While those expecting more bug-eyed monstrosities will no doubt be disappointed I found this routinely presented B-movie to be more interesting than the first sequel and almost as bleak as the original. A half decent "mad scientist" sci-fi/horror that passes the time pleasantly enough without being particularly memorable.


'Prozzie' (1983) directed by Ulli Lommel and written by Ulli Lommel, John P. Marsh & Ron Norman - now this was bad! A laughably poorly directed and dreadfully acted psychological sex thriller that comes across like a steamier splicing together of Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' (1958) and 'Marnie' (1964) for the video nasty generation. Suzanna Love (who can't act) "plays" an unhappily married young Londoner, called Olivia, who is haunted by having witnessed the murder of her prostitute mother by a crazed client when she was a child peering through the keyhole. Brutalised by her thug of a husband (Jeff Winchester) she retreats into psychosis and secretly turns to prostitution herself while being goaded by her dead mother's voice to murder her clients for revenge. Then enter a handsome American photographer (Robert Walker Jnr) with whom she falls hopelessly in love and begins a passionate affair, that cures her of her murderous tendencies, until hubby finds out, violence ensues and she is forced to do a runner from both their lives. Four years later, back in the States, our heartbroken hero is stunned to catch sight of a girl who bears a striking resemblance to his long lost love, Olivia, and he sets about following her and attempting to force his way into her life despite all her protestations of never having met him before, yadda, yadda, yadda... Get this, Ulli Lommel is no Brian De Palma or Dario Argento and this ramshackle mess of a low budget tribute to the Hitch-master is completely devoid of suspense or any other sign of merit as it plods its way drearily from one hackneyed set piece to another. Only vaguely noteworthy as a textbook example of how not to emulate the great man. A truly bad movie.


'Berberian Sound Studio' (2012) written and directed by Peter Strickland - it took me two back-to-back viewings of this head melter of a psychological anti-thriller to marshal my thoughts and begin to make sense of its appeal. This is not, strictly speaking, a horror film but, rather, an intense character study of the psychological effect of making a horror film on one particularly sensitive individual.

To understand the film one has to realise just how unprepared and out of his depth Toby Jones' character, Gilderoy, was when he was called upon to be the sound effects man on a Fulciesque Italian splatter movie back in the good old days of the video nasty, when the film is set. This is a timid and painfully unworldly little English gentleman, whose previous work was all on sedate documentaries and children's programmes, who is whisked over to Rome to work on the latest horror opus by the great auteur, Santini, called, ridiculously enough, 'The Equestrian Vortex'. One thinks they mustn't have checked his CV thoroughly enough.

Thrust into the alien environment of a macho Italian film studio this quiet little nobody is asked to create suitably nauseating sound effects for scene after scene of repulsively graphic horror, torture and mutilation - none of which we ever get to see but are left to imagine through the words of the script, the sounds Gilderoy has to produce (using a vast array of vegetables, cutting implements and other tools) and the increasingly distressed expression on the poor man's face as he watches what unfolds on the out-of-shot cinema screen. Far too polite to complain or just leave the project he perseveres and slowly, as the "narrative" of the film itself disintegrates, he begins to lose his hold on reality and is sucked into an internal hell of bottled up rage and anguish.

That's the gist of the movie and so little actually happens that if it weren't for the brilliantly controlled subtlety of Jones' powerful performance - he gets more internal agony out of a slight frown or pursed lips than one would have thought possible - and the mesmerising Kubrickian brilliance of the directorial technique, perfectly integrated with a nightmarishly disturbing heightened soundtrack by British electronica band, Broadcast, this could have been a very dour and pretentious offering indeed. Compare with the similarly studio set horror movie 'Pontypool' (2009) to see how things could have turned out had there not been a visionary genius at the helm!

The film won't be for everyone and certainly demands concentration and an openness to non-linear storytelling but for any fans of intelligent adult cinema that takes us deep inside the darkest realms of the human psyche and to the very heart of the voyeuristic nature of film making itself then you're in for one hell of an absorbing treat. I would compare it to such earlier self-reflective psychological masterpieces, that reveal the dark side of cinema, as; 'Peeping Tom' (1960), 'Blow Out' (1981), 'Cat In The Brain' (1990) or 'Inland Empire' (2006) - now wouldn't that make some bill!!

[NB: I've always been a fan of weird electronic music and have the Broadcast albums; 'The Noise Made By People' (2000), 'Ha Ha Sound' (2003), 'Tender Buttons' (2005) & 'The Future Crayon' (2006) in my CD collection - I actually thought they had split up following the tragic death of lead singer Trish Keenan in 2011 and will have to get the BSS soundtrack now!].

Also, I feel compelled to admit, that one of my favourite games as a child, along with a couple of similarly barmy mates, was to make up cassette tapes of imaginary horror movies involving ridiculous sound effects for the moments of gore. Anyone else ever do this? One I was particularly proud of went something like; "What is this? Untie me this instant! What... what are you doing with that spoon. Lord God, no!! Not my eye!!!! No... no... please, no... Aiiieee!!!!!! [Followed by the sound of a spoonful of porridge being scooped out of a bowl, a cork popping from a bottle, a skinned plum falling to the floor and a crescendo of OTT screaming and barely suppressed giggles]. What a wimp that Gilderoy was...
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 12:05 am:   

Durn. I was more hoping for a very traditional giallo-esque film, in Berbarian Sound Studio. Well, I'll still see it. Thanks for the review!

Do you ever take requests, btw? The movie I saw about a year back, it still lingers hauntingly in my mind. The one I've mentioned before with the truly awful title, The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Il Profumo Della Signora in Nero) (1974), starring a simply gorgeous Mimsy Farmer. It's one of the most Campbell-ian horror films I've seen (have you seen this, Ramsey?), with an ending that's just plain... well, Campbell-ian. But is it art, or pretension? I'm still not quite 100% sure. I'd love to get your take on it, Stevie (someone put a beautiful copy of it up on youtube.)
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.224
Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 03:19 am:   

I'll try and pick up a copy on DVD, Craig. I see it's available to order from the States. I wonder does the film have anything to do with the Gaston Leroux novel of the same title? Hell of a coincidence if it hasn't!

'Berberian Sound Studio' is the ultimate statement on the anything goes approach of Italian horror cinema and really gets across the almost maniacal passion and genuine artistry with which they made all those great off-the-wall classics back in the day. In many ways it's a story of culture clash between English reserve and Italian machismo. I thought it was excellent and find it getting better the more I think about it.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 04:56 am:   

Good lord, I'd never heard of that novel, Stevie! But from what little I can glean, it has zero to do with it. This is a subtle psychological horror movie through and through, not a "locked door" murder mystery. Weird about that title similarity, though....

I think Berbarian will be viewed soon, then!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.224
Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 03:10 pm:   

I'd say they heard Leroux's title, liked it and nicked it, Craig.

'Berberian Sound Studio' is a film I would hesitate to recommend to the casual horror fan but for fans of original cinema made with real vision it's a real slow burning treat of a head melter. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 94.11.203.246
Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 03:46 pm:   

Good news on the Prometheus sequel front:

http://www.thewrap.com/prometheus-2-lands-green-lantern-writer-may-feature-multi ple-michael-fassbenders-exclusive/
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.40
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 07:10 am:   

Thang God for that! I had real fears that a sequel wouldn't get green lighted and if ever a film needed a sequel it was 'Prometheus'.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.40
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 05:10 pm:   

Pay day tomorrow (boy, am I gonna party) and time for another triple bill to get me there. I've gone for stylish "damsel in distress" psycho thrillers this time:

'The Spiral Staircase' (1946) by Robert Siodmak - one of the creepiest and most stylish horror films of the 1940s that I haven't seen in well over 20 years and always think of as a kind of proto-giallo psychological thriller. Hugely influential, it outdoes Hitchcock at his own game, imho.

'Dressed To Kill' (1980) by Brian De Palma - believe it or not I haven't seen this fantastic gialloesque psycho thriller since I was a teenager and, even then, missed the first 15 minutes. I'm a huge fan of De Palma and have been keeping this for a very special treat.

'The Silent House' (2010) by Gustavo Hernández - the original critically acclaimed Uruguayan version of what I thought was an excellent US remake - before I realised it was one! I'm looking at this as an interesting experiment to see if this film at all changes my opinion of the one I saw in the cinema. Both were famously all shot in one long real time take ala 'Rope' (1948).
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.208
Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2014 - 11:19 am:   

Pay day has dawned!!

I've watched some truly great horror films over the last week. A real embarrassment of riches featuring some of the best shockers I've ever seen. My Top 100 list must be due an update!
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.5.56.223
Posted on Monday, March 31, 2014 - 11:00 pm:   

Ah, Craig - yes, I certainly liked The Perfume of the Woman in Black - first saw it on Doug Winter's recommendation.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2014 - 04:55 am:   

I'm so glad to hear you liked it, Ramsey. The whole film is saturated in atmosphere and malice. And that ending is just... well....
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.7
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2014 - 03:03 am:   

Well, guys and gals, I've gone DVD crazy over the last week. Too pissed at the min to list them now but expect a more coherent (sort of) message tomorrow.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.7
Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2014 - 04:26 am:   

Okay, here goes, and NSB stands for Never Seen Before:

'Rebecca' (1940) by Alfred Hitchcock.
'The War Of The Worlds' (1953) by Byron Haskin.
'Cape Fear' (1962) by J. Lee Thompson.
'Kill, Baby, Kill' (1966) by Mario Bava (NSB).
'If....' (1968) by Lindsay Anderson.
'2001 : A Space Odyssey' (1968) by Stanley Kubrick.
'A Bay Of Blood' (1971) by Mario Bava.
'Countess Dracula' (1971) by Peter Sasdy.
'Twins Of Evil' (1971) by John Hough (completing the Karnstein Trilogy in my collection).
'Vampire Circus' (1972) by Robert Young.
'Door Into Darkness' (1973) by Dario Argento (4 episode Italian TV series I never thought I'd get to see)!!!!
'Death Wish' (1974) by Michael Winner.
'I Don't Want To Be Born' (1975) by Peter Sasdy (NSB).
'Piranha' (1978) by Joe Dante.
'The Brood' (1979) by David Cronenberg.
'Piranha II : The Spawning' (1981) by James Cameron (NSB).
'Mutant' (1984) by John Cardos.
'Manhunter' (1986) by Michael Mann.
'Gremlins II : The New Batch' (1990) by Joe Dante.
'Wild At Heart' (1990) by David Lynch.
'Ghoulies III' (1991) by John Carl Buechler (completing the collection - NSB).
'Conspirators Of Pleasure' (1996) by Jan Švankmajer.
'The Faculty' (1998) by Robert Rodriguez.
'Faust : Love Of The Damned' (2000) by Brian Yuzna (NSB).
'Deathwatch' (2002) by Michael J. Bassett.
'Identity' (2003) by James Mangold.
'Memories Of Murder' (2003) by Bong Joon-Ho (NSB).
'One Missed Call' (2003) by Takashi Miike (NSB).
'Wrong Turn' (2003) by Rob Schmidt.
'R-Point' (2004) by Kong Su-Chang.
'The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit' (2005) by Nick Park & Steve Box.
'Creepshow III' (2006) by Ana Clavell & James Dudelson (completing the collection - NSB).
'Pan's Labyrinth' (2006) by Guillermo Del Toro.
'Trick 'r Treat' (2007) by Michael Dougherty (NSB).
'Beyond The Rave' (2008) by Matthias Hoene (NSB).
'A Perfect Getaway' (2009) by David Twohy (NSB).
'The Pact' (2012) by Nicholas McCarthy.

Plenty of future triple bill material there!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.7
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2014 - 12:55 am:   

I've decided on a satanic triple bill from the above:

'Kill, Baby, Kill' (1966) by Mario Bava - of all the films of the great horror directors Bava's are the ones I have seen the least of and I'm very excited to watch this gothic supernatural shocker that is frequently hailed as his best film.

'I Don't Want To Be Born' (1975) by Peter Sasdy - I am well aware of this film's notoriously schlocky reputation but with a cast, a director and an irresistible "demonic baby" theme like that, along with the era in which it was made, it's bound to be entertaining.

'Faust : Love Of The Damned' (2000) by Brian Yuzna - I actually own the original 1987 horror comicbook series, by Tim Vigil & David Quinn, that this film was based upon and rank it as one of the best and most extreme continuing stories of its kind. Yuzna always delivers and I'm looking forward to this.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2014 - 06:31 am:   

KILL, BABY, KILL is superb Bava, Stevie! You are in for quite a treat!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.7
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2014 - 07:34 am:   

Will be watching it tomorrow, Craig. I've actually only ever seen four of Bava's films before:

'Mask Of The Demon' (1960) - an absolute masterpiece of quite stunning beauty. I'd rank it as the best gothic horror film I ever watched!

'Planet Of The Vampires' (1965) - brilliantly eerie deep space sci-fi/horror that was one of the three films to inspire 'Alien' (1979). I'm sure you know the other two.

'A Bay Of Blood' (1971) - the seminal slasher movie and probably still the best of the lot of them.

'Lisa And The Devil' aka 'House Of Exorcism' (1973) - weird as feck post-Exorcist schlock horror but then I haven't seen Bava's original cut.

I'm determined to collect and watch all the rest of them over the next while.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.0
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2014 - 09:17 pm:   

Well, you were right, Craig. That was sensationally good! It outdid Hammer at their own game in every respect and was truly creepy in a nightmarish, almost hallucinatory, way. Glorious use of colour and shadows. They don't make gothic ghost stories like that anymore!

Now for a bit of 1970s demon baby madness...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.0
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2014 - 05:27 am:   

Back to the write-ups:

'Bedlam' (1946) directed by Mark Robson and written by Val Lewton & Mark Robson - I really enjoyed this classy period horror thriller. Boris Karloff gives one of his most deliriously villainous performances as the sadistic governor of the notorious 18th Century London asylum, St Mary's of Bethlehem, which passed into infamy under its popular name of Bedlam. Based upon a notorious series of satirical paintings by the great William Hogarth (I love his work - he was the Robert Crumb of his day!!), that highlighted the injustices of this very real "House of Horrors", the script captures the ironic barbarity of the "Age of Enlightenment" with just the right mix of repulsion and sentiment. Callously treating the inmates as a macabre tourist attraction Karloff gives guided tours to the public for money, getting his "patients" to perform tricks like trained animals, while indulging in his own groundbreaking "treatment", better known as torture, behind the scenes. When the feisty young mistress (Anna Lee in a strikingly multi-layered performance) of a local bigwig is horrified enough to strike him, during one of his tours, the evil bastard makes it his mission to trump up charges of insanity against her and have her incarcerated under his "care". What follows is a moral fable on the age old theme of kindness versus cruelty, and, specifically, which has the stronger impact upon a diseased psyche, as she takes it upon herself to care for and win the trust and love of her fellow unfortunate inmates resulting in an inevitable confrontation and memorably horrific climax. It's like a gothic horror version of 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' (1975) and, in its own subtle way, almost as effective a film. Another Val Lewton masterpiece - and nice to see him get a co-writer credit for once!

'The Fly' (1986) directed by David Cronenberg and written by David Cronenberg & Charles Edward Pogue - Not only is this film one of the most successful and imaginative remakes of an original classic, but it is also one of the best horror films of its decade and of its director's illustrious career. That's the obvious taken care of. What raises the movie above other slavishly imitative remakes is how it brings up to date the fear of technological advances, that struck such a chord with the public in the 1950s (including my Mum), by intelligently incorporating the idea of genetic tampering at a cellular level and in how this new avenue for scientific exploration allows Cronenberg to riff on his own biological body horror obsessions at the same time. There is a horror here of physical individuality itself, fleshy and mechanical, of what motivates the decision making processes behind both, and of where life and sentience might begin and end. What separates a fly from a human being and a human being from a computer and what do they share in common beyond the mere fact of their existence and interaction with the universe? What makes the conglomeration of living cells that constitutes a fly any less remarkable than that of a man's and what makes a computer's handling of facts any less decisive and "correct" than the processes of the human brain? Is it emotion or is it, for want a of a better word, the soul, rather than being merely a question of reasoning power? Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum in easily his most memorable performance) is a scientific genius who tries to play God, but who, under the all too human influence of jealousy and alcohol, is upstaged by his own creation, the infallibly logical computer, in cahoots with the blind force of nature at its most insidious, the "unthinking" common housefly merely going about the business of survival. The result is a hideously diseased abortion of nature and science that sensationally underlines the hubris of human ambition in the face of our sensory and intellectual limitations. In its sickening depiction of the physical and mental stripping bare of Brundle's arrogance and ignorance - till only humility, defeat and a ravaged mound of rotten flesh and twisted metal remains - it is a more perfect allegory of the pitfalls of mistaken autonomy than even Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' (1818) while still managing to be a thoroughly gripping and entertaining popular thriller in its own right - with unforgettably grotesque special effects and a rich vein of jet black humour leavening the gloom. Cronenberg has rarely been this accessible while remaining true to his own Ballardian questing after the answer to the Big Question... what the fuck are we?! But, for all that, Kurt Neumann's original 1958 version was not only truer to George Langelaan's brilliant novella but is also more otherworldly, in a beguiling modern fairy-tale kind of way, and more emotionally affecting (Geena Davis's self-serving girlfriend is no match for Patricia Owens' distraught wife) and remains, marginally, the better film, imho.

'Versus' (2000) directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and written by Ryuhei Kitamura & Yudai Yamaguchi - What is it about this film? It's completely ridiculous, nonsensical even, has the hammiest acting I've possibly ever seen, was clearly made very quickly, on a shoestring, in a handy forest, with a bunch of mates running around throwing fake blood and body parts at each other and is cringe worthily amateurish in the extreme... yet, somehow, it works! The film has much of the kinetic energy and visual zaniness of early Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson and it would appear that the cast were told to overact outrageously rather than attempt to do it straight and risk highlighting their thespian shortcomings. I am aware there is a goofy strand of Asian comic cinema that goes in for this approach, and that can be extremely irritating to a Western sensibility, but the difference here is in the unforced nature of the sight gags and the impression one gets that they were still treating the horror material seriously. To describe the "plot" is almost impossible but it kind of involves a motley assemblage of psychotic desperadoes all coming together in a remote forest - that they each have the eerie feeling they have visited before - and falling out with each other amid much OTT posing, snarling and staring menacingly into the camera while waving guns about. Bloodshed and the expending of silly amounts of ammunition ensues until, incomprehensibly, those still living are set upon by shambling hordes of the undead bursting from the ground - the forest contains the gateway to hell or something like that - and all attempts at following who is doing what to who disintegrate into an insane pyrotechnic display of outlandish violence. I spent half the film laughing my head off at the outrageously imaginative low budget gore effects and the other half trying to work out what the hell was going on! As an example of the film's approach to humour; when one of the characters (I'm pretty sure he was a bad guy) finds himself unarmed and facing off against an anti-tank gun [don't ask] he sneeringly dares his opponent to fire as "his reflexes are faster than any bullet" whereupon he goes into an absurd slow motion backward flip and straightens up only to find that he was so fast that the shell hadn't reached him yet and he is blown to bits, leaving only his boots behind. I was still pissing myself at that while the next couple of gore drenched sight gags had already passed by. All credit to them for editing this shambolic melee into any kind of a followable movie but somehow they did it. The action moves so fast and what happens to the characters is so unpredictable that one is sucked in by the sheer manic energy and creativity of the thing. They were clearly having a ball, with their tongues in their cheeks, while making this and so do we while watching it. Oh, and there are frequent samurai sword wielding flashbacks, to what appears to be feudal Japan, when these same idiots had apparently battled each other in previous incarnations! Then the ending... nah, it has to be seen to be appreciated. Don't ask me why but I really, really enjoyed this riotous mess of a movie!! Tarantino and Rodriguez have never been this knowingly entertaining.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.0
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2014 - 10:40 am:   

As for last night's triple bill; the first was a stunning gothic horror masterpiece, the second was unintentionally hilarious but great fun and the third was an outrageously blood-spattered big daft romp of tongue-in-cheek bad taste.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.0
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2014 - 04:00 pm:   

A heady dose of Robert Aickman has me wanting to revisit weirdsville again so I picked out this mind altering triple bill:

'The Golem' (1920) by Paul Wegener & Carl Boese - first ever viewing of this famously influential silent expressionist horror from Germany. It's a theme I've always found particularly frightening thanks to Ray Harryhausen and Talos giving me a childhood terror of statues. That, along with the dislocating effect silent cinema always has on me, promises good things...

'El Topo' (1970) by Alejandro Jodorowsky - I only ever saw a bad print heavily cut version of this notorious headfuck of a movie once many years ago and this is the fully restored and uncut version that I've been keeping till I was in a susceptible mood for its mesmerising imagery. A psychedelically disturbing and gore drenched dark fantasy western epic like nothing I've ever seen before.

'Conspirators Of Pleasure' (1996) by Jan Švankmajer - I'm ready, sort of, for my next chronological plunge into the nightmare world of the Czech surrealist genius. I was lucky enough to see this once before in the cinema and it has stayed with me ever since - in the most ferocious way imaginable. I found this mind blasting plunge into Freudian symbolism and extreme sexual deviation behind closed doors to be bloody terrifying and the man had the gall to call it a comedy?!?!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.0
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2014 - 11:41 pm:   

I was seriously impressed by 'The Golem' (1920) there!! I expected it to be a bit creaky and of historical interest only, but NO, it's every bit as visionary as any of the other great silent horror classics I've seen and fully deserves its legendary reputation. A cracking story well told, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.0
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 01:42 am:   

Jesus, this film is just brilliant!! Undeniably one of the great masterpieces of 1970s cinema!! Jodorowsky's vision and technical excellence demands respect. Fantastic filmmaking!!

Forget what the revisionist critics claim - this movie is one of the greatest achievements cinema ever produced. It has everything that the medium is capable of when done with passion, artistry and commitment. Pure genius!!!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.0
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 02:09 am:   

After that phantasmagoric experience can I even face bloody Jan Švankmajer ffs?! Yes, I can! I'm going in, people. Wish me luck... <gulp>
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.0
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 03:09 am:   

I've made my mind up. 'El Topo' is now one of my Top 10 films of all time. Equal to anything made by Kubrick or Leone, or whoever else you care to mention, it is a stunning work of art and incredibly entertaining, enthralling, funny, moving and, most of all, thought provoking. An unbelievable achievement!!!! Fair play to that man. He deserved to shag all the women he wanted on the back of that movie (watch the director's likeably self-effacing intro to the film on the Tartan DVD I just watched to make sense of my last comment).

Meanwhile, I just had to pause 'Conspirators Of Pleasure' and take a short walk to reconnect with the real world. I love and fear that man's work more than any other filmmaker. He is to cinema what Heironymous Bosch was to fine art!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 05:24 am:   

I have just watched a man transform himself into a literally cockheaded, bat winged sexual supervillain (or is he an anti-establishment superhero?) who pile-drives the equally aberrant female object of his unspoken desires into the ground up to her neck, splitting her skull in the process - among other hard to describe visual and psychological horrors - and I am impossibly disturbed. Fucked up doesn't begin to describe that film! I need to watch something light and comical before bed. A bit of 'Bilko' or 'Laurel & Hardy' I think. Sheesh...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 07:02 am:   

By the way, the final shot of 'Conspirators Of Pleasure' is one of the most terrifying in horror cinema. Those doors opening and the implication of what they are about to reveal... shudder. I can't sleep for being haunted by weird imagery and I bloody love it! Is there something wrong with me? Am I one of their number... the conspirators of unmentionable pleasure? I need to talk to Jan and get to the bottom of this! I'm going to email him. It might just work!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 09:03 am:   

'It Came From Beneath The Sea' (1955) directed by Robert Gordon and written by Hal Smith & George Worthing Yates - One of the quintessential "giant monster created/awakened by nuclear testing" movies that followed in the wake of 'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms' (1953). Compared to the likes of 'Them!' (1954) and 'Godzilla' (1954) this virtual retread of 'Beast', by the same makers, understandably eager to cash in on their own success, has to be seen as one of the relatively weaker entries in the cycle while still being a thoroughly entertaining and wonderfully straight faced thriller fired by a real sense of urgency from the three leads - granite jawed he-man, Kenneth Tobey (I've always been convinced Steve Ditko must have based his square headed heroes upon the man), pointy breasted she-woman, Faith Domergue, and their inferior but painfully noble best mate, Donald Curtis - and, tof course, the still wonderfully effective animated set pieces by Ray Harryhausen. This one features a giant radioactive octopus being hurled up from the Mindanao Deep and going on a rampage along the Californian coast. The destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge by gigantic Lovecraftian tentacles remains the highlight of the movie and the compelling seriousness with which the script and cast handle this larger than life material is a model of how to make the fantastic grippingly believable - a knack modern film makers seem to have lost amid an unstoppable outpouring of knowing post-modernism. Sometimes we just want to be entertained and this film does that with refreshing integrity. A minor classic.

'The Fly II' (1989) directed by Chris Walas and written by Frank Darabont, Mick Garris, Jim Wheat & Ken Wheat - What a pleasant surprise this movie turned out to be and how wrong and insufferably po-faced of Cronenberg it was to denigrate it as an abject failure! I would call this a rattling good yarn, made with real heart and intelligence, that successfully extends the franchise far more memorably than either of the black and white sequels to the original 1958 classic did (great schlocky fun as they both were). Killing off the heroine to Cronenberg's opus in the opening scene, while giving birth to the genetically compromised offspring of Seth Brundle, was a game changing masterstroke on a par with the opening to 'Alien³', imho. Then having this progeny turn out to be all too human, like his dear old dad, but even more heartbreakingly so, due to what the eager establishment bigwigs have planned for him and that damned invention, raises the game to whole new levels of emotional involvement for the viewer - even though we are aware how shamelessly we are being manipulated. It never begins to approach the gravitas of its own progenitor but succeeds by taking that film's accessibility and running with it. The result is one of the best sequels of its era. Production values, performances and nauseating special effects are all top rate and the script manages to engage our emotions not on one level but on four by brilliantly highlighting the journey of our doomed innocent hero through all the sad lessons of life, that we all learn, in a horribly accelerated form due to the curse of his unasked for birthright. I'm not ashamed to admit that the final scene with the dog had me unexpectedly filling up, ffs, and it was also nice to see Jeff Goldblum and John Getz reprise their earlier roles in touchingly effective cameos.
Pity poor Martin Brundle (Eric Stoltz in easily his most memorable starring role). In the course of his short life his loved surrogate "father" (Lee Richardson as a wonderfully slimy corporate villain), his only friend (a loveably cute caged Labrador intended for experimentation), his first love (Daphne Zuniga in endearingly sweet form) and, finally, his own identity are all torn away from him in the most cruel way imaginable and the hideous rampaging monster he transforms into becomes one of the most repulsive avenging angels in genre cinema. Okay, it may not be high art but it's still a bloody fine horror movie and exceptional entertainment. A real unrecognised classic in my book, folks, The only thing wrong with this film is the title. It should have been called 'Son Of The Fly'. You missed a trick there, guys.

'Cherry Tree Lane' (2010) written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams - What a curious aberration in the career of a highly talented director this film is! I have to declare this a nonplussing backward step into cheap sensationalism after the breathtaking professionalism of Williams' first two features; 'London To Brighton' (2006) and 'The Cottage' (2008). It's brilliantly acted and certainly unpredictable but what disappoints is the sheer lack of ambition or growth in the project. Really this should have been made years earlier as the director's low budget attention grabbing debut and then its obvious limitations wouldn't have been so painfully apparent. What we have here is an attempt to do a post-modern 'Last House' movie for the unshockable "seen it all before" modern generation. Whether it's commenting on 'The Left' or the 'Edge of the Park' is immaterial as Michael Haneke got there first in 1997 with 'Funny Games' and did so with infinitely more wit and imagination. Yes, there's lots to admire here but it's the sheer pointlessness of the film that infuriates and ultimately alienates the viewer. It comes across like an ultra-violent and even more depressing episode of 'Eastenders' at its most vacuous and sordid. An unhappily married couple awaiting the return home of their delinquent teenage son in sleepy London suburbia find their house invaded by a bunch of his 'orrible mates after he grassed one of their gang up to the filth and, while they await sonny boy arriving at the door for the inevitable bloody revenge, they have their sadistic jollies with his mum and dad in the meantime. That's it! That's all that happens! Yep, it's intense and horrific and very well acted and shot but there's nothing else beyond a parade of real time horrors and cruelty that unfolds with relentless mediocrity. What happened, Paul? Where did your imagination go? Frankly, I'm baffled.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 09:17 am:   

Here's my final ranking of all five Fly films:

1. 'The Fly' (1958) by Kurt Neumann.
2. 'The Fly' (1986) by David Cronenberg.
3. 'The Fly II' (1989) by Chris Walas.
4. 'Curse Of The Fly' (1965) by Don Sharp.
5. 'Return Of The Fly' (1959) by Edward Bernds.

I enjoyed every one of them. A great series of horror movies!
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.116.49.67
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 03:47 pm:   

Glad to see you liked The Fly II. I've come to like it better than the Cronenberg film. I know it's just a hand puppet, but that scene with the dog tears my herat out every time I see it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 06:52 pm:   

I'm seen some truly great horror movies for the first time in the last couple of weeks, Hubert, and 'The Fly II' was the most heartening surprise among them. It's a great movie I was wrong to avoid for so many years. In those two 1980s films we have one of the finest remakes and sequels in horror cinema. That's my final verdict.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 07:07 pm:   

Yes, the scene with the dog really got to me too. Shamelessly manipulative but brilliantly done. Having said that I'm a hands up sucker for tearjerkers like 'Old Yeller' (1957) and 'Marley And Me' (2008). My first pet was a beautiful Labrador called Pip. He died when I was six, after being savaged by another dog, an Alsatian, that strayed into our garden while we were out playing, but I've never forgotten him. The following year they got me a Border Collie, called Rusty, who was my inseparable best friend for the next 17 years of my life. I adore dogs. Strange that I've ended up with a succession of cats ever since Rusty went but ownership of a pet is something I take very seriously and the circumstances have to be perfect for owning a dog and giving it a happy life, imho. They rely so much on us. Cats are a breeze!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 07:44 pm:   

I'm addicted to triple bills at the minute - and not missing going to the cinema at all - so have decided on this bill for today:

'Horror Hotel' (1960) by John Llewellyn Moxey - I was unaware this purported cult classic British horror film, with Christopher Lee, even existed until a few years ago and I'm very curious to see if it stands up.

'Matador' (1986) by Pedro Almodóvar - the great Spanish auteur's early homage to Italian giallo cinema, and the works of Mario Bava in particular, that I've been dying to see ever since being blown away by his incredible horror/sci-fi revenge thriller, 'The Skin I Live In', in 2011. That film is every bit the body horror equal of Cronenberg's 'The Fly' (1986), imho.

'One Missed Call' (2003) by Takashi Miike - I consider him the greatest of all modern Japanese directors and this was his entry in the J-horror cycle of technological terror tales of a decade ago. How can it fail to be impressive with a pedigree like that?!
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 2.218.180.58
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 09:23 pm:   

What I took from Cherry Tree Lane was that it was a film all about the banality of evil. Particularly the moment one character is upset that his friend is committing rape...but only because he's cheating on his girlfriend in the process.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Monday, April 07, 2014 - 12:26 am:   

I got that as the point of the film but I just found it a redundant retread of countless films that said the same thing so much better. It fell between the two stools of shock horror sensationalism and worthy arthouse drama, for me, without fully satisfying as either... if you get what I mean. Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' remains the final word on the banality of evil, imo.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Monday, April 07, 2014 - 12:49 am:   

I loved Williams' first two films. 'London To Brighton' (2006) was easily the best British low-life crime thriller of the past 20 years or so. A genuinely shocking and original punch in the guts of a movie. And 'The Cottage' (2008), while not being in the same league, was still a sensationally effective black comedy horror with one of the most frightening monsters of recent years, imo. I thought it was grossly underrated on the back of too high expectations after LTB and consider it something of a modern horror classic.

Compared to them 'Cherry Tree Lane' (2010) was merely a well put together but terribly unoriginal and ultimately forgettable throwback to the murky depths of the video nasty era but without any sense of irony or sicko humour to liven things up. I'm glad it ended the way it did, as I enjoyed seeing that creep get what he deserved, but even there the director went for a surprisingly weak cop-out that defused much of the tension that had been built up. He either should have gone for the throat or come up with something totally unexpected to make the film stand out in the memory. It was a well made little drama, like something made for telly, after a masterpiece and a classic. Still well worth watching but I hope he got back on track with his next project or I could see him disappearing into flash-in-the-pan history. And that would be a great shame.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Monday, April 07, 2014 - 04:51 am:   

Well that was another superb night's viewing of truly great horror movies. I thoroughly enjoyed all three of them and two were bloody masterpieces!! I'm really spoiling myself at the minute.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Monday, April 07, 2014 - 05:03 am:   

Hmm, I just checked up on Paul Andrew Williams' recent career and it looks like he's abandoned shock horror - which sums up all three of his first films - in favour of a feel good comedy drama about old folks and a bloody romcom with Jennifer Aniston! At least he's still making films.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.30
Posted on Monday, April 07, 2014 - 08:36 am:   

'Fiend Without A Face' (1958) directed by Arthur Crabtree and written by Herbert J. Leder - This fantastic B-movie is quite simply one of the best and most genuinely frightening horror/sci-fi films of the 1950s and this first viewing in many years brought home to me just how great a Lovecraftian horror story it is as well! Probably inspired by the Id monster in 'Forbidden Planet' (1956) this has a small hick town in the remote wilds of Canada being terrorised by invisible "fiends" from beyond summoned onto our plane of existence by the reckless experiments of a reclusive old scientist, Prof. Walgate (Kynaston Reeves), into the hidden powers of the human mind by testing a thought amplifying device, that he invented, on himself. Compare that with Crawford Tillinghast's fateful experiments in the short story "From Beyond" (1934) and you'll see the obvious parallels. Anyway, when these externalised demons of the mind escape from the lab a series of brutal murders of the townsfolk follows, with all the victims having had their brains sucked out through a puncture in the base of the skull! The locals erroneously blame the deaths on a near-by US Airbase at which it is known Top Secret experiments are being carried out and it is up to Air Force Major Jeff Cummings (good old Marshall Thompson from 'Daktari' - I loved that show as a kid) to reassure them and carry out desperate investigations into what really caused the deaths, before the locals turn ugly. The build-up of creeping dread in this film is exemplary. Several early memorably scary death sequences, as something unseen approaches, producing an unforgettable squelching sucking throbbing sound, and the victims react with puzzlement, terror and a final hideous screaming death, are followed by a growing suspicion that something unearthly is at work, as Jeff and his feisty local love interest, Barbara (Kim Parker), gradually draw closer to the truth behind the meek old Professor's increasing agitation and paranoia - he foolishly keeps what he has done a secret from the authorities, thus making him as culpable for the deaths as his nightmarish creations. And, believe me, when we get to see them in the nerve-shredding final reel, nightmarish they bloody well are!! The stronger they grow, by feeding on human brains and radiation from the Airbase, the more tangible they become and the faster they multiply, until finally materialising in all their repulsive glory as a slithering pulsing leaping swarm of slimy tentacled brain monsters, brought to life by some of the most effective stop motion animation ever used in genre cinema - by an unsung German animator called K.L. Lupel. Hats off to that man for this modest little frightener beats Ray Harryhausen at his own game and prefigured the nightmare use of the technique in David Lynch's 'Eraserhead' (1977). The final siege sequence in the boarded up house is a masterclass in sustained terror as those things ooze in through every available crack to get at the last surviving humans whose juicy grey matter they crave. I have long insisted it was such an effectively frightening climax to the perfectly paced build up of dread in the film that it surely must have had a profound influence on Hitchcock's masterpiece 'The Birds' (1963) - note the use of the chimney - and Romero's great game changer 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968). An unquestionable masterpiece of low budget atmospheric horror at its most genuinely unsettling. I love movies like this and there are far too few of them, imho!!

'Macabre' (1980) directed by Lamberto Bava and written by Lamberto Bava, Antonio Avati, Pupi Avati & Roberto Gandus - Now this was a seriously bloody impressive directorial debut! Lamberto had been acting as Assistant Director to his father, Mario, since his youth so couldn't possibly have had better training and it really shows here. I've watched four of his later films before - 'A Blade In The Dark' (1983), 'Demons' (1985), 'Demons II' (1986) and 'Demons III : The Ogre' (1987) - and enjoyed them all immensely but nothing could have prepared me for the completely untypical excellence of this slow burning psychological thriller of real artistry and craft. Mario died very soon after the release of this film and I have no idea if he got to see it but I'm sure he would have been proud of his son's first effort at going it alone. It's easily the best of his films that I have seen and startlingly subtle, cerebral even, compared to anything else he directed. I had expected a giallo, like his excellent second feature ABITD, but this is more a Hitchcockian psychosexual thriller of dark obsessive love and aberrant carnal desires that builds up a menacing atmosphere of mental decay and terrible secrets kept behind locked doors with masterful restraint before unleashing one of the most truly macabre and shocking climaxes in Italian horror. British actress, Bernice Stegers, plays Jane, an unhappily married mother of two young children in suburban New Orleans, who is secretly having a tempestuous affair with a handsome young lover in a private apartment she rents in a creepy old boarding house in the city - run by an old crone and her shy blind son, Robert (Stanko Molnar, who gives a wonderfully sympathetic performance of real heart and sensitivity). As her lover is speeding her home following news of a family tragedy on the day of a particularly torrid rendezvous they are involved in a horrific car crash in which he is decapitated in front of her eyes. Jump forward a few years and we find poor Jane having just been released from a mental institution, understandably, as her young son died in a tragic "accident" on that fateful day that she had left the kids home alone to be with her lover, thus blaming herself for both their deaths and suffering a complete mental collapse. Her husband has disowned her and she is now living alone in the same old apartment of her affair, now run solely by blind Robert, his mother having passed away. The film then charts the gradual slipping back into madness of Jane, expressed by increasingly elaborate sexual fantasies in which she convinces herself her lover is somehow still with her, while Robert, who secretly has a huge crush on her, grows ever more suspicious of the strange sounds he hears coming from the rooms above him... when he knows for certain she is alone up there. Throw a memorably twisted evil child into the mix, in the form of the young daughter who now hates her mother and is determined to torment her in the sickest ways imaginable, and a horrible secret our demented heroine keeps locked away from prying eyes, and you have a fine stew of unbearable psychological tension that builds to a shockingly lurid climax of unspeakable horror and a final twist that made my heart near jump out of my chest! An exceptionally fine gothic horror masterwork that is the equal of some of his father's best films. Nuff said!!

'Mum And Dad' (2008) written and directed by Steven Sheil - Dear Lord, what a fabulous triple bill this turned out to be! I sat down to watch this not expecting much after two back-to-back masterpieces. I thought it would be solid horror entertainment of a familiar type from recent years but what I got was, imho, the single greatest and most effective and bloody gripping extreme ordeal British horror film since the glory days of the 1970s!! The spirit of Pete Walker is alive and well and as perverse as ever going by this incendiary bomb of a modest low budget "kick in the balls" shocker! Everything about the film is perfectly realised and made this hardened veteran one very happy horror fan indeed. I couldn't find a single fault with it. This is the story of a young Polish immigrant, Lena (played brilliantly by Olga Fedori), who is working as a poorly paid cleaner at Heathrow Airport. She makes friends with a bubbly young co-worker, Birdie (Ainsley Howard, another brilliant performance), and her brother, Elbie (Toby Alexander, ditto), who cannot speak and appears to be mentally subnormal but harmless. They tell her they live locally with their Mum & Dad and, after missing her bus one night, Lena accepts their kind offer to take her home so their father can give her a lift into the city. All this is perfectly naturalistic and very well played and in no way prepares us for what happens once Lena walks through the door of that house... all fucking hell breaks loose!! Our pitifully helpless and heartbreakingly vulnerable young heroine finds herself presented as the latest addition to the "family" and we are introduced to two of the most vividly portrayed psychopaths in horror cinema history, in the form of Mum (Dido Miles - skin crawlingly creepy as fuck!), and, Lord help us, Dad (Perry Benson - who makes Leatherface seem like a pussy in a terrifying performance of unbearably savage intensity). Think back to all those great Pete Walker classics of the 70s - the likes of 'Frightmare' (1974), 'House Of Mortal Sin' (1976) and, particularly, 'House Of Whipcord' (1974) - well, this film is their equal in every way, folks!! Mixing an utterly gripping unpredictable story and unforgettable characters with levels of unbearable nastiness and sleaze, and actually having something intelligent to say about contemporary Britain and the very meaning of what constitutes "family values", while never forgetting to entertain by injecting just the right amount of jet black twisted humour and sequences of genuinely heart wrenching pathos at exactly the right moments, when it isn't turning our stomachs by the horribly convincing old style gore effects or terrifying us rigid by the power of the acting and our fear for the recognisably human victims, this modest ultra-low budget directorial debut is a bona-fide ***** horror masterpiece that I can't believe hasn't been hailed as such in more forceful terms by every horror fan in the land. What we have here is the creation of a world of unrelenting cruelty where terrible things happen to good people and there is no cosy get out clause for the mesmerised and disturbed viewer! I cannot bloody wait to see what Steven Sheil does next! To be honest I'm amazed this film got made in this day and age at all... it is so brilliantly and relentlessly uncompromising. The best British horror of the new millennium so far.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.150
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2014 - 12:08 am:   

And this film began my second near perfect triple bill in a row:

'The Spiral Staircase' (1946) directed by Robert Siodmak and written by Mel Dinelli - I would rank this glorious groundbreaking psycho thriller, that virtually invented all the familiar tropes of giallo cinema, as one of the best three or four horror films of its decade. Up there with 'Dead Of Night' (1945) or any of the films of Val Lewton, while showing Hitchcock just how a real scary movie should be done. This was the moment when the creaky old dark house thriller came of age and pointed the way to the lurid psycho shockers of the 60s and 70s, with their concentration on sex as the driving force behind the impulse to kill. Yes, all the tropes familiar from; 'The Old Dark House' (1932), 'The Bat Whispers' (1930), 'The Cat Creeps' (1930), 'The Monster Walks' (1932) & 'The Cat And The Canary' (1927 & 1939) - while never forgetting 'The Laurel And Hardy Murder Case' (1930) - are present and correct and as entertaining as ever. We have the remote badly lit gothic mansion cut off by a fearsome thunderstorm and the warnings from the police that the mad killer terrorising the community had last been traced to their vicinity, so "keep all your doors locked and your windows barred", along with the plucky heroine (Dorothy McGuire), her rugged hero (Kent Smith), the sickly old woman upstairs with her proclamations of doom (Ethel Barrymore), the comic relief servant (Elsa Lanchester), who keeps sneaking a wee nip of the master's brandy, and a suitable group of shifty suspects and potential victims (George Brent, Gordon Oliver, Rhys Williams, James Bell, Rhonda Fleming & Sara Allgood), all, perhaps, with something to hide. But present also is a faceless black gloved point-of-view killer of defenceless women, watched as they undress by one maniacal eye staring from the shadows in hideous close-up, and we have a demented psychosexual backstory that explains the elaborate nature of the murders, and the killer's targeting of beauty flawed by physical affliction, as having originated in childhood abuse... sound familiar? Even the formerly perfect heroine and hero are compromised here. She by a psychological inability to speak, due to some dark secret from her past, and he by his moments of frustrated anger, when he tries to bully a reaction out of her, rather than make her smile with a wisecrack ala Bob Hope. Without 'The Spiral Staircase' there would have been no; 'Psycho' (1960), 'Peeping Tom' (1960), 'Blood And Black Lace' (1964), 'Twisted Nerve' (1968), 'Torso' (1973), 'Profondo Rosso' (1975), 'Dressed To Kill' (1980), 'Matador' (1986), etc, etc... It upped the ante overnight and threw down the gauntlet to other genre film makers, Hitchcock included, by giving audiences something shockingly new and modern at just the time they were ready to face it, following the wake-up call of Great Depression and World War. Siodmak's prowling camera and striking compositions, the cleverness of the script with its abundance of red herrings and visual bum steers and the fabulously moody chiaroscuro cinematography of Nicholas Musuraca, that graced many a 40s Val Lewton horror or classic noir thriller - watch 'The Curse Of The Cat People' (1944) or 'Out Of The Past' (1947) to see what I mean - along with the unflinching subject matter give the film a modern glow that stands up very well today and makes it one of the most impressive, as well as influential, motion pictures of its era. A horror masterpiece that we all owe a lot to!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.150
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2014 - 05:07 am:   

While lying thinking over dream triple bills I came up with this:

'Vertigo' (1958) by Alfred Hitchcock - perhaps his masterpiece? I'd go for 'The Birds' (1963), myself, but it's certainly in his top three or four films and is a mesmerising masterwork I find myself puzzling over for days every time I watch it. I'm in the mood to wallow again...

'Straw Dogs' (1971) by Sam Peckinpah - this will be only my second viewing of this shock horror masterpiece in about 10 years and it blew me away the first time! Possibly his greatest film? It might have been if not for 'The Wild Bunch' (1969). I'd rank it as the most unbearably tense psychological thriller ever made - and all over a woman.

'Audition' (1999) by Takashi Miike - again only my second viewing in about 10 years of this modern psychological horror masterpiece by Japan's greatest living director, imo. It disturbed the feck out of me the first time and is another mystifying head-trip of a psychosexual puzzler that ends in nightmare violence.

The theme is epic slow burning psychological thrillers by great controversial directors - giving us their jaundiced view of the battle of the sexes and the the terrible things men do to women and women do to men when sexual obsession and jealousy are unleashed on the human psyche. Love and desire can be terrifying...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.150
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2014 - 11:23 pm:   

'Dressed To Kill' (1980) written and directed by Brian De Palma - Incredibly, this was my first ever complete viewing of De Palma's most famous film, and what a virtuoso masterclass in pure cinematic technique it is! This is American filmmaking enfused with the playful genius of Hitchcock and the high operatic style of the very best Italian cinema to create something irresistibly familiar and yet totally unique. This is a director in love with his influences and making love with the camera, literally in the startling opening sequence! The film is a perfect marriage of outrageous style and content in complete symmetry with each other that caresses the viewer through an almost stream of consciousness flow of visual and aural set pieces from first scene to last. This is what cinema should be! A seductive enveloping of the senses while telling a story of primal simplicity. This is opera without the singing, ballet without the dancing... this is moving pictures with sound of the highest Artistic value, imho, and not an ounce of po-faced pomposity. Those who mock De Palma for his larger than life "grandstanding" know nothing about the true power and essence of great cinema. Griffiths, Murnau, Lang, Chaplin, Dreyer, Hitchcock, Wilder, Bergman, Tati, Rossellini, Fellini, Antonioni, Bava, Leone, Argento, Kubrick, Tarkovsky, Jodorowsky, Bertolucci, Scorsese, Coppola, Lynch, Almodóvar, you name it... Brian De Palma is one of their number. This film takes the central conceit of 'Psycho' (1960) and turns it into a delirious horror sex comedy that plays with its audience like a cat with a mouse right from the first time they heard that double edged killer title. The whole brilliantly choreographed, witty and passionate opening sequence, concentrating on the steamy peccadilloes of a typical bored housewife (Angie Dickinson), gulls the viewer into thinking they're watching an erotic drama of repressed sexual awakenings, in much the way Hitchcock made us think we were watching a noir crime thriller about opportunistic robbery and flight, and then shocks us rigid with another one of cinema's most shockingly unexpected and bloody murders - by one woman of another! He then switches tack again into almost breezy comedy as Nancy Allen's "tart with a heart" morphs into Cary Grant's wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time, whom no one will believe but the killer. By this stage our expectations, well primed by Hitch, have us thinking we recognise the film for what it is, a masterful "damsel in distress" suspense thriller, while the director unleashes his full gamut of stylistic flourishes in a wildly entertaining race against time, in which every tiniest background detail in every scene holds a double meaning. And still a few genre defining surprises remain hidden up his sleeve. One comes away from the film dazzled, breathing heavily and feeling oddly dirty at how we've let this man shamelessly have his way with us when all he was interested in was a quick vigorous shag. But some of us will go back for more and spot the seductive artistry behind the physical prowess, and we will want to keep coming back for more. This is one of the finest gialloesque thrill rides ever made but it is also so much more. It is great filmmaking!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.150
Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2014 - 01:24 am:   

'The Silent House' (2010) directed by Gustavo Hernández and written by Oscar Estévez - Now this is the way to make a splash with a directorial debut and no budget worth speaking of! Hernández' achievement here should be applauded by every right thinking fan of imaginative cinema, imho. It was made in Uruguay and never expected to be seen outside the country but word of mouth elevated this modestly ambitious and technically stupefying little shocker to well deserved international acclaim, and the inevitable big budget US remake, 'Silent House' (2011). I saw the remake in the cinema at the time without any idea that it was a remake and was seriously impressed by the film's unrelenting tension, technical expertise and, most of all, by Elizabeth Olsen's virtuoso lead performance - she was almost as impressive here as in her big breakthrough movie, 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' (2011). On learning of the original's existence, and highly thought of reputation, I made a point of ordering it. Yes, inevitably, it turned out to be a much more viscerally impressive and disturbing experience than the heavily sanitised version, extremely well made and gripping as it is, that I was familiar with. I found the experience to be impossibly exhilarating, in what it says about the health of zero budget international filmmaking, and rather deflating, in its confirmation of the lack of imagination and bravery that blights modern American cinema. Taking place in real time over its 86 minutes and filmed to look like one long take - compare with Hitchcock's 'Rope' (1948) or a certain episode of Shearsmith & Pemberton's 'Psychoville' (2009) - this is another instant classic "damsel in distress" psycho thriller that goes for the jugular virtually from the doom laden opening shot. All the action is set in and around a spooky old derelict and boarded up house in the remote countryside that a young woman (Florencia Colucci, matching Olsen's acting ability but outdoing her in terms of sweaty physicality) finds herself locked in alone with a killer. She arrives with her father, who is quickly and gorily despatched, and spends the rest of the movie in a state of abject terror being pursued through dimly lit mouldy rooms by someone or something largely unseen but very much heard. So far so "what's the big deal about that?". I would agree were it not for the masterfully controlled razor edge tension that glues one's eyes to the screen and the perfectly paced hints that not all we are experiencing is what it seems. This film plays with our perceptions of trusting what our eyes and ears are telling us while taking us deep inside the fractured psyche of a seriously disturbed individual. One comes to realise that the film is giving us the killer's point-of-view of events, in classic giallo style, while we are fooled into identifying with the victim for our terms of reference. This dislocating effect between the watcher and the observed and the audience and the film makers adds a disturbing hallucinatory quality to the edge of the seat tension generated by the physical events on screen and the intensity of the solo acting tour de force. What started as a run of the mill stalk and slash psycho thriller with a gimmick is transformed into one of the most affecting, and Campbellian, cinematic descents into madness of recent years, with a killer twist of a pay-off that lingers in the mind for days after viewing it. The professional discipline, the commitment and the sheer belief on that set must have been extraordinary for such a poorly financed project by complete unknowns! Congratulations to everyone involved. They produced not only a technical marvel but a genuine modern classic of unrelenting terror beside which the excellent remake fades into sad redundancy!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.150
Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2014 - 01:40 am:   

The unflinchingly horrific nature of the twist and the way in which the nightmarish unravelling of the film's structure prepares us for it was lacking in the remake. They went part of the way but pulled their punch at the end for fear of upsetting a respectable audience. The Uruguayan original deals with deeply rooted taboos in the most haunting and upsetting way imaginable. That coupled with the cheap grainy naturalism of the production is what gives the film its uncompromising power.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.19
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2014 - 02:44 am:   

'Kill, Baby, Kill' (1966) directed by Mario Bava and written by Mario Bava, John Hart, Romano Migliorini & Roberto Natale - This was only the fifth Mario Bava film I've ever seen and it's made me fall in love with Italian cinema all over again! Of the five I'd rank it a very close second to his masterpiece, 'Mask Of The Demon' aka 'Black Sunday' (1960). Then, for the record, would come; 'A Bay Of Blood' (1971), 'Planet Of The Vampires' (1965) and 'Lisa And The Devil' (1973) - the notorious bastardised version known as 'House Of Exorcism'. When I think of the - let's count them - nine other (ten including the director' scut of LATD) of his horror films I've still to watch it doesn't half give me a shiver of excitement.

This one was a gloriously colourful expansion of the familiar Hammer vision of period gothic horror into something almost hallucinatory in its weird otherworldliness. The sumptuous period sets and costumes, the striking cast of character actors, all somehow just right for their parts, the vivid colours and spooky mist-swathed atmospherics are all present and correct and as beautifully evocative as ever but Bava invests his picture with an indescribably haunting extra quality that has to be experienced to be believed. As much as I love the classic works of Hammer Studios and all the Corman Poes those films, for the most part, are made to appear merely solidly entertaining craftsmanship beside the vision of this truly great auteur!

That this is a period picture may come as a surprise, given the stridently hip 60s sound of the title, but the "Baby" referred to here isn't a "woman as sex object" but actually one of the creepiest and most genuinely frightening evil children in horror cinema. A giggling white-frocked little girl called Melissa. The story begins with a woman fleeing in abject terror, while intensely unsettling electronic warbles and the amplified sound of a child's mischievous laughter assault our ears, before she meets a strikingly gory death and we get our first half glimpse of what had been pursuing her - a shining pair of black buckled shoes in neat white stockings and the trailing edge of a little girl's pretty white communion-like dress. It is one of the most memorably unnerving openings to a horror film of its era.

We then have the arrival of a reassuringly level headed looking young doctor, Paul (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart), off a rickety old coach and being warned by the driver that if he knows what's good for him he won't stay long in this godforsaken place... crack the whip and he's off like the clappers! The doctor has been summoned to this remote Carpathian village by the police, led by bullish Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli), to carry out an autopsy on the woman we had just seen horribly killed, who was only the latest in a string of brutal murders of the terrified but frustratingly uncooperative townsfolk.

The usual investigations and warnings to "stop meddling" follow, interspersed with more frightening apparitions of the chalky-faced, hollow-eyed ghost child and the horribly bloody death of whoever she shows herself to - the bleeding to death of each of the victims being an important plot point - while the two hard-nosed outsiders refuse to give credence to rumours of supernatural evil and a terrible curse overhanging the town and find themselves uncovering guilty secrets of a terrible crime from long ago that someone, or something, appears to be avenging. There's a bit of love interest for the young hero in the form of enigmatic local beauty, Monica (Erika Blanc), an adoptee whose personal history lies wrapped in mystery, while suspicion is aimed at mad old Baroness Graps (Giovanna Galletti), who never leaves her shunned gothic villa on the edge of town, where she still mourns the death of her young daughter some 20 years before in a tragic and particularly gruesome "accident". You get the general set-up of course.

All these familiar and gloriously entertaining plot devices are merely the canvas for Bava to paint his vision of phantasmagoric terror onto. Effortless style, dazzling camerawork, terrifying use of amplified sound and discordant music, a mesmerising mis-en-scene of nightmarish beauty and one memorably frightening and disorienting set-piece follows another in a psychedelically seductive thrill ride of pure cinematic genius.

Secure while he held onto his trust in science and denial of the supernatural, the self assurance of the practical man-of-action hero gradually disintegrates in the face of overwhelming evidence that his world view was sadly lacking and, in concert, the narrative structure of the film becomes ever more surreal and disturbing. There is one incredible sequence in which Paul is running through room after room of that awful villa in bewildered terror and runs so fast that he catches up with himself in a final sanity shattering moment of complete dislocation from reality. No one but Bava could have pulled off such a conceit and made it so convincingly unsettling. This film is one of the most monumental achievements of the great man's career and of horror cinema in general and, I have absolutely no doubt, would reward endless fascinated rewatching.

It's the beautiful artistry, energy and fearlessness with which the great Italian auteurs deliver their OTT operatic visions of what cinema is capable of that makes me love their work so much. Mario Bava was one of their greatest ambassadors to the world. His films will live forever!! My recent first ever viewing of Pedro Almodóvar's 'Matador' (1986) is just one proof of that... of which, more anon.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.19
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2014 - 03:44 am:   

Following my best ever triple bill - 'Vertigo' (1958), 'Straw Dogs' (1971) & 'Audition' (1999) - that left me floating high on cinema, I've decided on a good old Hammer night for tomorrow to bring me back down to earth:

'Quatermass And The Pit' (1967) by Roy Ward Baker - scripted by Nigel Kneale this was the great professor's finest hour in any medium and remains one of Hammer's most imperishable classics! Haven't seen it in way, way too long.

'Vampire Circus' (1972) by Robert Young - one of Hammer's several stand alone vampire movies that I only have vague memories of seeing once before on telly in my teens. I seem to recall it was rather good.

'The Resident' (2011) by Antti Jokinen - famously reuniting Christopher Lee with his old studio. I've no idea what this is about or what to expect and hopes are being kept deliberately modest.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2014 - 08:04 am:   

Thanks for all the great movie recaps/critiques, Stevie—I haven't had much time to post here of late, but I'm always following your entries and observations (here and elsewhere) with great pleasure. It's greatly appreciated by me that you take the time to do this, as I'm sure it is by everyone else here. You've inspired me to revisit old movies anew, and swelled my to-be-seen lists. You are a gem!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.19
Posted on Friday, April 11, 2014 - 05:07 pm:   

Thanks, Craig. Doing these wee write-ups is fun for me and gives me something to fill the time while I'm convalescing. Yep, still off on the sick and never been more glad of my DVD collection. As well as the horror movies I'm also still hooked on 'Fringe' and 'Boris Karloff's Thriller' and have only 4 and 10 episodes of each left to watch. Expect a BKT update on recent episodes soon. There have been some absolute corkers!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.59
Posted on Saturday, April 12, 2014 - 10:56 am:   

From the sublime to...

'I Don't Want To Be Born' (1975) directed by Peter Sasdy and written by Stanley Price - What a truly terrible film! I've seen several other of this director's works, mainly with Hammer, and nothing could have prepared me for what a cack-handed job he made of this one. There's nothing wrong with the premise or the cast - both of which had "sure fire winner" stamped all over them. With such fine dependable actors as; Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, Donald Pleasence, Eileen Atkins, Caroline Munro & Hilary Mason, and the never fail theme of the "bad seed in the house" taken to its ultimate conclusion by giving us a new born baby possessed by unholy evil, how the hell could this project have failed?! I'll tell you how... they made one monumentally hilarious mistake in the casting. For the part of the demonic Nicholas (get it?) they chose just about the cutest, most adorable, bright-eyed, gurgling little baby boy you could possibly imagine. They then expect us to believe that this bubble blowing bundle of joy is somehow able to get out of his cot and wreak bloody mayhem when no one is looking. There is no way even the most visionary auteur on earth could have got over such a handicap, nevermind a steady pair of hands like Peter Sasdy. I can only assume that either he had no option in the choice of the baby or that he just wasn't feeling himself during the shoot. Perhaps it was the producer's sprog? Whatever the explanation, the result is unintentional comedy that the poor cast play so admirably straight I had tears running down my face at times. How any of them could have delivered lines like, "I don't like talking in front of him - there's something about the way he looks at you..." - cut to the wee nipper beaming and waving his arms in his pram with jolly abandon - without breaking down in convulsions of laughter or, at least, storming off the set in artistic affrontedness, is beyond me! The plot is actually really good. While working as a stripper before her marriage Collins made the mistake of egging on a sad little dwarf who worked at her club and then humiliated him when he attempted to get fresh with her. Being of gypsy stock this enraged little man proclaims a terrible curse - "You will bear the Devil's child and he will be as large and strong as I am small and weak!" Years later, as a now respectable married woman, his words come back to haunt her right from the moment that hideous little coochy-woochy-coo was plucked screaming from her womb. On returning home Nicky proceeds to bite(?), scratch(!) and scream like Regan at anyone who comes near him, and what he does to his poor stuffed toys is just unmentionable. If they leave him alone for five minutes he wrecks the place, daubing the walls with satanic graffiti, and, god help them, when the little perisher escapes the nursery... people die. At least Larry Cohen gave us a horrible carnivorous mutant in 'It's Alive' (1974), that one could almost accept going on a blind rampage of slaughter, and Damien in 'The Omen' (1976) had invisible forces of evil to do his bumping off for him, but when we're expected to believe that this levitating romper suited terror is somehow capable of decapitating a man with a garden spade or stringing someone else up from a tree or forcibly holding someone's head underwater, etc, and all done dead straight, then, I'm sorry but suspension of disbelief would require levels of imbecility that I'm not prepared to condone! This is one to spring on an unsuspecting mate sometime when you're getting pissed and just wait for the reaction. Priceless nonsense of a type we shall ne'er see again... one can only pray!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.59
Posted on Saturday, April 12, 2014 - 11:12 am:   

In case anyone thinks I exaggerate the directorial awfulness of the above film, here's what I mean: during the murder sequences the baby is only ever seen as a little hand and arm in a powder blue or yellow baby grow either pushing someone in the back or reaching for a handy butcher knife, etc, before the next victim, face stretched in a rictus of terror, is brutally slain by a giggling off-screen presence. If this had been filmed as intentional comedy I would be hailing it as a camp classic but, dear Lord, it so obviously was intended to be a dead straight satanic horror movie!! This one has to be seen to be believed, folks.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 94.13.159.105
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2014 - 05:41 pm:   

Oh god! I was reading that and thinking "Is that the one where the baby hangs someone from a tree?"

Yep.

Thankfully that's the only bit of that movie that has stuck in my memory, the rest has been brain-bleached out.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.0
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - 09:55 am:   

Hilariously, gob-smackinginly bad in every department, I know exactly where you're coming from, David. Some bad horror movies are entertaining for all the wrong reasons but that one takes the Farley's rusk!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.0
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - 11:30 am:   

And completing that rollercoaster ride of a triple bill was:

'Faust : Love Of The Damned' (2000) directed by Brian Yuzna and written by David Quinn & Miguel Tejada-Flores - Thankfully that was followed by a film of intentionally comical satanic madness that entertained for all the right reasons, imho. Yuzna goes for the jugular here right from the off and captures the wilfully sick, adults only, spirit of the notorious 1980s graphic novel (by Tim Vigil & David Quinn) with great tongue-in-cheek aplomb. Imagine a horror superhero movie like 'Blade' (1998) done with outrageous black humour and insane levels of graphic gore, kinky sex and eye-poppingly bonkers non-CGI special effects, that are almost on a par with his masterpiece, 'Society' (1989), and that's kind of what you get here... in spades. It's no classic, or even what I'd call great filmmaking, but what it may lack in coherence it more than makes up for in pure anything goes energy and manic inventiveness. This tells the tragic story of John Jaspers (Mark Frost), a bohemian artist seeking to find himself, who, following the brutal murder of his adored girlfriend, and muse, by a gang of psychopathic punks out for their jollies, ala 'Death Wish' (1974), is stopped from committing suicide on a bridge by the approach of a mysterious black garbed figure, called M (Andrew Divoff), who offers him the chance of bloody revenge in exchange for his immortal soul. Declaring himself soul dead and "believing in nothing" - he obviously never watched 'It's A Wonderful Life' (1946) - Jaspers agrees and finds himself transformed into a hideous horned and razor clawed demon that seeks out each of the gang in turn and playfully makes mincemeat out of them, cracking sick jokes while he wolfs their still beating hearts down and licks his claws clean, before disappearing into the night in a red haze of blood spray. Of course when he awakens next morning, human once more, the poor schmuck realises the seriousness of his predicament and, repulsed at his memories, attempts to back out of the deal... no chance, mate. The rest of the story charts our hero's attempts to break free of his new master's unholy spell while holding onto whatever last shreds of humanity remain to him, and falling for his pretty female psychiatrist (Isabel Brook) into the bargain, while being hunted by a dogged NYPD homicide detective (Jeffrey Combs) who thinks he's Dirty Harry Callaghan. For all the doomed romanticism of the plot Yuzna wisely plays things for sick laughs throughout and some of the nauseating set pieces here really do have to be seen to be believed - I'm tempted to describe a few but they're best experienced fresh. M, a demonic black magician rather than Satan himself, is determined to open the portal to Hell and unleash his Infernal Majesty's reign upon the world but finds his new pet rather more difficult to control than he had imagined, as Jaspers, knowing he is already damned, sets about tracking down the members of his high society satanic cult and butchering them one-by-one while drawing ever closer to his master's lair and the final apocalyptic ceremony that he has planned. This final sequence is a sensationally effective explosion of arch satanic imagery, sex and bloodletting that plays like a head on collision between the imaginations of Clive Barker and Dennis Wheatley at their most ridiculously depraved!! It makes very little sense but, Jesus H. Christ, the sheer visual outrageousness and technical excellence of Yuzna's demented creativity pummels the senses into complete lock jawed acceptance and had me shaking my head and dropping expletives like few films I've seen before. This is one great big daft fun-filled phantasmagoria of cartoonish bad taste from start to finish that I thoroughly and shamefacedly enjoyed every sick minute of. Well done, sir. It may not be high art but it isn't half entertaining.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.140.35
Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2014 - 11:48 am:   

The most mind-warping triple bill I've ever experienced, that gave me weird dreams for days, started with this:

'The Golem' (1920) directed by Paul Wegener & Carl Boese and written by Paul Wegener & Henrik Galeen - Watched for the first time ever I found this to be one of the most entertaining and fascinating silent horror movies I have seen to date. It virtually set the template for all the "tampering with nature" and "monster on the rampage" movies that followed and tells a great story with energy and imagination, that must have been thrilling to audiences of the time, and still makes for an easily followable and enjoyable movie today rather than the creaky artefact I had feared it might be. When one considers the striking sociological undercurrents of the film, and the fact that it was made in a shell-shocked and humbled Germany in the immediate aftermath of World War I, it makes for all the more engrossing viewing.

The chillingly prophetic story tells of a mediaeval pogrom being launched against the Jewish ghetto in Prague by the Holy Roman Emperor (Otto Gebühr), citing their blasphemous mockery of the Christian faith and practicing of black magic as his excuse - I wonder what young Adolf made of the picture? Anyway, to protect his people Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinrück), along with his fawning assistant, Famulus (Ernst Deutsch), constructs a 7 foot tall man of clay, called Golem (played by huge barrel chested Paul Wegener himself), that can be brought to a terrible semblance of life by placing a magically wrought pentagram amulet (inverted, I noticed!) in a hollow in its chest. Placed within the amulet is a scrap of parchment with the word "AEMAET" written upon it, and it is this forbidden word of power, revealed by the summoning of the Demon Astaroth in the film's most disturbing sequence, that animates the monster. Once this amulet is removed the creature returns to being merely an inanimate lump of clay.

All this conjuring of hideous fire-breathing devils - the conjuration sequence is the equal of anything in Benjamin Christensen's 'Häxan' (1922) - and arrogant messing with the forces of nature, accepted by the people as a great miracle, shows the Jews to be "guilty" of the very diabolism that got them persecuted in the first place, which made me wonder where the film's heart really lay... When one considers the character of Florian (Lothar Müthel), a whiter than white Christian knight who acts as the Emperor's messenger to the Jews, warning them to leave the city or face extermination, and who is seduced by the brazen charms of the Rabbi's daughter, Miriam (Lyda Salmanova), despite her being betrothed to Famulus, things get even murkier.

Although shown to be the persecuted underdogs the Jews of Prague do not come out of Wegener's film particularly well and this undercurrent of superstitious maligning may explain how the director was one of the few artistic figures able to curry favour with the Nazi regime, once they came to power. He was to remain in Germany making propaganda films for Hitler all through the Second World War. There are conflicting stories of where the man's true allegiances lay but he remains an enigmatic figure of questionable loyalties. For all the genius that is evident in this startlingly innovative expressionist masterwork the film could not be used as evidence of Wegener being a "sympathiser" with the Jews, once things got ugly. They are portrayed here as very much people to be feared - as vengeful and sexually wanton enemies of "christianity" in league with the powers of darkness.

Witness: once the Golem is brought to life it destroys the Emperor's palace, sparing his life on the Rabbi's orders in return for lifting the pogrom. On returning triumphant to the ghetto there is a struggle when Loew goes to remove the amulet, as the monster, obedient up till then, does not want to be sent back to lifelessness. He disarms it but only just. Unfortunately, after Famulus catches his beloved Miriam in bed with Florian, his vows of chastity forgotten, the enraged sorcerer's apprentice reanimates the Golem and orders it to kill the knight. This it does, in an exciting sequence of implacable Terminator-like pursuit, hopelessly one-sided combat and shocking violence. Then, having tasted the power of killing and spurned its masters the creature, wielding a burning torch, goes on a rampage through the ghetto, killing, smashing and setting alight to everything in its path.

The apocalyptic climax to the film is a striking inversion of the fate of the monster, that had no right to life, in James Whale's masterpiece, 'Frankenstein' (1931). Instead of the thing being pursued by vengeful torch wielding villagers it bears the torch and uses fire to destroy them, house by house, in an explosion of righteous rage! Only later, when faced with the unthinking acceptance of a little girl, who knows no fear and innocently offers the thing a flower, does the monster calm down and lift her gently into its arms, with a look of bewilderment, before the child, doing what children do, reaches out in fascination for the shiny amulet and unwittingly sends the monster forever back into the darkness. It's one of the most memorably effective endings in horror cinema and was again strikingly reversed by Whale in the most infamous scene of his virtual homage to this iconic movie.

Seriously entertaining as melodrama and visually haunting, with its dream-like mis-en-scene and wonderfully atmospheric sets this is one of the most influential works of early cinema, irrespective of genre, and along with Robert Weine's 'The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari' (1919) and F.W. Murnau's 'Nosferatu' (1922) shows that it was Germany who gave horror cinema, virtually fully formed in all its familiar tropes, to the world. Great thought provoking stuff!!

That experience left me feeling "removed in time" and in a susceptible mood for the two weird as fuck surreal masterpieces that followed; Jodorowsky's 'El Topo' (1970) - bloody sensational movie!! - and Jan Švankmajer's seriously petrifying nightmare of deviant sex, 'Conspirators Of Pleasure' (1996). It was one night I won't forget in a hurry. Shudder...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.108
Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2014 - 07:16 pm:   

I've decided on these three for this weekend:

'The Sorcerers' (1967) by Michael Reeves - only ever saw this once before over 20 years ago and remember being hugely impressed and not a little shocked by the subject matter. It's an absolute classic of startling originality that features one of Boris Karloff's most memorable and unusual roles!

'Shock' (1977) by Mario Bava - this was the last film he completed before his untimely death and I know nothing about it. As ever, with Mario, I'm very excited to get seeing another one of his pictures for the first time!

'Snowtown' (2011) by Justin Kurzel - one I'm a bit nervous to watch going by its extreme reputation and the fact that it was based on a notorious true serial killer case from Australia. If it belongs in the same company as; 'Wolf Creek' (2005), 'Martyrs' (2008) or 'Mum And Dad' (2008) then it'll be worth stomaching.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 90.200.126.55
Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2014 - 10:28 pm:   

Speaking of golem movies, have you ever seen It! It starred Roddy McDowall as a Norman Bates-esque museum curator who finds one of his exhibits is a golem he can take control of. It's not a great movie by any standard, but McDowall is brilliant in it - in fact I only saw it because I was flicking through channels one day and his performance just hooked me.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.108
Posted on Friday, April 18, 2014 - 12:16 am:   

I have very happy memories of that film caught on telly one night when I was about twelve, David! McDowell was great in it and I remember being scared by the golem and by the skeletal dead mother. I've been hoping to see it again for many years. Don't they nuke the thing at the end and still it emerges unscathed from the mushroom cloud... or did I imagine that?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.44
Posted on Friday, April 18, 2014 - 03:51 pm:   

Here goes nothing:

'El Topo' (1970) written and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky - I remember seeing this film in a grainy and heavily cut version on telly many years ago and not being able to make head nor tail of it while being impressed to a certain extent by the set pieces and general weirdness of the thing. Having now watched - spellbound - the whole completely restored and gorgeously remastered epic on DVD it has jumped straight into my Top 10 movies of all time list!! I love it when that happens.

What is so impressive? Just about everything, imho. Before, in its savagely truncated form, the film came across as a bit of an incoherent but fascinating mess. As it was originally made Jodorowsky's notorious headfuck of a movie reveals itself as a work of captivating cinematic genius on a par with the best achievements of Sergio Leone, Stanley Kubrick, Jacques Tati, David Lynch or Terry Gilliam. Let me explain my reasoning for those people who may have gone apoplectic at that statement. This film is the work of a true auteur with a startlingly original vision and something passionately important to say whose mastery of cinematic technique and beautiful, painterly like, compositional sense and use of colour is stunningly assured. The whole monumental project, right down to the lovely music and unforgettable lead performance, is all Jodorowsky's work - and what an inspired, and inspirational, labour of love it is!

It's the perfect construction of the film, with it's perfectly balanced beginning, middle and end, and the hypnotically unpredictable flow of the beautifully shot action and imagery that really got to me this time. Unlike many wilfully surreal works of Art, that give us dream logic weirdness for weirdness sake, this fearlessly bizarre magnum opus demands one's attention and analysis and rewards mightily a serious engagement with its unique symbolism and age old philosophical/mystical message. But where the director's genius really comes into its own is in the sheer unforced naturalism and joyous, if demented, humour of his vision, for all the seriousness of purpose and originality on display. No po-faced load of posturing arthouse bollocks, this!! Imagine Ken Russell at the height of his directorial powers but with complete self control and clarity of vision and that's halfway close to what was achieved here. Throw in a hefty dose of Monty Python, at their most subversive, and you'd be even closer to the appeal of this fabulous motion picture. It entertains and grips the consciousness like no other film I can think of... some mad but purposeful amalgamation of what made films like; 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' (1966), 'Playtime' (1967), '2001 : A Space Odyssey' (1968) and 'The Meaning Of Life' (1983) so inexhaustibly great is the closest I can compare it to.

The story is an allegorical masterpiece in its own right! We open with the mysterious black garbed and bearded gunslinger, El Topo (played by Alejandro Jodorowsky himself), riding through the desert with his naked 7 year old son clasped to him. He stops and orders the boy to bury his favourite toy and a picture of his mother in the sand, as he needs to forget childish things from now on in order to survive. Riding on they come across a village, straight out of 'The Magnificent Seven' (1960), that has been utterly destroyed with every man, woman, child and animal lying strewn across the streets in a nightmarish tableau of unimaginable slaughter. Rivers of blood, mounds of entrails and piles of butchered bodies blast the senses as the two of them dispassionately search the town. Finding one horribly tortured dying man, as the only living thing, he tells them the massacre was the work of a notorious Colonel and his bandits before begging to be put out of his misery. El Topo then hands his pistol to the boy who shoots the man in the head. And we're off...

In discussing the brilliantly unravelled message of this film it is impossible to avoid spoilers throughout so anyone who hasn't seen it before, and wants to, better stop reading now.

The first third of the film is an almost straight homage to the epic spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone as man and boy track down the bandits and their fat slimy leader and exact a terrible revenge on each of them for their persecution of the innocent. Compare this unusual vigilante partnership with the brilliant 'Lone Wolf And Cub' series of Japanese exploitation epics that followed in the 70s - coincidence perhaps? These two appear out of the desert like terrible avenging angels and when asked by one terrified victim, "Who are you?", our stone faced hero proclaims, "I am God!" The violence in this beginning section of the film really is tough to take, even leavened by Jodorowsky's masterful integration of sick black humour, and includes slow motion bloody gunfights, familiar from Peckinpah's 'The Wild Bunch' (1969), along with graphic scenes of torture, mutilation, sexual humiliation, gang rape, the buggery of Franciscan monks, castration and animal cruelty that pre-empted the worst excesses of Ruggero Deodato by a good ten years!! He may be dealing out a form of righteous justice but, by god, this guy makes Clint's 'Man with No Name' look like a boy scout by comparison. Having gorily despatched the last of the baddies and saved a Franciscan Mission from annihilation El Topo is approached by a pretty young woman he had saved from rape and, for the first time, we get intimations of human weakness behind the indomitable exterior.

Move on to the middle third of the film which takes the form of a challenge and an epic metaphysical quest that shows the unconquerable superman anti-hero of myth gradually transformed into a real three dimensional human being. This process of learning humility in the face of the true reality that lies behind the world we see serves as the the heart and soul of the picture and reveals its creator as far more than a popular showman who knows the value of shocking an audience. Seduced by the woman, El Topo callously abandons his young son to the missionaries and rides off with her to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh and her adoration. After a time, though, reality intrudes when she mischievously starts to question his prowess as a man. Acting as Eve she tempts him to seek out the four fabled master gunfighters who are said to live across the great desert as he cannot consider himself the greatest of them all until he has faced and defeated each of them in turn. Foolishly El Topo rises to the bait and his fate is sealed.

The film had been horrific up till then but we now enter the realms of dark horror/fantasy for real as they embark on an increasingly surreal odyssey while followed by a dark-eyed demonic woman in black who appeared from nowhere and clearly represents the Devil. Faced with the first master - a blind man who shoots unerringly by instinct - our hero knows fear for the first time in his life and admits to himself and the woman that he cannot beat this man. She scorns him and so he goes ahead with the showdown, that he wins by trickery - having prepared a hidden pit that the blind man falls into up to his neck before being ruthlessly shot in the face! Feeling hubris, now that the invincible masters have been proved beatable, El Topo faces the next one, who appears a fat idle loafer, without cheating and has his gun shot from his hand. Sparing his life this master offers him friendly advice before returning his pistol and walking away, whereupon our erstwhile champion of the innocent shoots him in the back and claims victory! While this is going on the woman is being steamily seduced by the Devil and we realise damnation is almost complete.

The third master is a harmless looking breeder of rabbits but our man knows now not to judge by appearances and so goes into the duel with a metal plate secreted over his heart - in the film's most obvious reference to Leone's Dollars Trilogy - trusting to his opponent's accuracy while knowing him to be a faster draw. The trick works and, with grinning duplicity, another legendary gunfighter is left a bleeding corpse in the sand. Now thoroughly without morals El Topo tracks down the last master prepared to do whatever it takes to be crowned the greatest. He finds a skinny old man armed only with a butterfly net who refuses to fight him having discarded his pistol long ago. On attempting to execute the man anyway he is startled when the skipping geriatric cheerfully bats his bullet away with the net! Enraged at his inability to take the man's life he demands a "fair fight" but the wise old sage asks him what is so valuable about life anyway - he cares nothing for his own knowing it to be merely an illusion of individuality in an infinitely aware universe of all-interconnectedness - and to prove his point the last master takes El Topo's gun and shoots himself dead! Shocked into realisation of how low he has stooped and all that he has lost this humbled charlatan of a hero figure returns to the woman wracked with remorse and grief only to find her hand-in-hand with the beautiful black clad Devil who draws a golden pistol and, laughing demonically, guns him down in a slow motion welter of Peckinpahesque bloody explosions!!

The hero is dead and we're only two thirds through the film! This is where things get really weird. I remember nothing about what follows from my previous watching of the film and, viewed now in complete form, I see the final segment as one of the most gloriously emotional and devastating satirical pieces in the history of cinema. The culmination of Jodorowsky's epic vision and the spiritual journey of his questing protagonist, as well as the stunned viewer's experience, is one of the most uplifting, barbaric, hilarious and deeply moving things I have ever watched. El Topo's shredded corpse is found by a roving group of diseased real life "freaks" - as visually disturbing as any of the "performers" in Tod Browning's horror masterpiece, 'Freaks' (1932) - who drag it to their subterranean home in a vast system of caverns within a huge mountain. These creatures have lived there for countless generations, their deformities being the result of inevitable long term incest. With the ministrations of an old matriarchal witch and her reality altering potions - i.e. psychotropic drugs - the riddled body is patched up and brought back to life as a guileless zombie who accepts existence underground and grows attached to a cute little dwarf woman who dotes on him. They fall in love, are married in a bizarre ceremony and she soon falls pregnant. We seem destined for a kind of nightmarishly happy ending. No such luck...

Again, the material world intrudes when undead husband and miniature wife, being two of the fittest of the community, volunteer to go out into the world to replenish the dwindling supply of food. Disguising themselves as travelling clowns they approach the nearest city - a haven of horror ruled over by criminally corrupt officials and their hideously ugly bourgeois wives - where they attempt to scrounge a living by performing charmingly funny slapstick routines on the street for money. These sequences are imbued with a sweetness and poignancy completely at odds with the brutality in the rest of the movie and hit home with a natural grace and profundity that I found extremely affecting. While they clown for the children we see the city menfolk whipping and branding their slave labourers while the repulsive wives paw all over their male servants and accuse them of having lascivious thoughts for which they must be punished. There is a harrowing and yet blackly hilarious scene in which one poor negro is gang raped by a horde of fat slobbering white women, then accused of accosting them before the affronted husbands drag him out and lynch him in the street. Cut to sickeningly hypocritical scenes of churchgoing and town fetes. You get the picture.

Right about then, who should ride into town but a young Franciscan monk, eager to spread the good word of The Lord and teach these people the error of their ways. Years have passed and the man is actually the long forgotten abandoned son of our hero - remember him!! Joining the church he finds himself sickened by the pastor's acceptance of the status quo and attempts to change things by intervening on the side of the slaves but he is renounced by the town and violence ensues. The young man then gives up his faith and reverts to type transforming himself into... a mysterious black garbed gunslinger out for revenge against the persecutors of the innocent. You can guess what's coming and the final emotionally devastating reunion between father and son, when they meet by chance and realise who they are, is brilliantly done and intensely gripping. The boy now grown has never forgiven his father for leaving him behind and swears that once his work in the town is done the two of them will fight a duel. Dad says he will refuse to fight and the son vows to have his revenge come what may!

Inevitably El Topo is dragged back into confrontation with the material world by loyalty to his son and, having drawn the wrath of the townsfolk, brings slaughter of the innocent down upon his new family of misshapen outcasts back in the caves. The film ends with him as a howling zombie warrior, his body impervious to pain, taking up the gun again and slaughtering every sick bastard in the town in an apocalyptically bloody crescendo of righteous violence that has to be seen to be believed!!

Isn't this where we came in? Not quite... there is a coda in which we say farewell to the man we've travelled so far with, and the tragic situation with his son is resolved, that I found as intensely moving as it was shockingly final. What a fecking masterpiece!!!!

Right now I'd rank it about No. 7 or 8 in my list of greatest films I've ever seen. If you want spectacle, originality, meaning, horror, humour, tragedy, excitement, beauty, charm, insanity and your head messed with on the most epic scale imaginable then watch this absolutely tremendous motion picture. Nothing else ever made is even remotely like it.

Phew...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.232.44
Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2014 - 11:55 am:   

'Conspirators Of Pleasure' (1996) written and directed by Jan Švankmajer - I'm sat here trying to put words to this film and it isn't easy. As always I'll just say what it was about and what I thought of it. This was Jan's third full length feature and shows all the painstaking perfectionism of any of his films while being the most devoid of narrative and closest to the stream of consciousness image mongering of his short works. His first two features were outlandishly skewed and disturbing adaptations of other's works. 'Alice' (1988) subverted Lewis Carroll's playful surrealism into the stuff of childhood nightmares while 'Faust' (1994) turned Marlowe & Goethe's existential fable into a modern day satanic horror story of terrifying power. Everything here, however, came entirely from the imagination of Švankmajer himself and the subject is forbidden sex in all its myriad forms. The film takes us on a pointedly Freudian exploration of the secret desires, private kinks and unspoken urges that haunt every one of us. It may be the most shockingly pornographic film not to actually feature any real sex or graphic nudity. Everything here is unashamedly symbolic - often hilariously so - but the mad genius's inspired juxtaposition of stark imagery, amplified sound, contrasting colours and textures, live action and stop motion animation comes together in a shocking display of taboo imagery that burrows its way relentlessly into the psyche of the viewer and leaves one feeling indescribably shaken. What is even more remarkable is that this is a Tatiesque "silent movie" with sound but absolutely no dialogue. And one could watch the whole thing without ever being conscious of the fact!

There are characters - six of them - and the bare bones of a story but they are merely ciphers for the director's psychological polemic against the psychic harm done by society's strait-jacketing abhorrence of sexual freedom. Aleister Crowley would have loved this film for his "Do what thou wilt!" edict is writ large all over it. The first thing we see is a symbol that also, coincidentally, featured large in Jodorowsky's epic - the old eye in the pyramid surrounded by a snake eating its own tail (the very thing that was being graphically branded into the skin of those slaves). Only in this case the pyramid is a whiskey still, again highlighting both the seriousness of purpose and the mischievous black humour of the work. We are then introduced to two ordinary plebs who live alone in apartments across the hall from each other, without ever verbally communicating, yet we know from their furtive glances when passing that they secretly lust after each other. There is shy mild mannered Mr Pivonka, who keeps a black cockerel in his closet, and his imposingly buxom all woman neighbour, Mrs Loubalová, with her errant pussy, that we see licking the blood from carelessly discarded menstrual pads.

Then we meet Mr Kula, the sleazy local newsagent and purveyor of pornography to Pivonka, that does nothing for him as he is too busy wanking over the pretty newsreader on the telly, Beltinska, who has trouble controlling her onscreen orgasms while having her toes sucked under the desk by two huge carp in a tin bath of water! On following her home we discover she is unhappily married to the local hard nosed police captain, Beltinsky, whose secret fetish is to lock himself in the garden shed and writhe naked upon a stitched together collection of everyday objects, pilfered from strangers in the course of his work, that he has covered in contrasting hard and soft, smooth and sharp textures. We watch, half disgusted and half amused, as these home-made sex toys spring to life and caress his body the more frenzied his pleasure becomes. I never thought I'd live to see a man sexually serviced by an animated rolling pin covered in drawing pins but it happens here!! Yet worse is to come...

The final character is the local post woman, Malková, who delivers each of the character's mail with a knowing smirk and conspiratorially raised eyebrow - what the hell is going on in this town, we think - and who breaks into a fevered sweat every time she passes a bakery or catches sight of someone eating a sandwich! Yes, this woman gets off on bread behind closed doors. We witness her shiftily smuggling a huge crusty loaf home and taking it to her bedroom where she breaks it into pieces and rolls them into perfect little balls before inserting the whole lot into every orifice, bar her mouth, and collapsing on the bed in a state of private ecstasy. Meanwhile Mr Kula, frustrated with his own ministrations, has taken up electronics as a hobby, and eagerly awaits her delivery of each new packaged component that he assembles in his room above the shop into a huge many armed robot with a television for its head and videotaped close-ups of Beltinska breathily reading the news as its adored "face". Watching the clock with his remote primed and ready this horrible little man awaits the live 6 o'clock news with inhuman impatience and, yes, you guessed it, sex between man and horribly animated machine ensues in a scene that outdoes anything in Cronenberg's 'Videodrome' (1983) and had me not knowing whether to laugh out loud or squirm in embarrassed discomfort. Unknown to Kula, at the moment he comes all over his hideous invention, his imaginary lover is also climaxing onscreen to those horribly sucking carp... how's that for multi-layered voyeurism ffs?!?! Hitchcock never imagined filmmaking like this!!!!

All these insane antics are ingeniously intercut with each other throughout the film while we follow the main story of the secret affair between Pivonka and Loubalová. Each scene, or Pythonesque sketch, flows naturally into the next by the innocuous encounter of one character with another, and the quickly exchanged meaningful glances, half nods and lascivious grins that pass between them grow ever more disturbing as we wonder what the hell is going to be unleashed on us next. We realise there is a conspiracy of silence going on here and where it may ultimately lead is as profoundly disturbing as it is hypnotically fascinating. Make no mistake, this is great filmmaking!

The meat of the film, and its most nightmarish imagery, involves the unspoken frustrated love between the two leads. They steal clothes from each other and each constructs a horrible life-sized effigy, stuffed with straw, that they take, unbeknownst to each other, to a secret location and... do things to. Horrible, filthy things they could never dream of enacting on the real person. The man is transformed into a ridiculous yet indescribably unsettling cock-headed, bat winged monstrosity that performs an absurd courtship dance, while the restrained effigy comes to struggling life. And across town at the same time the real woman emerges from a wardrobe a masked whip-cracking dominatrix she-devil who proceeds to strip, humiliate and mercilessly flay the chained male effigy that reacts with screaming agony and all too obvious sexual arousal. We're talking the most disturbing use of stop motion animation I have ever watched. Those awful abused figures fighting to escape their tormentors haunt me yet. Both animated effigies end up reduced to bloody, yes bloody, pulps from the demented sexual attentions and unbridled savagery of their "lovers", at last divested of all need for decency or self control. It really is powerful stuff that had me clenching my teeth, gripping my knees and squinting in horrified fascination as it unfolded.

The final scene, when Pivonka returns home, sated, and finds that an awful fate has befallen the object of his unspeakable lust, and realises what awaits him in his apartment, is a horror tour-de-force that closes the film with a pair of opening closet doors and something about to emerge... before we mercifully fade to black and I staggered off to bed, heart thumping, to a night of tossing, turning, and truly indescribable dreams. I felt so disturbed and strangely energised in the days that followed that I couldn't stop thinking about the film and trying to come up with some sort of explanation or closure.

This is my reading of the film and of Švankmajer's uncompromising vision. Human beings are governed by two opposite but equal forces, the pleasure principle and the reality principle, so said Freud, and I completely agree with him. If either principle outweighs the other then sickness of the psyche is the inevitable result. At one extreme the hedonistic psychopath is entirely ruled by the pleasure principle. At the other the rigid conservative layer down of the Law bows only to the reality principle. For the individual to know true happiness, fulfilment and harmony with the universe they have to attain a perfect balance between what gives them pleasure and what their body requires to survive. Mind and flesh must compliment each other instead of battling for mastery of the soul. The conspirators in this film realised this and each, in their own way, attempted to reach Nirvana while obeying the laws of the jungle. The unspoken (or voiceless) cooperation and refusal to judge that went on between the six is a vision of how to attain personal balance while living in a repressive regime. It was only when their deviance from the norm became known to the State, as represented here by the police, the civil service and the media, that their world came crashing down in that terrifying ending (watch the film). The final message is that Society and its demand for Conformity is the enemy of the pleasure principle and creates terrible imbalance and sickness among all those who exist within its constraints. This sickness transforms pleasure into criminality and ultimate self-destructive violence. Having been brought up an Irish Catholic I know all too well the truth of this tragic equation. We need Laws to cope with reality but we equally need Freedom to cope with pleasure.

I'm not surprised Frank Zappa was such an underground hero in Cezhoslovakia under the Communist regime. I wonder did he ever get to meet Jan Švankmajer? If ever there were two soul brothers it was those guys. And Václav Havel agreed. Nuff said.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 90.200.126.55
Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2014 - 04:34 pm:   

Yeah, they tried to nuke the thing at the end, then it just walks into the sea. I like to think it's still down there, covered in barnacles and seaweed, waiting for a sequel.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.6
Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2014 - 10:48 pm:   

Drat! It's only available at a ridiculous price in a 2-for-1 package with 'The Shuttered Room'. I'd love to see it again.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 2.120.64.141
Posted on Sunday, April 20, 2014 - 01:53 am:   

I saw it on The Horror Channel but I just checked their website and, while it has an entry for it, it states it's not currently being shown :-(

It looks like they're showing classic Doctor Who episodes on weekdays now, though. I have a feeling my Sky box is going to start filling up.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.6
Posted on Sunday, April 20, 2014 - 02:34 am:   

I kind of remember 'It!' (1966) being played for macabre laughs and that Roddy McDowall was endearingly demented in it. Is that how it came across to you David?

I've been planning triple bills here on the computer lol. Got 16 devised so far. The themes are; werewolf movies, monster women, weird alien invasions, undead siege movies, haunted houses, giant monsters, twisty psychological thrillers, losing touch with reality films, man monsters on the rampage, moral dilemma horrors, macabre mysteries best left alone, weird monster mash-up, surreal headfucks, mutation of nature movies, weird independent oddities and sci-fi horror mash-up. It's one way of passing the time!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.207
Posted on Monday, April 21, 2014 - 01:45 pm:   

Decided on something light and enjoyable for Easter Monday. A weird monster mash up triple bill of films I've always been aware of but haven't seen before:

'The Wasp Woman' (1959) by Roger Corman - yep, a woman who turns into a queen wasp by night, apparently. No doubt it was inspired by the success of 'The Fly' (1958). I do enjoy these early Corman quickies.

'Troll' (1986) by John Carl Buechler - fairy-tale monster causes mayhem in modern apartment building, apparently. It stars Michael Moriarty and one of my dream women, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, long before 'Seinfeld' made her immortal.

'Reeker' (2005) by Dave Payne - smelly abomination makes mincemeat of motel guests, apparently. Heard good things about this one and long been keen to see it. There are too few original monster movies made these days.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.207
Posted on Monday, April 21, 2014 - 02:14 pm:   

Have to say I've been haunted and disturbed ever since watching the exceptional serial killer movie, 'Snowtown' (2011), on Saturday night. It wasn't at all what I expected. One of the subtlest and most unsettling dramatisations of a true crime story I have ever seen that really got under my skin. Almost all the horror, bar one necessarily devastating scene, was achieved by suggestion and was all the more effective for it. It's as different from 'Wolf Creek' (2005) as one could possibly imagine. A true crime masterpiece comparable to 'Zodiac' (2007) but with a much more personal and emotionally powerful approach to the story. Genius!! Justin Kurzel is going to be one to watch, people.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 176.252.183.3
Posted on Monday, April 21, 2014 - 07:33 pm:   

Yeah, that's pretty much my take on It! too.

I saw Reeker when it first came out and recall it being pretty enjoyable. Definitely more fun than a lot of horror movies that came out around the same time. There's a sequel/prequel too which wasn't bad either, though the only thing I really remember about it was an entertaining subversion of the creepy hitchhiker trope.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.162
Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 - 05:12 am:   

**** BEWARE OF UNAVOIDABLE SPOILERS ****

'Horror Hotel' (1960) directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and written by George Baxt - What a great year for horror cinema 1960 was. Second only to 1973, imho. Among such timeless game changers as; 'Psycho', 'Peeping Tom', 'Mask Of The Demon', et al, I now have to include this sensationally effective and still damn scary mini-masterpiece of pure Lovecraftian terror! To think I wasn't even aware of its existence up until a few years ago is mind-boggling and just a little exciting given its excellence. What other forgotten gems exist in cinema's murkier vaults that I have yet to unearth?!

Arguably my favourite sub-genre in horror is the oft-told tale of the stranger who unwittingly stumbles into some small town, or other community, that appears quaint and charming on the outside but that hides a slowly revealed terrifying secret behind the surreptitious grins of its harmless looking inhabitants. The poor interloper almost never leaves. In literary form H.P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" (1936) is the most perfect example that has ever been written. Well, this film is the closest anyone, in my experience, ever came to capturing the terror, mystery, excitement and sheer atmosphere of that great novella!! It's not an adaptation and features no hideous abominations from the deep but the influence and flavour of Lovecraft is all over the movie and the quality of weirdness that makes his tales so gripping has been captured to perfection.

Released barely a month after 'Psycho' hit the cinemas this movie also bears many startling and obviously coincidental similarities to that famous shocker. Something must have been in the air that year. The whole first third of the film involves a pretty young blonde heroine driving alone who stops at a spooky old hotel in the middle of nowhere and meets a shockingly unexpected and bloody fate just when we'd grown to like her as the central protagonist of the story. The rest of the action concerns the investigations of her friends and family as they attempt to retrace her last known steps and risk running foul of the same ghastly fate that we viewers are still reeling from. In its own unassuming way this low budget independent British production, in its attempts to emulate the success of Hammer, is just as effective a frightener as Hitchcock's masterpiece. Yes, you read that right!!

Set in New England this tells of an eager young student of folklore (Venetia Stevenson), at what could well be Miskatonic University, being sent on a fact finding trip to the backwoods town of Whitewood by her imposingly serious tutor (Christopher Lee), where he tells her she will find all the material she needs for her upcoming paper on local witchcraft. Once there she is struck by the town's antiquated appearance, like a place stuck in time, and books into the only hotel there is, run by the marvellous partnership of Patricia Jessel and Valentine Dyall, who make one of the most memorably sinister couples in horror cinema. They turn out to be; the reincarnation of a notorious witch burnt at the stake in the 17th Century, Elizabeth Selwyn, and her lover, Jethro Keane, who hold the town under a terrible curse and have our poor naive heroine intended as their annual human sacrifice on the night of Candlemass, that very night, when their entire coven of thirteen, of course including the duplicitous Lee, meet to worship their lord, Lucifer, in a Black Mass.

The poor girl never leaves Whitewood and is soon followed there by her concerned brother (Dennis Lotis) and her college boyfriend (Tom Naylor) who team up with a pretty local librarian (Betta St John) and her blind grandfather, the much harried vicar of Whitewood (Norman Macowan), as they uncover the terrible truth and attempt to put an end to the satanic evil that has held the town in its thrall for over 300 years.

With a plot like that the film would have had to be hamfisted indeed not to be at least entertaining but everything came together so right - from George Baxt's wonderfully tight script and Moxey's inspired handling of it to the committed performances of an ace cast and the sublimely eerie mist swathed sets and chiaroscuro cinematography - that the result is a well nigh perfect old school horror picture that has rarely been equalled for shock impact and entertainment value. This is one of the most gloriously effective horror films of its era and it hasn't dated a day in its power to chill and grip the viewer. I'd rank it as possibly the most important "find" of my adult horror film watching life. Yes, every bit that good!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.162
Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 - 03:48 pm:   

Anyone else here seen 'Horror Hotel' aka 'The City Of The Dead' (1960)? It's a stone cold Lovecraftian horror classic I was really impressed and surprised by. I won it as a spot prize at a Halloween horror quiz a while ago and heard it was good but never expected it to be quite that good!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.162
Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2014 - 06:31 am:   

'Matador' (1986) directed by Pedro Almodóvar and written by Pedro Almodóvar & Jesús Ferrero - Opening with a character vigorously masturbating to a gory death sequence in an Italian horror movie - I checked and it was Mario Bava's 'Blood And Black Lace' (1964) - Almodóvar immediately puts us in no doubt of his influences and his subversive intentions in this brilliant homage to and deconstruction of the classic giallo genre. I would compare this film to the very best achievements of Brian De Palma in its directorial flamboyance, sumptuous sense of style and the way it successfully plays games with our expectations and has great fun upsetting the conventions of the familiar psychosexual thriller, while still having something penetrating to say about the seismic social upheavals Spain was experiencing at that time, along with most other Catholic dominated countries in the modern world - Ireland in particular.

This tells the bizarre story of a famous former matador, Diego (Nacho Martínez), who had to give up his great passion for the "perfect kill" after being gored by a bull and left a cripple (deservedly so, imo). It was he we saw jerking off to Bava's beautifully choreographed violence. Still revered as a local hero and coaching hopeful young wannabes in the "art" of the bullfight this typically macho Spaniard hides a secret shame at no longer being able to perform sexually with women... unless he takes their lives by strangulation at the point of orgasm. Compare with Hitchcock's 'Frenzy' (1972) and both killers appear cocky and popular men of the world whom no one would suspect of having such homicidal hang-ups. At the same time there have been a number of murders of local men during sex by a beautiful mystery woman (Assumpta Serna) who deals death with a wicked silver hair-pin at the precise moment her casual pick-ups come inside her. Again, compare with Paul Verhoeven's 'Basic Instinct' (1992) and no one would ever suspect such a sexually confident goddess of needing to kill in order to climax. Of course it is inevitable that these two outwardly fashionable but inwardly twisted individuals should meet and fall hopelessly in love. But how to consummate their rather delicate relationship? Thereby hangs the tale and if it sounds like a far-fetched romantic black comedy that's precisely because it is - deliriously so - but filmed in the style of an Italian horror auteur.

Into this mix is thrust one of the student matadors, Ángel (played by a frighteningly young Antonio Banderas), who idolises his hero and wants to become a bullfighter to prove his masculinity to his mates and his overbearing Catholic mother, who all casually assume he must be gay as he has never been with a woman, due to crippling shyness. On asking his mentor's advice the killer tells him to treat women rough as "that's what they really admire" and on telling him of a beautiful neighbour he has long fancied from afar he is advised to "just take her". There follows a tense sequence in which the young man spies upon, stalks and attempts to rape the girl, Eva (Eva Cobo), at knifepoint but hilariously, in the end, makes a complete bollocks of it as she proves a bit too much for him and he is left a crumpled wreck in the rain. The attack, however, brings him to the attention of the police detective (Eusebio Poncela) who is investigating Diego's murders and, in a ridiculous attempt to shock his mother into believing him a "real man", the young idiot confesses that he is the killer. He is duly locked up for psychiatric assessment under the care of a pretty female doctor (Carmen Maura) who finds herself falling for him out of a mothering sense of pity. Meanwhile Diego is getting intimate with his intended victim, Eva, and who should turn out to be Ángel's defence lawyer but the beautiful serial killer of men, María! And that's only the set-up of the film!!

How these characters all interact while both murder investigations unravel and the tension is cranked to the max, with Eva falling in love with Diego and becoming an unwitting pawn in the deadly duo's plans to attain the "perfect mutual orgasm", while stitching Ángel up for both their murders, thus making him appear a bisexual homicidal maniac and sending his poor Holy Joe mother into convulsions, gives Almodóvar all the ammunition he needs to have glorious fun. The head-swivelling twists come thick and fast and the balance between horror, steamy eroticism and very funny black comedy, mostly at the expense of the Catholic Church and the psychiatric community, is perfectly judged throughout. Imagine the style and set pieces of De Palma coupled with the wit and characterisation of Woody Allen and the un-PC sexual frankness that one only finds in Spain and you'll have some idea of the pleasures this mad piece of genre bending provides. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would call it a unique addition to horror cinema from a gleefully mischievous perspective. I got all the same enjoyment from the director's other recent horror pic, 'The Skin I Live In' (2011), and would love to see him do more work in this vein. He is one of the great visionary film makers of the modern era and impossibly entertaining with it... for those who can take his fearlessly sick sense of humour.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.162
Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2014 - 02:34 pm:   

And another great bill ended with:

'One Missed Call' (2003) directed by Takashi Miike and written by Minako Daira - There is only one thing wrong with this marvellous horror movie and that is the inevitable comparisons it all too obviously invites with Hideo Nakata's 'Ringu' (1998) and Takashi Shimizu's 'Ju-On : The Grudge' (2002) - both of which are marginally better films, if only for having been first. All the directorial brilliance I have come to expect of Miike is here in spades but what is lacking is his usual originality of vision. If this is him doing a by-the-numbers commercial project for filthy lucre, then give me more, please!

Taking the prediction of unavoidable death theme from 'Ringu' - apparently long a traditional theme in Japan anyway - and the mindlessly malignant time hopping ghost with long black hair from 'Ju-On' - ditto - this is another finely crafted and genuinely scary supernatural horror yarn involving modern technology as a portal through which evil forces invade the lives of innocent ordinary people. That's what makes these films so cruel. It is always the innocent who suffer and never the guilty. It is a curiously Japanese approach to the ghost story in which violent death begets not revenge from beyond the grave but a blind malignity that just wants to harm the living irrespective of whether they deserve it or not.

The central idea is genius and much cleverer than the haunted videotape that must merely be watched. A young girl receives a "one missed call" message on her mobile phone and checks her answer phone only to hear her own voice speaking followed by a terrible scream and silence. On checking the details of the call it was impossibly made from her own phone at a time three days in the future. Thinking it a stupid prank she puts it out of her mind until, at the precise time the call was supposedly made, she meets a horrible bloody death at the hands of someone or something unknown. Then her circle of friends one-by-one begin to receive similar "one missed call" messages...

The story concentrates on the first victim's best friend, Yumi (Kou Shibasaki), as she helplessly watches her circle of contacts each succumb to the curse, despite all attempts to protect them, until she, inevitably, receives her own missed call. So far all so familiar and suitably entertaining without pushing any of the boundaries that we've come to expect from this director. Comparisons could even be made to the 'Final Destination' franchise (2000-11). But after setting things up Miike then takes the enjoyably far-fetched concept all the way to the ultimate conclusion that such films only hinted at. He pushes his characters to every length imaginable in their attempts to cheat death and, as a last desperate resort, makes the curse public by bringing it to the baying attention of the media and having the latest victim be presented on a Jeremy Kyle type live TV show with a panel of experts on the paranormal and an exorcist on hand at the exact moment death is due to strike!

Thus an intimately nightmarish but predictable horror story is cleverly expanded into subversive black comedy with a real edge. The eager public watch huge screens set up on the streets while crunching popcorn as a timer counts down to zero in the corner and the camera closes in on our hapless victim as we all hold our breaths waiting for the fun to begin. How this plays out is a satirical tour-de-force done with a completely straight face that I found remarkably effective. Clever, damn frightening and obscenely funny all at the same time - it reminded me somewhat of the BBC's 'Ghostwatch' (1992) - the sequence could only have been the work of one man and leads into a final reel that is one of the best sustained passages of horror cinema of recent years with a truly brilliant twist, that reverses the entire meaning of the film, and culminates in one of the most memorably gruesome "rising from the dead" sequences I can recall, as the evil is traced to its source. I swear I could almost smell the putrefaction in the sensationally effective climactic scenes. It may be a minor Miike but it's still one hell of a great horror movie, imho. I wonder how the US remake compares but I have no intention of finding out.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.162
Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2014 - 04:08 pm:   

About to watch a triple bill of classy thrillers in each of which a naive innocent investigates a macabre mystery that would have been best left well alone:

'Rebecca' (1940) by Alfred Hitchcock - seen it a few times before and I'm in the mood to wallow again. Ridiculously this was Hitch's only Oscar winning movie!! Says it all really...

'Blue Velvet' (1986) by David Lynch - first viewing in some fifteen years and third overall. It's a weird kind of noir anti-thriller that I really wasn't impressed with the first time I saw it but that grew insidiously in my subconscious to become one of my all time favourites.

'The Skeleton Key' (2005) by Iain Softley - saw it in the cinema at the time and thought it was one of the very best horror films of the era and it remains bafflingly underrated, imo. What appears a modest little mystery grows into a tale of pure Lovecraftian terror.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.131
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 02:58 pm:   

Yes!!!! I finally picked up copies of Dario Argento's 'Four Flies On Grey Velvet' (1972) and 'Inferno' (1980) yesterday! This means I can start my long awaited complete chrono watch of everything he directed, including the TV stuff.

Only need to add 'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1998), 'Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) and 'Dracula' (2012) to complete the collection.
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Lincoln (Lincoln_brown)
Username: Lincoln_brown

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 101.119.14.82
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 05:12 pm:   

Agree with you re. 'Blue Velvet', but 'The Skeleton Key' is a real stinker in my opinion, with the usual poor performance from Kate Hudson.
'Horror Hotel' sounds interesting, is it readily available on dvd?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.131
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 06:18 pm:   

I really enjoyed 'The Skeleton Key' as an old fashioned breath of fresh air at the time, Lincoln.

Yes, I have 'Horror Hotel' on one of those 3-for-1 DVDs. A real forgotten classic, imho. It's also known as 'The City Of The Dead'.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.131
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 09:16 pm:   

Having fun here trying to decide on a suitable old and recent horror film to complement 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage' (1969) in my next triple bill. That'll be me started on a long held ambition that the purchase of 'Four Flies' and 'Door Into Darkness' (both of which will be new to me) has finally made possible.
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 176.253.75.25
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 11:40 pm:   

I remember liking The Skeleton Key when I saw it at the cinema, I've not rewatched it since. I vividly remember the scene where you find out what happened to the children - that was truly horrifying.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.131
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 11:46 pm:   

I'm never wrong, David.

'The Skeleton Key' got overlooked at the time in the slew of action oriented horror movies coming out of America. It is an unfairly neglected Lovecraftian classic, imho. Just look at the actors who accepted the script. They were dead right.

At last! A bit of proper debate with intelligent horror fans!!
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Monday, April 28, 2014 - 03:39 am:   

Four Flies on Gray Velvet is fun to watch for being of the golden era of giallo, maybe; sadly, otherwise, it's not very good. Do You Like Hitchcock? has some great visuals and wonderful potential... sadly, all gone to terrible waste. Sorry to disappoint, Stevie.

Oh, I wholly agree, The Skeleton Key is a superb horror film! It had the same screenwriter, Ehren Kruger, as its perfect companion piece: Arlington Road (1999). The stories, you realize, when you've finished watching both, may be of different genres (Arlington Road is paranoid-suspense), but they're quite similar: would make a great double bill, in fact. Kruger went on to script much bigger films (the American The Ring, those Transformer films, developing King's The Talisman for TV, etc.); but these two were probably his best. In fact, his original spec script for Arlington Road won the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship contest—that win literally launched his career, and brought him into Hollywood. The film reveals why he deserved it.
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Lincoln (Lincoln_brown)
Username: Lincoln_brown

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 101.119.15.82
Posted on Monday, April 28, 2014 - 12:44 pm:   

'Arlington Road' is excellent, must rewatch it soon.
Craig, would a film like that be made today, in Hollywood, post 9/11?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.152
Posted on Monday, April 28, 2014 - 12:50 pm:   

I never realised that, Craig. Thanks for the info. 'Arlington Road' (1999) was one of my favourite films of the 90s! An absolutely fantastic thriller that I would say qualifies very much as a horror film. I have the DVD and have long planned to watch it back to back with 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1962) and 'The Parallax View' (1974). Again, both horror films, imo. Have you ever seen 'Defence Of The Realm' (1985) or 'Hidden Agenda' (1990)? Then, of course, there's Polanski's sensational thriller 'The Ghost' (2010)! Any more?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.152
Posted on Monday, April 28, 2014 - 01:11 pm:   

I'll make my own mind up about the Argentos I haven't seen, Craig, and have a ball doing it. I thought 'Cat O' Nine Tails' (1971) was a brilliant film and it too generally gets panned by the critics. I remember watching it one Saturday night on telly with my Mum & Dad and vividly recall how impressed even they were! Argento is a supreme stylist and right from the beginning his films rarely made sense. Any of them could be torn to shreds if taken at face value. For me they work as surreal flights of the imagination made by a true visionary. I've loved everything I've seen by the man.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Monday, April 28, 2014 - 05:10 pm:   

I've not seen Defense of the Realm nor Hidden Agenda; but I love this niche genre, so I'll check them out. The Ghost was superb! Another good one you may want to check out, Stevie, is The Headless Woman (La mujer sin cabeza) (2008), Argentinian film—very subtle horror going on in that quiet but paranoid thriller.

I just don't want you to set your expectations too high, Stevie. Argento made some films that are so good, that it would be hard to continually rise to that level. But then, there's films of his like The Card Player (2004)... so bad, you want to tear your own eyes out....
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.84
Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2014 - 02:14 pm:   

I thought this would be the perfect way to start my Argento chrono watch:

'Stage Fright' (1950) by Alfred Hitchcock - I caught this once before on telly many years ago and remember it as one of the great man's cleverest and most unsettling psycho thrillers with a literally killer twist. Can't wait to see it again.

'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1969) by Dario Argento - one of the most sensationally assured directorial debuts in horror cinema history. This will be my third time of watching and first in a good 10 years when I saw it on the big screen.

'Thirst' (2009) by Park Chan-Wook - I consider him perhaps the most successfully Hitchcockian of all current directors and have been bowled over by anything else I've seen of his. Very intrigued by this one as it's based on one of my favourite 19th Century gothic horror novels, 'Thérèse Raquin' (1867).
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2014 - 07:51 pm:   

Gone a bit mad on the old horror DVD front this last few weeks. What follows is, I believe, a fairly representative and fun mixture of outright classics, interesting obscurities and hokey nonsense that should keep me occupied for quite a while to come. Picked up all these dirt cheap:

'The Mummy's Ghost' (1944) by Reginald Le Borg - starring Lon Chaney Jnr as Kharis. I know it only from stills. As a kid the Mummy was the Universal monster that scared me most. It was the slow, relentless, indestructible implacability of the thing.

'The Mummy's Curse' (1944) by Leslie Goodwins - as above, I've never seen it before, and that completes the Universal Mummy series so a first chrono watch is now possible. I'm only familiar with 'The Mummy' (1932) and 'The Mummy's Hand' (1940), so really looking forward to it.

'Stage Fright' (1950) by Alfred Hitchcock - just watched it again and I consider it one of his most underrated and entertaining psycho thrillers. It made the perfect accompaniment to Argento's 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage' (1969).

'Bloodlust' (1959) by Ralph Brooke - curious to see this apparently quite decent version of Richard Connell's famous short story, "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924), of which the best of many film versions was the 1932 adaptation. It's one of my favourite horror themes.

'Carnival Of Crime' (1962) by George Cahan - macabre "wrong man" murder thriller set in Rio de Janeiro. Other than that I know nothing.

'Escape From Hell Island' (1963) by Mark Stevens - three people on a boat and one of them's a psychotic killer. May bear comparison to 'Knife In The Water' (1962) or 'Dead Calm' (1989)... then again, it may not.

'The Creeping Terror' (1964) by Vic Savage - small town menaced by shambling alien monstrosity. Another of those cult classic sci-fi/horrors that vies for the title of "worst film ever made", apparently. I've even heard it whispered this movie outdoes 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' (1959). I can't wait!!

'The Babysitter' (1969) by Don Henderson - happily married father of kids has an unfortunate dalliance with the teenage babysitter and regrets it. Wasn't it remade?

'A Hatchet For The Honeymoon' (1970) by Mario Bava - another first viewing to get excited about! I know absolutely nothing about it!! Sounds like a giallo but you never can tell with Bava.

'The Abominable Dr Phibes' (1971) by Robert Fuest - only seen it once before about 20 years ago. Up there with; 'House Of Wax' (1953), 'The Witchfinder General' (1968) and 'Theatre Of Blood' (1973) as one of Vincent Price's greatest non-Poe horrors.

'See No Evil' (1971) by Richard Fleischer - again, seen it once before many years ago, and remember it as a seriously tense and frightening "blind girl in peril" psycho thriller, with a wonderful performance by Mia Farrow, at her most heart-achingly vulnerable. It was scripted by the one and only Brian Clemens and has all the strengths of any of his greatest Thrillers.

'Dr Phibes Rises Again' (1972) by Robert Fuest - Vincent Price hams it up again to deliriously bonkers effect in this marginally less effective but still quality sequel. Also features Robert Quarry - Count Yorga, himself - as a memorable adversary for the "good" Doctor.

'Four Flies On Grey Velvet' (1972) by Dario Argento - I have waited impatiently all my adult life to finally own a copy of this "lost masterpiece" by my favourite horror director. Now that I have it I've just started my first ever chrono watch of the complete works of the great man, with 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage' (1969).

'The Satanic Rites Of Dracula' (1973) by Alan Gibson - finally tracked down a copy on DVD. That only leaves me needing the original 'Dracula' (1958) to have the whole Hammer series. The only other of their non-Drac vampire movies I still need are 'Kiss Of The Vampire' (1963) [I don't believe I've ever seen it] and 'Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter' (1974).

'Horror High' (1974) by Larry N. Stouffer - sounds like a horror comedy spin on the old Jekyll & Hyde theme with the high school science nerd being transformed into a crazed killer who takes horrible revenge on all those who bullied him. Should be good fun.

'The Teacher' (1974) by Howard Avedis - more high school mayhem, this time involving a psychotic female teacher who, I believe, does terrible things to her students. Wasn't this remade as well?

'The Devil's Men' (1976) by Kostas Karagiannis - despite its notoriously schlocky reputation I can't wait to see this pairing of Donald Pleasence & Peter Cushing who both, I have it on good authority, give their all in this lurid tale of a secret satanic cult preying on tourists on an idyllic Greek island.

'The Tenant' (1976) by Roman Polanski - perhaps the great auteur's weirdest film this fiendishly intense black comedy psychological thriller closed a trilogy of paranoid horror classics set in claustrophobic apartments, that includes, 'Repulsion' (1965) & 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968). Haven't seen it in far too long.

'The Crater Lake Monster' (1977) by William R. Stromberg - reawakened plesiosaur is responsible for deaths of swimmers in popular tourist lake, apparently. Sounds like a fun 'Jaws' (1975) clone and features the stop motion animation of David W. Allen, heir to Ray Harryhausen's throne.

'Thirst' (1979) by Rod Hardy - was overjoyed to pick up this rare Australian horror I have very happy memories of catching once on telly in the early 80s. I remember it as one of the most original and creepy vampire movies I ever saw. Features David Hemmings in probably his best horror film after 'Profondo Rosso' (1975). A real Ozploitation classic!!

'The Elephant Man' (1980) by David Lynch - haven't seen it in some 25 years and really looking forward to a serious reevaluation in the wake of such late period masterpieces as 'Mulholland Drive' (2001) and 'Inland Empire' (2006). I believe it qualifies very much as a horror film, of the "nightmare illness" variety, and is filmed marvellously in the style of those old Universal horrors. I had no problem either with Herbert Van Thal's inclusion of Sir Frederick Treves' 1923 story in 'The 4th Pan Book Of Horror Stories' (1962). I'd rank this as the 5th best film of Lynch's career which just goes to show how bloody awesome the four above it are!!

'The Fog' (1980) by John Carpenter - one of his very best horror films and one of the greatest frighteners of its era. I've always loved this movie and haven't watched it in god knows how long. I'd call it more a demonic undead than a true zombie movie. I first saw it around the time I read Hodgson's wonderful 'The Ghost Pirates' (1909) and the two have been inextricably linked in my consciousness ever since.

'The Hearse' (1980) by George Bowers - quality satanic shocker, apparently, starring Joseph Cotten in one of his last roles and that's all I know about it. Sounds one to look forward to!

'Inferno' (1980) by Dario Argento - gob-smackingly brilliant sequel to his satanic masterpiece 'Suspiria' (1977). This has long been one of my favourite Argentos and sees him at his most terrifyingly surreal. The DVD I picked up is completely uncut so this will seem like a first viewing when I reach it in my chrono watch. Happy days!!

'The Unseen' (1980) by Danny Steinmann - quality adult slasher movie, apparently, starring Ringo's missus, Barbara Bach, and that's all I know about it. Another one to relish the thought of seeing.

'Dead Kids' (1981) by Michael Laughlin - now this was a real find! One of the most highly thought of Ozploitation horror movies of the era that I not only haven't seen but didn't even know existed till I picked up the DVD. I love it when that happens. It sounds like a fascinating mixture of slasher movie and Frankensteinian mad science, involving children as the victims. And it stars Louise Fletcher!

'The Dead Zone' (1983) by David Cronenberg - finally picked up the DVD and I'm intrigued to find that it is "uncut". As I've only ever seen this on the telly and remember no gore this will seem like a first viewing. It marked Cronenberg's first step into the mainstream and remains one of the finest and best acted of all the Stephen King adaptations.

'The House On Sorority Row' (1983) by Mark Rosman - seminal slasher that is ranked as one of the best of the 80s, apparently, and I've never seen it before! It even got the unnecessary remake treatment in 2009 so must have something going for it. I look forward to finding out.

'Fleshburn' (1984) by George Gage - sounds like a 'First Blood' (1982) inspired variation on the slasher movie with a "misunderstood" Vietnam vet "killing machine" doing the hunting this time, after escaping from a maximum security military asylum and deciding to repay the doctors who had him incarcerated. Like the sound of it.

'Night Ripper' (1986) by Lamberto Bava - another unexpected real find of a movie! A rare as hen's teeth giallo by this great underrated horror director which sounds like it may just be one of his best! One to watch in a triple bill with one of his Dad's early films and a recent Argento work, I think.

'Vamp' (1986) by Richard Wenk - have fond memories of seeing this on video back in the day and really enjoying its OTT gore and black humour. Grace Jones is terrifying as a "normal" person but as a vampire... sheesh!! This will be a real nostalgia trip for me.

'Creepozoids' (1987) by David De Coteau - one of those familiar titles from the hey day of home video that I could very well have seen before and completely forgotten about. It involves a bunch of people trapped in underground tunnels with a mutant monstrosity, I believe, but then so many of them did back then! Should be fun whatever.

'Return To Horror High' (1987) by Bill Froehlich - comedy horror sequel to the 1974 film, detailed above, that features George Clooney in his very first starring role! I wonder does he still include it on his CV?! Again, should make for nostalgic fun.

'Lurkers' (1988) by Roberta Findlay - disturbed young woman who suffered an abusive childhood is haunted by strange presences in spooky apartment building, apparently. Sounds interesting.

'Alienator' (1989) by Fred Olen Ray - see comments for 'Creepozoids', above. At least this one has an actor I know in Jan-Michael Vincent. Love the composite title.

'Martians Go Home!' (1990) by David Odell - very intrigued by this adaptation of the classic alien invasion novel by Frederic Brown from 1955. The book is one of the cleverest sci-fi satires ever written and involves a blackly comical invasion by hordes of mischievous little green men. The film stars Randy Quaid and a host of well known comedians of the time, apparently, and I'd never heard of it before I picked it up. I wonder if it was any influence on my favourite Tim Burton movie, 'Mars Attacks!' (1996)?

'Spontaneous Combustion' (1990) by Tobe Hooper - one that passed me by at the time. I've heard it's one of the director's better later films and it stars the ever reliable Brad Dourif as a deranged pyrokinetic - recommendation enough in my book!

'Braindead' (1992) by Peter Jackson - was overjoyed to finally find a copy of this bloody brilliant film at an affordable price! I consider it to be Jackson's directorial masterpiece and I say that in all seriousness! One of the most visually stunning, jaw-droppingly blood and guts drenched, side-splittingly hilarious horror comedies ever made!! It's been about 15 years since I last laughed myself sick at it and can't wait to again.

'Curse, Death And Spirit' (1992) by Hideo Nakata - another exciting find! The great Japanese director's all but forgotten debut feature and it's a three story horror portmanteau! It launched one of the most impressive horror careers of recent times so I can't wait to see it.

'Night Of The Beast' (1993) by Eric Louzil - sounds like an entertaining throwback to the old "evil genius" horrors that Vincent Price excelled at. Cult horror film director, Lukas Armand, feeds eager young wannabe starlets to his child... a "cannibalistic devil monster". Looks good fun.

'Starship Troopers' (1997) by Paul Verhoeven - I consider this to be the director's masterpiece and one of the very best genre pictures of its decade. The creature and gore effects are sensationally well done and truly nauseating while the training and battle sequences are as impressive as anything in 'Full Metal Jacket' (1987). One of the greatest monster movies ever made and a fitting tribute to the imagination of my favourite genre author.

'Chaos' (2000) by Hideo Nakata - the one that came in between his 'Ringu' movies (1998-99) and 'Dark Water' (2002) so I'm just a bit looking forward to it. This is a dark and disturbing "descent into madness" psychological thriller, apparently, that sounds well up to his usual standard.

'Crocodile' (2000) by Tobe Hooper - I'm a great fan of this director's work and have always considered him underrated. At his best he equalled the greatest achievements of Carpenter or Romero, and even at his worst he never fails to turn out entertaining movies, while always staying true to the horror genre he loves. Compare his career to that of Wes Craven and tell me which is by far the more impressive. I don't expect a lot from this killer croc potboiler but I know it won't be shite.

'Final Destination' (2000) by James Wong - finally decided to revisit this first of the franchise to see if it's got any better with the years. I found it only mildly entertaining at the time but have always loved this premise and maybe it was better than I remember? I'll try not to be as irritated by the cast this time and just enjoy seeing them get sliced and diced.

'Freezer' (2000) by Takashi Ishii - I saw this years ago on Film4 and it completely blew me away! I've longed to own a copy ever since and would rank it as the film chiefly responsible for my falling in love with Asian horror over recent years. Think of an infinitely more shocking and distressing Japanese version of 'I Spit On Your Grave' (1978) or 'Ms 45' (1981), that horrifies as much by Tokyo society's treatment of the victim as by what the psychopathic gang did, and you'll have some idea of what this marvellous and uncompromising film offers. A true ordeal horror classic!!

'Octopus' (2000) by John Eyres - I've long had a fondness for rubber octopus movies and this one was ultra-cheap and good enough to spawn a sequel. A little research made it sound daft fun so I took a chance. Let's see if it can contend with; 'It Came From Beneath The Sea' (1955), 'Bride Of The Monster' (1955) or 'The Green Slime' (1968).

'Shadow Of The Vampire' (2000) by E. Elias Merhige - a real curiosity of a horror film that impressed me at the time and I've long wanted to see again. Willem Dafoe is sensational as Max Schreck as Count Orlok. A fitting tribute to Murnau's 'Nosferatu' (1922), my plan is to watch it in a triple bill with Herzog's 'Nosferatu The Vampyre' (1979).

'Spiders' (2000) by Gary Jones - this actually gets surprisingly decent write-ups and is a killer spiders movie done straight, for once. I'm not a fan of the likes of 'Arachnophobia' (1990) or 'Eight Legged Freaks' (2002) as I could never see what was so bloody funny about monster spiders! Again, it was good enough to spawn a sequel.

'The Devil's Backbone' (2001) by Guillermo Del Toro - I'd rank this masterpiece of a ghost story as the director's second best film, after 'Cronos' (1993). Haven't seen it since first release when it totally blew me away. Here's hoping he can get back on track with his next project, the upcoming ghost story 'Crimson Peak', after the truly execrable excess of 'Pacific Rim' (2013) - his one failure to date.

'Octopus II : River Of Fear' (2001) by Yossi Wein - sequel to the above that came with it and sounds just as hokily enjoyable, or not...

'Session 9' (2001) by Brad Anderson - finally tracked down an affordable copy of this highly regarded modern ghost story that stars one of my all-time heroes of cinema, the great Peter Mullan. Very excited to be able to watch it at last!!

'Spiders II : Breeding Ground' (2001) by Sam Firstenberg - again, came with the first movie and sounds watchable nonsense. I love spiders because they scare me. But I recently discovered a creature that, impossibly, scares me even more. Google Image the word "Solifuge" and hold your breath... <gulp>

'Blade II' (2002) by Guillermo Del Toro - I do love the Blade movies and this was the best of the trilogy. It may be frustrating to see such a gifted auteur "wasting his time" on comicbook adaptations but when they're this bloody entertaining who cares!

'Phone' (2002) by Ahn Byeong-Ki - another well regarded Asian technological horror of the time that I look forward to seeing at last and comparing to Takashi Miike's 'One Missed Call' (2003). A woman is haunted by a ghost over the telephone, apparently, that may be all in her mind.

'Three' (2002) by Kim Ji-Woon, Nonzee Nimibutr & Peter Ho-Sun Chan - three story Asian portmanteau horror, I haven't seen, that led to the better known sequel, 'Three Extremes' (2004), which I also haven't seen.

'Blade : Trinity' (2004) by David S. Goyer - this completes the excellent Blade trilogy in my collection so looking forward to a future chrono watch. Relatively speaking it's the weakest of the three but is still great rollercoaster ride horror/fantasy entertainment. And this one features Dracula himself!

'Hellboy' (2004) by Guillermo Del Toro - again, what' s not to love about this brilliantly entertaining and visually spectacular horror comicbook adaptation? It's the role Ron Perlman was born to play. Brilliant stuff!!

'House Of Voices' (2004) by Pascal Laugier - exciting find time again! This was the directorial debut from the man who made quite possibly the greatest, and certainly the most shocking, horror film of the new millennium so far, the truly remarkable 'Martyrs' (2008). This one's a classic haunted house story, apparently. I can't bloody wait!! Then I'll be tracking down his third horror film to date, 'The Tall Man' (2012).

'Premonition' (2004) by Norio Tsuruta - another critically acclaimed Asian horror that got the tedious US remake treatment. This one features a haunted newspaper that warns a man of impending disasters he can do nothing to avert. Then he reads of the death of his daughter and determines to beat the curse, come what may. I love this theme and look forward to seeing it.

'Primer' (2004) by Shane Carruth - at long last I found it going cheap and will finally get to see what all the hype was about! I've heard this described as a work of startling genius that somehow manages to combine two of my very favourite genre themes; time travel paradox sci-fi with the classic doppelgänger horror story!! If it's anything like as good as the films it's always compared to - 'Cube' (1997), 'Gattaca' (1997), 'Last Night' (1998), 'Moon' (2009), etc. - then I'll be in low budget independent sci-fi heaven!

'Cloverfield' (2008) by Matt Reeves - I thought this was a great, genuinely tense, scary and unpredictable horror movie when I saw it in the cinema at the time, so looking forward to a reevaluatory rewatch. It knocked that pile of kack 'Godzilla' (1998) into a cocked hat and I doubt if the upcoming new version will be a fraction as effective. Good director, Reeves.

'Hellboy II : The Golden Army' (2008) by Guillermo Del Toro - the sequel astonished me by being, if anything, even more entertaining than the original! I consider these and the Blade movies to be the absolute pinnacle of the dark superhero sub-genre. Sadly, Del Toro lost the plot since the success of this film but I live in hope that 'Crimson Peak' can resurrect his career and that we'll come to look back on 'Pacific Rim' (2013) as his one 'Dune'-like (1984) misstep.

'Outpost' (2008) by Steve Barker - heard good things about this franchise launching low budget British horror that, apparently, breathes new life into the old Nazi zombie genre. Here's hoping it delivers what it promises.

'Chaw' (2009) by Shin Jung-Won - killer mutant pig horror/comedy from South Korea that I've heard described as ridiculously entertaining and almost as effective as Bong Joon-Ho's wonderful 'The Host' (2006). If that's true it must be bloody good! Will be interesting to compare with 'Razorback' (1984).

'Drag Me To Hell' (2009) by Sam Raimi - really enjoyed this return to the horror genre by Raimi, when I saw it in the cinema, and keen to see how it stands up on a first rewatch. I have a sneaking suspicion it may well be a bit of a grower.

'Thirst' (2009) by Park Chan-Wook - I consider this director to be a true modern day Hitchcock, rather than one of the many pretenders to the throne, and, having just watched this fantastic adaptation of Émile Zola's 'Thérèse Raquin' (1867), my admiration of his work has gone into the stratosphere!! He takes one of the 19th Century's most profoundly disturbing gothic ghost stories and turns it into a supremely unsettling modern vampire fable of astounding beauty and power. 'Stoker' (2013), the astonishing Vengeance Trilogy (2002-05) and this horror masterpiece are amongst the finest genre works of the last 14 years. Nuff said.

'Dead Mine' (2012) by Steven Sheil - I'm unfeasibly excited and rather nervous to see this follow-up to the director's astonishing debut, 'Mum And Dad' (2008), which I consider to be the best British horror film of the 2000s. There hasn't been anywhere near as much buzz about this one so fingers crossed. I believe it's set in the jungles of Indonesia and other than that I know nothing.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - 11:21 pm:   

Back to the write-ups. This film opened probably the greatest triple bill I've watched to date. Truly outstanding cinema:

'Vertigo' (1958) directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by Alec Coppel & Samuel A. Taylor - What is it about this movie that haunts the mind unlike any other of Hitchcock's films? On the face of it it is merely another twisty perfect murder story with a cod supernatural angle, much like the film that inspired Hitch to make it - Clouzot's 'Les Diaboliques' (1955), also based on a novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. Yet one realises that only with hindsight after a first viewing. Stylistically going against the grain of such thrillers it is perhaps the most beautifully colourful film noir ever made. We have the icy femme fatale, the naive dupe and the treacherous friend all lost in a world of unforgiving cynicism while San Francisco was never made to look more beautiful as the backdrop to their sordid story.

All the characters here are weak and corrupt and, to a certain extent, invite the fate that befalls them. Even Jimmy Stewart's willing victim, Scottie, is tainted by the ease with which "Madeleine" - his best friend's wife, let us not forget - is able to seduce him. This is a man crippled by his inability to hack it in the police force, due to his fear of heights leading to the death of a fellow officer, and trying to piece his life back together while haunted by an overwhelming sense of failure and guilt. The weakness of the man is recognised and ruthlessly exploited by his old buddy, Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), who, no doubt, was fully aware what easy prey he would be for the luscious Judy (the stunningly beautiful Kim Novak), masquerading as Mrs Elster, in a macabre plan worked out between the two of them to knock off his real wife so they could be together with all her money. So you've a cold blooded bastard and a gold digging bitch using an emotionally compromised weakling to get away with the perfect murder.

The most "ingenious" (or far fetched) element of the plan was the elaborate supernatural cover story they concoct to suck in the hapless Scottie. On a first viewing we are as mesmerised as he is by the actions of this strange woman and find ourselves just as compelled to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her. Is she really the reincarnation of the tragic Carlotta Valdes or has she been possessed by the unquiet spirit of the woman? The first half of the film works as a hauntingly subtle romantic mystery with shades of inexplicable menace from beyond... then comes the big twist and the viewer is left as emotionally deflated as our poor hero, but for different reasons.

The whole beautifully tragic mystery that had sucked us in is given a horribly rational explanation that Scottie, alas, is left wretchedly unaware of. After that, with what may or may not have been a chance encounter on the street (I don't buy it), things descend quickly into obsession and self-deceiving madness (allowing Stewart to give the performance of his career) while the whole success of the movie hinges on whether we are convinced or not that Judy/Madeleine really could have changed her personality and fallen in love with the man she so ruthlessly used and made a complete idiot of. His fleeing the scene of her "suicide" and subsequent stripping down by the coroner during the inquest reveals just what a spineless fool he has been and how hopeless he is at this detective game. I believe Judy fully intended going through with the plan and was betrayed by her lover after they'd got away with it. Unable to incriminate herself and left on her uppers she falls back on the one guy she knows will "love her" and take care of her until something better comes along. She didn't plan it that way but when the opportunity presented itself this born survivor would have latched onto the guy and done or said whatever it took to get him back in her clutches. She probably even half convinced herself that she was doing it out of a sense of pity or guilt and that he should be grateful she didn't just disappear again. That's how I read her actions going by what we now know of her character.

As for Scottie... his finding of Judy comes to him like a waking dream and he sleepwalks his way through her enforced transformation. Deep down inside he knows this is too much of a coincidence but he doesn't want to believe the truth - and what it says about him, as much as "Madeleine" - until he is shocked into it by Judy's one slip with the necklace. She agrees to her remodelling not because she feels she owes him but because it is what she must do to survive. That is the only reading of the film that makes the narrative work and, I believe, adds whole new layers of meaning and psychological motivation to the second half of the picture. Judy gets what she deserves in the end, the nun representing some kind of divine justice, and Scottie is finally free of his naïveté and cured of his fear, as evidenced by the film's final shot. As he stands on that ledge he may as well be shouting to the world, "what a bloody fool I have been, but never again!" The emotionally shattering denouement at the top of that phallic tower represents cynicism's greatest victory over romanticism in cinema.

Overall the film is a slow burning psychological masterpiece of tricksy storytelling and intense characterisation that ends up far greater than the sum of its parts. It is also a fascinatingly personal work that one can feel the director's own emotional investment in throughout every perfectly realised scene. At once intoxicatingly romantic, buoyed up by arguably Bernard Herrmann's most beautiful score, and witheringly cynical in its jaundiced view of human nature it is a towering work of art one gets more out of on each viewing. Some films just suck you in from the opening seconds no matter how many times you've seen them before and that is the true hallmark of cinematic genius, imho. I think I'd rank it as Hitchcock's, mmm.. second best film after 'The Birds' (1963) and fractionally ahead of 'Psycho' (1960), making that five year period the absolute pinnacle of his career.

Oh, what the hell! Here's my Top 10:

1. The Birds (1963)
2. Vertigo (1958)
3. Psycho (1960)
4. Shadow Of A Doubt (1943)
5. Strangers On A Train (1951)
6. North By Northwest (1959)
7. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
8. Rebecca (1940)
9. The 39 Steps (1935)
10. Rear Window (1954)

Jesus, that was difficult!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - 11:44 pm:   

Next up I've decided on a macabre crime triple bill:

'Carnival Of Crime' (1962) by George Cahan - based on a novel by Winston Graham it sounds an interesting gialloesque film noir set in Rio de Janeiro.

'Cat O' Nine Tails' (1971) by Dario Argento - saw this late one Saturday night with my parents way back when I lived at home in the early 80s and thought it was a sensationally suspenseful Hitchcockian thriller, with gore, that instantly made me fall in love with Argento's work. It stars James Franciscus & Karl Malden, both in charismatic form. Can't wait to see it again, and uncut!

'Chaos' (2000) by Hideo Nakata - heard great things about this dark psychological crime thriller that begins with a kidnapping and ends in madness, sado-masochism and bloodshed, apparently. He was at the height of his directorial powers at the time so really looking forward to it!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2014 - 04:00 am:   

'Straw Dogs' (1971) directed by Sam Peckinpah and written by Sam Peckinpah & David Z. Goodman - this was only my second ever watching of the film after spending most of my adult life unable to because of the ridiculous ban. Peckinpah is one of my all time favourite directors and I've yet to see anything he made that was any less than exceptional adult entertainment. I consider this movie to be his second greatest masterpiece, after 'The Wild Bunch' (1969) and just ahead of 'Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid' (1973). It is perhaps the single most honest and uncompromising portrayal of sexual jealousy breeding violence that has ever been filmed and stands out because of the painstakingly convincing and unsensational way it develops the characters, through simmering resentment, misunderstanding and various layers of betrayal, toward the devastatingly intense long drawn out explosion of violence in the unforgettable climax. The fearless potency of the direction, script and acting is of a level of in-your-face un-PC frankness that could only have come about in the 1970s and mark the work as one of the finest, as well as most representative, cinematic masterpieces of the decade.

Dustin Hoffman, as David, and Susan George, as Amy, have never been better than here and their portrayal of a mismatched married couple trying to cling on to the love that first brought them together, while knowing in their hearts that their relationship will never work, is at the emotional heart of the picture. It is inevitable that boredom and lack of things in common will force them apart and drive her to "revert to type" as the influence of her youth surrounds her and calls to her, while increasingly isolating him in the guise of "oddball outsider". The worst mistake they ever made was in returning to Cornwall, not because of the hostile locals, but because of how it would highlight the differences between them. If they had been a better match with a stronger love for each other then none of the awful escalation of hostility would have happened.

Make no mistake, and feminists won't like this, but Amy invites the attentions of the local thugs, including her ex-lover, by deliberately flaunting herself to them in a childish attempt to belittle them and incite the jealousy of her husband. She wants to spur him into paying her some attention, instead of his hated books and blackboard, and at the same time she is callously showing off to the men outside how much better than them she now is. It's a dangerous game for any woman to play and she doesn't half pay for it. Their resentment at this jumped up American with his fancy ways is fuelled by seeing one of their own look down on them and what started off as snide jokes and macho bullying was always going to end in physical violence. Those terrifyingly ominous scenes of aggressive male posturing in the local pub, over which wild-eyed Peter Vaughan holds menacing sway, while David sweats at the end of the bar, are as powerfully unsettling in what they hint at as anything that follows.

As for the film's most contentious element... the script always makes it clear that Amy still has conflicting feelings for her ex, Charlie (Del Henney), and when he finally comes calling on her the animalistic physical attraction the pair feel for each other boils over into forced sex and a genuine rekindling of passion on both sides. Amy's tears and affectionate response during the initial rape signifies a final capitulation in her heart that David is not what she wants and that this ignorant brute of a man, and all he represents from her past, really is what she craves. Her marriage and all the lies she had told herself that life was now so much better died that moment of surrender in Charlie's arms. And then comes the ultimate act of shocking betrayal in the film as her love is flung back in her face by the spineless Charlie when he allows his leering mate (Ken Hutchison) to have her as well, the act of sodomy only adding to her humiliation. This notorious sequence with its greying of the definition of what constitutes rape and fearless depiction of a real human being's confused response to her innermost feelings is a tour-de-force of acting, direction and writing that remains the single most powerful achievement of the movie.

Afterward nothing can ever be the same again and it takes only the right set of circumstances to conspire for what remains unspoken on all sides to explode into nightmarish bloodshed. The sub plot with David Warner as the village paedophile doing in cute young Sally Thomsett and acting as a symbol of how David's civilised approach clashes with the urge for natural justice of the locals was something of a convoluted but necessary distraction to the real pay-off of the story. Drunken confrontation, with righteous rage on both sides, leads to an accidental killing that strips the last veneer of rationality from the central characters and allows stark bloody violence to reign in one of the best sustained and most knuckle-whiteningly savage action/suspense sequences ever put on film. We are reduced to witnessing a battle for basic survival in which only the laws of the jungle apply and it is breathlessly exhilarating cinema.

Would I call this irresponsibly controversial misogynistic filmmaking? No. It is rather a riveting drama of raw human emotion in which all the characters act and respond like real three dimensional people, with all the flaws, complexities and unpredictability that go with the human condition. It is an all too common story of mismatched love and betrayal told with sensational cinematic technique and uncompromising integrity. It is a masterpiece!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2014 - 06:00 am:   

'Audition' (1999) directed by Takashi Miike and written by Daisuke Tengan - despite its notorious reputation as a shock horror classic this is actually the most mature and subtle of its director's films that I have seen to date. It is as much a slow burning love story turning to a tale of haunted obsession as it is a harrowing psycho thriller. There are scenes of shocking violence and sickening gore, oh yes, but they act as momentary electric jolts to the system rather than battering the viewer into awestruck submission, as in the likes of 'Ichi The Killer' (2001) or 'Thirteen Assassins' (2010).

For most of its length devoid of violence we follow the story of an ordinary everyday businessman, Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi), and devoted father of a teenage son (Tetsu Sawaki), as he tries to come to terms with the early death of his beloved wife from cancer. After seven years of mourning and dedicating his life to bringing up his child alone he finally succumbs to the exhortations of family and friends to go out and try to meet someone else. Drawing up a wish list of qualities that his perfect woman would have a filmmaker friend (Jun Kunimura) suggests a sly way of finding her. Together they adapt a loose script to include a female lead part they will audition young women for while never intending to complete the film but as a way of finding the perfect physical and intellectual wife material for our hero, who masquerades as a rich movie producer! Only in Japan could such a shamelessly un-PC idea have been green lighted in this day and age!!

There follows a bravura sequence of comedy auditions with a parade of physically striking women being treated like so much meat before we are introduced to doe-eyed, softly spoken Asami (Eihi Shiina) and Shigeharu falls hopelessly under her spell from the moment he lays eyes on her. There follows a genuinely warm, sweet and charming love story as the two of them tentatively date, after the "unfortunate collapse" of the film project, and seem to fall for each other. For the first time in years our hero has a spring in his step and a smile on his face that everyone comments on and approves of. Only then do things begin to darken as we are shown the first subtle hints that all is not well with this "perfect" young woman and we begin to wonder just who is conning who here?

How the second half of the film unfolds into a deeply disturbing tale of growing suspicion, betrayal and frantic obsession that culminates in one of the most graphically grotesque and difficult to watch torture sequences in horror cinema history, that is made all the more painful by the emotional investment we have in the characters by this stage, is a masterclass in escalating dread that no one but Miike could have pulled off so fearlessly. The performances of the two leads are astonishingly sympathetic and multi-layered, bearing comparison to those of Stewart & Novak or Hoffman & George in the two other films of this incredible triple bill, and convince us utterly that, when it comes to love, the first cut really is the deepest.

Again, accusations of misogyny miss the point here, imo. In many ways the men are the butt of the joke and the beguiling villainess can be seen as a feminist icon avenging her sisters after having suffered nothing but abuse and objectification at the hands of an arrogantly male dominated society. Asami is hopelessly insane but men made her that way and the love she genuinely tried to feel for her poor doomed and deluded suitor is genuinely tragic in its misguided intensity.

So there you have it. A wonderful night's viewing on the theme of that most terrifying of all emotions, LOVE. What men can do to women and women can do to men in the name of it gives the lie to that old adage that "it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". Tell that to Scottie, Judy, David, Amy, Shigeharu or Asami...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.82
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2014 - 11:49 pm:   

Then came another wonderfully entertaining Hammer Horror triple bill starting with the immortal:

'Quatermass And The Pit' (1967) directed by Roy Ward Baker and written by Nigel Kneale - this is one well nigh perfect sci-fi/horror movie in which various careers came to an absolute peak of perfection. It is easily one of the greatest two or three films Hammer Studios ever produced, it is Roy Ward Baker's one true directorial masterpiece, it is the finest and most ingenious script Nigel Kneale ever wrote and it is unquestionably Professor Quatermass's finest hour in any medium. A film to love and revel in no matter how many times one has seen it before and that I always seem to find something fresh and satisfying in after each enraptured viewing.

Based on the groundbreaking BBC script of six 35 minute episodes, broadcast in 1958-59, the film version is a miracle of condensed storytelling that draws the viewer in by the bizarre originality of the premise and a gradual accumulation of eerily unsettling details that totally eschew any hint of cheap sensationalism. This is one of the few films in its notoriously schlocky genre that actually respects its audience's intelligence and relies on profound philosophical theorising to excite and provoke debate rather than wishing to merely scare and entertain, which it also does in spades. Kneale was coming up with startlingly imaginative ideas about man's possible origins long before anyone heard of the wilder theories of Erich Von Däniken, Carl Sagan or Pauwels & Bergier!

During extension work to the London Underground at Hobb's End prehistoric skeletal remains are unearthed sending the archaeological community into a frenzy of excitement. Further digging turns up a weird rocket like object that is misidentified as an unexploded German bomb from the Second World War. This leads to the military and their rocket science expert, Professor Bernard Quatermass, being called in, but their discovery of the object's unearthly technology and apparently alien long dead occupants leads to a public furore and political panic from on high that pits science against the conservative establishment in how to deal with the implications of the find. But when Quatermass and his associates go further by claiming that these "Martian grasshoppers" were responsible for the very creation of humankind, due to genetic tinkering with our simian ancestors, all hell breaks loose, both figuratively, in the corridors of power, and literally, on the streets of London.

It turns out that the antennaed insect-like appearance of the extraterrestrial creatures entombed in their ship was responsible for the race memory of horned demons and devils that have plagued mankind since ancient times and checking of the local records reveals a long history of supernatural disturbances in the area, leading to its sinister reputation and devilish name. When these strange manifestations begin again in a series of terrifying incidents, involving psychokinetic forces and apparent possession, the scientists realise that their tampering with the object has unleashed a long dormant infernal energy within the thing that threatens to ondo countless centuries of evolution, returning the human race to a howling primordial beastiality, unless some way can be found to tap and defuse the indecipherable alien technology.

Exciting stuff, indeed! And incalculably influential on popular science fiction, introducing high concept ideas of staggering magnitude and frightening implications, that still have the power to cause mutterings of "blasphemy" within the establishment when anyone appears to take them "too seriously". The line the politicians and military take in the film, passing the whole thing off as an "obvious" hoax, thus condemning the actual scientific evidence to the dustbin of history, is a perfect allegory of the way in which the Judaeo-Christian hierarchy of Western society deals with all threats to its dominance. What cannot be tallied with official dogma is either ridiculed or buried. Look to the message of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the proof of that, people... and wonder.

Andrew Keir vies with André Morell as the definitive Quatermass and his anguished performance here brings a new depth and humanity to the character behind his hard nosed blustery exterior. When this usually unshakeable expert in weird science experiences the stark terror of the unknown, then, by heck, so do we! And his marvellously straight faced performance is more than matched by James Donald, as the quietly heroic Dr Roney, Barbara Shelley, in probably her best Hammer role as the feisty but fatefully tainted Barbara, and Julian Glover as the smarmily preening face of the pig-headed establishment, the insufferable Colonel Breen - as well as the usual host of familiar character actors breathing life into even the smallest support parts. Anyone who grew up watching classic era 'Doctor Who' in the late 60s and early 70s will recognise the genesis of many of their favourite characters in the iconic cast of this wonderful movie. Even one of my very favourite Jon Pertwee stories, 'The Daemons' (1971), that terrified the life out of me as a five year old, is virtually an unofficial remake! Then jump forward to the likes of; John Carpenter's 'Prince Of Darkness' (1987), Chris Carter's 'The X Files' (1993-2002), Luc Besson's 'The Fifth Element' (1997) or Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus' (2012) and realise what a huge debt of gratitude we all owe Nigel Kneale.

For what it's worth, here's my Top 10 Hammer Horrors:

1. 'The Devil Rides Out' (1968) by Terence Fisher
2. 'Quatermass And The Pit' (1967) by Roy Ward Baker
3. 'To The Devil A Daughter' (1976) by Peter Sykes
4. 'Dracula, Prince Of Darkness' (1966) by Terence Fisher
5. 'Plague Of The Zombies' (1966) by John Gilling
6. 'The Curse Of Frankenstein' (1957) by Terence Fisher
7. 'The Curse Of The Werewolf' (1961) by Terence Fisher
8. 'Dracula' (1958) by Terence Fisher
9. 'The Mummy' (1959) by Terence Fisher
10. 'The Reptile' (1966) by John Gilling
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.82
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2014 - 01:39 am:   

Well, I've just watched Argento's 'Cat O' Nine Tails' (1971) for the first time in over 30 years, and for the first time in its original uncut Italian form, and it is a masterpiece of Hitchcockian suspense, with the most coherent plot and some of the most memorable performances of his entire output. A bafflingly underrated, thoroughly gripping and entertaining stone cold classic horror thriller! If this is one of his "weakest" films, as the critical consensus would have us believe, then dear god, what a bloody genius!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.235.82
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2014 - 03:53 am:   

Compared to QATP the following two films were lesser Hammer efforts that remain, however, superior horror entertainment made with real craft and enthusiasm:

'Vampire Circus' (1972) directed by Robert Young and written by Judson Kinberg - one of only three completely stand alone big-fanged vampire movies made in Hammer's glorious hey day, this thoroughly entertaining gothic potboiler, along with 'Kiss Of The Vampire' (1963) and 'Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter' (1974), is one of the films most often associated with the studio in the general public consciousness. Despite the absence of Cushing and Lee all the familiar elements are here, with the usual quality cast of character actors (Thorley Walters chief among them as the pompous town mayor), a typically tight no nonsense script concentrating on action and intrigue, the impressive attention to period detail, making the film look far more lush and expensive than it actually was, and not one but a whole family of memorably chilling villains. Robert Tayman makes for an unforgettably charismatic lead vampire, in Count Mitterhaus, and one could easily have seen him having become as iconic a figure as Lee's Dracula had the film not been made toward the tail end of the British horror boom. Joining him are; Adrienne Corri as the mysterious gypsy ringleader of the Circus of Night, Anthony Higgins as a glowering were-panther and smouldering sexual predator (leading to controversy over claimed scenes of beastiality by some critics!), the memorable pairing of Robin Sachs & Lalla Ward as a bewitching pair of incestuous vampire twins, dwarf actor Skip Martin as an indescribably creepy miniature clown and Darth Vader himself, David Prowse, as the imposingly implacable mute Strongman. They really pulled out all the horror stops with this film and one can clearly see it as an influence on some of the more outrageous elements of 'The League Of Gentlemen' (1999-2002). But for all the lurid sensationalism on display there is also a lyrical fairy tale like quality to the film that was lacking from the later Dracula entries and the notoriously exploitative Karnstein Trilogy and raise this film above the level of Hammer's typical 1970s fare. After the marvellously exciting opening sequence, that sees the destruction of the loathsome Count by the townspeople of Stetl, we jump decades forward in time to find the town under strict quarantine due to an outbreak of plague, until the inexplicable arrival of a weird travelling circus from outside that carries a worse death with it and the promise of vengeance on all those who dared defy their undead overlord. Featuring some of the most memorably grisly death sequences in any Hammer Horror, one decapitation in particular is among the most convincing I have ever seen on screen, and a heady dose of subtly depraved eroticism this makes for wonderfully fast paced unpretentious pulp entertainment of a type we'll never see again. A true late period Hammer classic, imho!

'The Resident' (2011) directed by Antti Jokinen and written by Antti Jokinen, Robert Orr & Erin Cressida Wilson - a well made and brilliantly acted psycho thriller of the "yuppie in peril" variety that was all the rage in the late 80s and early 90s. Compared to the likes of; 'Fatal Attraction' (1987), 'Pacific Heights' (1990), 'Sleeping With The Enemy' (1991), 'Single White Female' (1992), etc, this unassuming little thriller could more than hold its own with any of them and has certainly been unfairly neglected by any audience hungry for such fare. For all its quality, however, the film comes across as oddly old fashioned and mannered in this day and age. While watching it I couldn't help comparing the workmanlike direction and predictable mechanics of the script to Jaume Balagueró's game changing modern horror masterpiece, 'Sleep Tight' (also 2011). The stories of an unseen sex starved voyeur stalking an attractive young woman in a creepy apartment building are virtually identical but the storytelling technique and profoundly disturbing approach to the subject matter in the Spanish film is light years ahead of anything we experience here. Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are utterly convincing and passionately committed in their difficult roles and we are made to feel much sympathy for both of them, while it was undeniably pleasing to see Christopher Lee in a nice little cameo as the knowing parent and keeper of his son's dark secret, but one can't help feeling that all their hard work deserved a better film. I'd call this a perfect undemanding date movie that ratchets the suspense up well and provides all the expected edge-of-the-seat thrills and shock moments while never threatening to rise above its stock formula. Of the new Hammers I've seen so far I'd put it some way behind 'The Wake Wood' (2011) but ahead of 'Let Me In' (2010) and 'The Woman In Black' (2012), neither of which were bad.

I'm already planning future Hammer triple bills to include 'Beyond The Rave' (2008) and 'The Quiet Ones' (2014) and just hope the reborn Studio continues to build upon its unexpected success so far... fingers crossed.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 85.255.234.184
Posted on Monday, May 19, 2014 - 02:46 am:   

This started off another well nigh perfect night's entertainment:

'The Sorcerers' (1967) directed by Michael Reeves and written by Michael Reeves, Tom Baker & John Burke - we're all familiar with the story of this budding auteur's tragic death, at the age of 25, after producing three classic horror movies in as many years. I've seen them all and consider this second movie to be his most original and personal work. 'The Witchfinder General' (1968) is his one indisputable masterpiece and the film he will always be remembered for, while 'The She Beast' (1966) is one of the most entertainingly tongue-in-cheek zero budget schlockfests of its era (a kind of early example of the style of knowing horror comedies Raimi, Henenlotter & Jackson would perfect in the 80s & 90s). This film stands halfway between the two in terms of maturity as well as chronology and highlights the remarkable speed and confidence with which Reeves developed his directorial technique. It is sad to contemplate what 70s masterpieces were most likely denied to us by his untimely death, had he continued to grow at this rate as a filmmaker.

Reeves was a naturally gifted director blessed with great energy and enthusiasm but he was also incredibly lucky in the people he got to meet and work with during his early 60s apprenticeship. As assistant director on the Italian horror, 'Castle Of The Living Dead' (1964), he made the acquaintance of Christopher Lee and went on to direct three other horror icons in his brief career; Barbara Steele, Boris Karloff and Vincent Price, all of whom, it has been said, were highly impressed with his raw talent and youthful exuberance. 'The Sorcerers' vies with Peter Bogdanovich's 'Targets' (1968) as the best film of Karloff's final years but his performance here is easily the greater and one of the most unusual of his long career. He plays a long retired medical hypnotist, Professor Marcus Monserrat, who, along with his scientist wife, Estelle (Catherine Lacey, who steals the show), invents a mind control device in the spare room of their ordinary house in the suburbs of London. Luring a bored young man there (Ian Ogilvy, who starred in all Reeve's films) with the promise of a wild new experience they subject him to the process and he leaves unwittingly under their joint mental control. By concentrating they find themselves able to control the youth's thoughts and actions at any distance while also experiencing all the sensory input that he does. As this was at the height of the summer of love in swinging London one can imagine the potential effect on these two wobbly geriatrics!

It is this element of sensory and experiential corruption of two withered old bodies that makes the film so profoundly disturbing. Karloff is riveting as a man of noble scientific intent battling with the horror of what he has done and the seductive power of being able to relive the joys and excitement of youth. He had only ever intended this first experiment as a test of the device and hadn't counted on the hedonistic allure of the wicked pleasures it would afford. Nor had he counted on the reaction of his wife... Catherine Lacey is unforgettably creepy and utterly loathsome as a frail old woman who gives herself up completely to the pleasures of the flesh and the sadistic thrill of being able to play God with another individual's life. If Karloff is a figure torn between revulsion and temptation then she represents human nature at its most nightmarishly selfish and eager to be corrupted. Watching them succumb to the unforeseen moral side effects of their infernal machine one is unavoidably made to question how oneself would react in similar circumstances making for one of the most insidiously uncomfortable and intelligent sci-fi/horror films of the 1960s. I found the experience to be profoundly unsettling.

As the physical thrill of being inside a young man's body turns to criminal urges, violence and the "ultimate experience" of murder, without any chance of being caught, Karloff and Lacey grow further apart, each battling for mastery of their victim's psyche, while he grows ever more desperate and frightened at the long and increasingly frequent blackouts he is experiencing, and his girlfriend (Elizabeth Ercy), his best mate (Victor Henry), and the police, who are investigating his unconscious crimewave, begin to suspect him of being some kind of raving maniac. One really feels for Ogilvy's character at the sheer injustice of his predicament and as his confusion and terror mounts. The film is also notable for a memorably touching cameo appearance by a very young and non-blonde Susan George as one of his victims, viciously knifed to death under Estelle's control, in a scene that still has the power to shock with its casually sleazy brutality.

Apparently Karloff was disturbed by certain elements of the script and insisted his character be made more sympathetic, not wanting to be seen as a dirty old man, and this only afforded his co-star the meatier and more memorable role. The ending, as their battle of wills comes to a remarkably grim and pessimistic conclusion, is one of the most memorably macabre in horror cinema and satisfyingly rounds off what is a perfect little gem of a chiller and one of a handful of genre pictures from its era that can be called truly groundbreaking.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.184
Posted on Monday, May 19, 2014 - 03:22 am:   

The time has come I've been looking forward to. This is my next triple bill:

'Bloodlust' (1959) by Ralph Brooke - one of many adaptations of Richard Connell's famous tale of the psychopathic hunter lording it over his remote island hideaway and having "sport" with his unwilling guests, "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924). This one is apparently quite good.

'Four Flies On Grey Velvet' (1972) by Dario Argento - after a lifetime of waiting and hoping I'm finally about to see it!! If this last of his "Animal Trilogy" is even remotely near the same level as the first two then it'll have been worth the wait! Excitement levels near critical here, folks!!

'Memories Of Murder' (2003) by Bong Joon-Ho - critically acclaimed serial killer horror based on a true case from South Korea. Favourable comparisons have been made with 'Seven' (1995) and 'Snowtown' (2011), while Joon-Ho is an exceptionally gifted director, so I'm nervously looking forward to it!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
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Posted From: 85.255.234.184
Posted on Monday, May 19, 2014 - 02:10 pm:   

And more Italian horror genius:

'Shock' (1977) directed by Mario Bava and written by Lamberto Bava & Dardano Sacchetti - this makes it six Mario Bava films I've seen now and every one a classic, imho. What I like about this director's work is the variety of horror films he made, rather than sticking to one tried and tested formula, pretty much as Dario Argento did. From the Hammeresque period gothic horror of 'Mask Of The Demon' (1960) and 'Kill, Baby, Kill' (1966) to portmanteau with 'Black Sabbath' (1963), deep space sci-fi/horror with 'Planet Of The Vampires' (1965), classic giallo with 'Blood And Black Lace' (1964), body count slasher, 'A Bay Of Blood' (1971), extreme ordeal horror, 'Rabid Dogs' (1974), etc. This one is different again being a contemporary haunted house shocker with a particularly creepy child possession angle and quite a few clever twists in its length.

The lovely Daria Nicolodi plays a mother, Dora, who has just been released after years in a mental institution - shades of Lamberto's excellent debut, 'Macabre' (1980) - following the mysterious disappearance, and assumed death, of her abusive husband, Carlo (Nicola Salerno), who is seen in dreamlike flashbacks. Returning to her former home, a remote house in the country, with her young son, Marco (David Colin), and a new husband, Bruno (John Steiner), she finds herself haunted by fractured memories of her previous life and is horrified when Marco begins to exhibit aggressively sinister behaviour toward her, apparently under the influence of his father's malicious ghost. As Bruno is away from home most of the time, working as an airline pilot, she finds herself increasingly isolated and unable to control or communicate with her formerly loving and well behaved child. While all the time the unresolved mystery of what became of her first husband hangs over them.

The film balances a noirish murder mystery and ghostly supernatural horror with Bava's usual mastery of style and storytelling and grows from subtly disturbing hints to a crescendo of frighteningly surreal horror in the final reel, as all hell breaks loose. The question of whether the disorienting manifestations, and Marco's apparent hostility, exists merely in Dora's disturbed mind or in actuality is left admirably ambiguous allowing the film to be read either as a straight "revenge from beyond the grave" ghost story or a disturbing tale of "descent into madness" due to buried guilt. We are left tantalised right up until the chilling coda, with its mockery of a return to domestic bliss, and, even then, the final shot, with what at first appears to be an answer to the mystery, is, on reflection, another visual double bluff that still has me wondering.

This is casually brilliant filmmaking that shows the director as a pure master of his craft, even when ill and near the end of his life. If it lacks some of the more dazzling flair and originality of his earlier works it is still a damn fine, solidly mounted and genuinely scary haunted house yarn that I would put at least on a par with the likes of 'Burnt Offerings' (1976) or 'The Amityville Horror' (1979). The central performance by Nicolodi is wonderfully overwrought and intense and what the character goes through paints a truly painful picture of a descent into a personal Hell that, whether supernatural or psychological, remains truly terrifying. Great stuff!!

NB: although retitled 'Beyond The Door II' in the US this film has absolutely nothing to do with the 1974 satanic horror classic by Ovidio G. Assonitis. Both feature elements of possession and that's it. This is entirely Mario Bava's vision and it's an unfairly neglected corker, imo.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.184
Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - 05:14 pm:   

But, as good as those two shockers were, what followed was of another order of filmmaking genius altogether...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.6
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - 01:57 am:   

'Snowtown' (2011) directed by Justin Kurzel and written by Shaun Grant - what a sobering experience this incredible film was. Based on the real life Snowtown murders in South Australia, north of Adelaide, that came to light in 1999 and made the town notorious overnight, it is filmed in raw documentary-like style and reaches levels of stark realism that are amongst the most convincing and upsetting I have seen in any feature film. I was forcibly reminded of the effect Lee Tamahori's 'Once Were Warriors' (1994) had on me when I first saw it. Kurzel's astonishingly assured directorial debut has a similar hard to watch, in-your-face naturalism and breathtaking incendiary power in its remorselessly bleak depiction of a low-life hell in a community ruled by violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse and palpable hopelessness. Filmed on location and including non-professional actors from the town I doubt there has ever been a true crime dramatisation as uncomfortably close to the actual events depicted. The effect of watching it is like coming face-to-face with unspeakable evil and left me disturbed and haunted for days afterward. The film is so convincing, in fact, that had it not been made with such respect for the victims and their families and avoidance of any hint of cheap sensationalism or "cashing in" then it would have been almost impossible to sit through.

The power of the film is rooted in the truly distressing commitment of its performances. These actors really do become the pathetic human beings, rather than monsters, that they play, and I can only wonder at the effect it must have had on the cast. Some serious counselling to get over their roles would have been essential, I would think! I'm a huge fan of the likes of Ken Loach and Peter Mullan, and their fearless style of raw filmmaking, but even they have never approached the levels of distress and moral outrage that such an uncompromisingly close involvement with a true story of unimaginable horror generates, as here. There is no over-acting in this movie. There is, rather, a sinking into the personas of the real people involved that was achieved by painstaking local research into all the facts and intensive interviews among the townspeople, who were all too eager to set the story straight and achieve some kind of closure, or redemption, for their horribly tarnished community.

Daniel Henshall, as the frighteningly charismatic serial killer, John Bunting, is utterly mesmerising in how he manages to get across the creepy charm and affable confidence of the man while never pushing the character over the line into raving psycho territory. It is the banal matter-of-factness of his behaviour and the reasonableness with which he corrupts those poorly educated no-hopers he lures into his web of evil. This man had the makings of another Manson and it is a thing to be eternally grateful for that he was caught after "only" killing eleven victims (that we know of) and snaring three disciples! One wonders what he is up to in prison these days, who he is mixing with and what he is saying to them, and I, for one, can barely suppress a shudder at the thought.

Bunting came into the community like a force of nature and latched onto the local fear of paedophilia, that he had suffered himself as an 8 year old, as his way into their hearts and minds, by setting himself up as an avenging angel who would rid their town of the "pervert menace" by whatever means necessary. "Who's with me?!" Fuelled by drink, drugs and righteous rage at their lot it was all too easy for this Mephistophelian charlatan to have his wicked way with their souls. This was no misguided vigilante crusade but a way for Bunting to identify and corrupt like-minded potential accomplices in fulfilling his every sadistic whim. What separated him from the three men who assisted him in the murders was that he was doing it purely for pleasure, while they, at least partially, appear to have bought into the "rightness" of their actions. There are reports of Bunting's fascination with weapons and cruelty to animals going back to the man's childhood and the abuse he suffered, and played upon, only gave him the perfect motivational cover for a life of pure self-indulgent evil. That's how I judge the creep. He was a master of reading and manipulating people and the force of his personality was just too much for the three spineless idiots he led to damnation.

The script wisely tells the story entirely from the point of view of the weakest of these three, 16 year old Jamie Vlassakis, played by newcomer and resident of Snowtown, Lucas Pittaway, who gives a heart-rendingly intense performance. Abused, along with his two younger brothers, by a neighbour, this soul dead young man is all too willing to allow Bunting's hard man father figure into his life, when he starts a relationship with the boy's mother (Louise Harris). Hero worship is made complete when his unlikely "saviour's" campaign of vicious harassment drives their paedophile neighbour from the area. From then it's only a matter of time and careful grooming of the youth before Bunting introduces him to a secret life of serial murder, under the guise of "cleaning up the streets." Joining them are two other troubled locals, a self-loathing young gay man, Robert Wagner (Aaron Viergever), and an older married alcoholic, Mark Haydon (David Walker).

Most of the film is taken up with the slow corruption of Jamie, who was the last of the three to join the gang, and the majority of the murders happen in the background around him, without his knowledge, being hinted at with admirable restraint and integrity by a slow accumulation of subtly disturbing details. The viewer sees everything through the gullible and agonisingly weak willed eyes of this haunted youth and Bunting's ruthless chipping away at the moral core of his being makes for one of the most skin-crawling seductions in cinema history. The claustrophobic hell of young Jamie's hopeless existence is palpably disturbing on a deep emotional level that reaches a trough of despair during the scene in which he is mercilessly bullied and raped by his thug of an older brother, Troy (Anthony Groves). It is this final degradation, when Bunting finds out of it, that opens the door to Jamie's complete corruption and his shell shocked inclusion in the torture and murder of "undesirables", with Troy as his first victim.

What follows is the one horribly long drawn out and intensely harrowing murder sequence that happens on-screen in the entire movie and it is indescribably upsetting to watch, not least for the animal ferocity that lights up Henshall's face as he stares into his screaming victim's dying eyes. It is the only moment his mask slips and we glimpse the full demonic force within the man. This is acting of uncommon power and ferocity! We see a man stripped, chained up in a bath, beaten, graphically tortured, mutilated, and finally throttled, by his own weeping brother, and the bone freezing visceral horror of the scene is utterly devastating after all the restraint that led up to it. When one learns that the director actually had to tone down the violence from what really happened in that grimy bathroom, for the scene to be at all permissible, the full horror of these men's crimes really hits home. The only film of a true crime case that ever shocked (and yet fascinated) me more was 'Paradise Lost : The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills' (1996) by Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky - and it was a bloody documentary with actual crime scene and courtroom footage! This may be dramatisation but, by Christ, it doesn't half feel like the real thing!!

After his brutal inauguration there's no going back for Jamie and we are left to wonder queasily about the nature of the unseen murders that "broke in" the two earlier accomplices. The last third of the film is mercifully gore free and concentrates on the moral decay that overwhelms the killers and leads to a ridiculous widening of the criteria with which they select their victims. One poor young lad is killed merely because he keeps snakes and is deemed a "spastic". This revealing of the true motivation behind the crimes - the pure cold blooded thrill of inflicting pain and death - couldn't help but remind me of the Shankill Butchers case in Belfast in the 1970s that began ostensibly as tit-for-tat killings of randomly picked up Catholics, in revenge for IRA atrocities, and ultimately descended into the wanton torture, mutilation and murder of anyone they could get their hands on, including from the very community that they were so fiercely protective of... what bollocks!!

Mark my words, this is a film of true genius and one of the greatest I have ever seen. One can only wonder how Justin Kurzel could possibly follow it. I've heard he's currently working in Britain on a new film of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', with Michael Fassbender, that threatens to outdo even Polanski's 1971 masterpiece in the bloody horror stakes!

Time will tell if this debut was a one-off work of alchemical perfection or the beginning of a great career. I await the results with nervously bated breath...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.6
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - 05:21 pm:   

After such an intense experience I felt the need for a return to lighter fare with the next bill:

'The Wasp Woman' (1959) directed by Roger Corman and written by Leo Gordon - this is one of Corman's better early efforts and actually benefits from a dead straight treatment of the outlandish material, rather than descending into the crass humour that, for me, marred 'A Bucket Of Blood' (1959) and made 'The Creature From The Haunted Sea' (1961) all but unwatchable. For the record, and in my opinion, his only successful comedic picture was 'The Little Shop Of Horrors' (1960). Clearly influenced by the success of 'The Fly' (1958) this film features a near identical monster in the form of a middle aged business woman in the cosmetics industry, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot), who undergoes secret experimental beauty treatment by injections of "queen wasp jelly" that have the unfortunate side effect of transforming her into a carnivorous wasp headed mutant at periodic intervals - when she must kill and consume the flesh of her victims to regain human form! The film isn't anything special but rattles along at a nice pace and makes for enjoyably nonsensical hokum. Michael Mark plays the well meaning eccentric scientist, Dr Zinthrop, who came up with the mad scheme, and William Roerick, Barboura Morris and Frank Gerstle are the trio of concerned associates whose investigations uncover the horrible truth, making them targets for the demented wasp woman's fury. Not a bad wee sci-fi/horror potboiler on the theme of female vanity and trying to turn back the clock leading to a terrible fall. Essential viewing for any woman considering plastic surgery or botox treatment. They might end up transformed into a baboon!

'Troll' (1986) directed by John Carl Buechler and written by Ed Naha - this is an odd little film from the hey day of animatronic special effects that isn't quite adult horror and isn't quite family entertainment fantasy either. One of an avalanche of black comedy horrors inspired by the smash hit success of 'Gremlins' (1984) this is closer to that film's formula than any other of the imitators, featuring children as the main protagonists and a variety of clueless adult caricatures as the victims, all in some way deserving their fate. The creature effects and troll make-up are excellent and much more gruesome than in Joe Dante's opus while the death sequences too are more nauseatingly imaginative, fully utilising the fantastical magic powers of the ugly little monster. The story follows a typical American family, the Potters, as they move into their new home in a spooky old apartment building and fall foul of the diminutive hairy beast that hides in the cellar, right from day one. Michael Moriarty is in his usual enjoyably OTT form as the goofy father, Shelley Hack is the quintessential sweeter than sweet US mom, Noah Hathaway plays the overly imaginative son with an interest in all things weird, one Harry Potter (no less!), and Jenny Beck steals the show in a great performance as the perfect younger sister transformed into a leering brat from hell when she is abducted by the hideous troll that then assumes her form to wreak its mischief unsuspected upon the rest of the building's assortment of oddball tenants. These include a number of entertaining cameos, including; June Lockhart (Ma Robinson from 'Lost In Space' - with real life daughter Anne Lockhart playing her younger self in a clever bit of casting) as the resident witch who befriends young Harry and sets him on the path to wizardry (coincidence?), Sonny Bono as an ageing and hilariously sexist lothario, Gary Sandy as a ridiculously gung-ho former Marine, Julia-Louis Dreyfus as a preening model undone by her own vanity (she's drop dead gorgeous here and we get to see her running around partially clothed!!), Brad Hall as her obnoxious sex mad partner and Phil Fondacaro as a kind-hearted dwarf who is mistaken as an elf and unfortunately "befriended" by the troll, Torok (also played by Fondacaro). It's the wonderful cast, all clearly having great fun, and the outrageously grotesque special effects that raise this film to genuine cult classic status despite the perfunctory direction and almost incomprehensible plot. Something about Torok attempting to create a new dark fairyland in the building by transforming each of the residents into a parade of hideous little bloodthirsty monsters, each reflecting the main flaw in their character, and their apartments into a variety of fairy worlds that, once completed, will break free and return the modern world outside to a place of mediaeval fantasy (huh?!), unless some brave young soul is able to master the power of a magic spear that is the one thing that can kill the sorcerous creature. Fast paced, funny and with an irresistible charm the film succeeds despite all its flaws and is probably the best of all the 'Gremlins' clones that littered the 80s and 90s. Don't expect anything like great cinema but rather a daft bit of nostalgic fun and you won't be disappointed.

'Reeker' (2005) written and directed by Dave Payne - this was a brave and interesting but not entirely successful attempt at doing something different with the teen slasher format. Taking its inspiration from the "cheating death" histrionics of the 'Final Destination' franchise (2000-11) and the return to the classic monster movie format, that we have the marvellous 'Jeepers Creepers' films (2001-03) to thank for, as well as a heady dose of 'Twilight Zone' type weirdness, and the central premise of the far superior French horror film, 'Dead End' (2003) by Jean-Baptiste Andrea & Fabrice Canepa, the end result is a bit of a fitfully entertaining hotchpotch of sketchily worked out ideas that suffers from bad pacing and awkward storytelling as well as a general lack of coherence. The plot involves a group of typically irritating young Americans on their way to a remote desert rave, where they intend getting wasted on ridiculous amounts of drink and drugs, who instead find themselves broken down and stranded at an eerily deserted roadside motel in the middle of nowhere. The first half of the movie attempts to go for creepy weirdness over the expected stalk and slash thrills but, sadly, the director doesn't have the talent to keep our attentions or create any real atmosphere and the long build-up is frustratingly plodding as a result. Things improve with the eventual appearance of the really quite original monster, a kind of skull-faced hi-tech incarnation of the Grim Reaper himself, that one is first made aware of by its reeking odour of putrefaction, before the thing rips through the veil of reality armed with a variety of buzzing and whirring death dealing devices. There is a nice cameo by the ever reliable Michael Ironside, as another doomed soul trapped at the Halfway Motel (yes, you guessed it), and some great gory killings and exciting chase sequences, once things get going, but the big "twist" is so obviously sign-posted from the beginning that it may as well not have been there and the film, for all its laudable intent, has to be seen as something of a missed opportunity. Good monster, nice effects, worth watching, and that's about it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.6
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - 06:20 pm:   

Incidentally, Craig, you won't be surprised, I'm sure, to hear that I really loved 'Four Flies On Grey Velvet'. Those early films saw Argento at his most professional and truly Hitchcockian as a director. Here's how I'd now rank the "Animal Trilogy":

1. Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)
2. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1969)
3. Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1972)

But the difference in quality between all of them is nary a hair's breadth. Effortlessly superb giallo cinema of astounding technique and great beauty, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.234.29
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - 11:49 pm:   

Before moving on to another viewing of 'Profondo Rosso' (1975) I've decided to do this chrono watch right by first watching all four episodes of Argento's 1973 horror TV series, 'Door Into Darkness'. Each separate story is an hour long giallo thriller made in the same style as the "Animal Trilogy" and commissioned by Italian TV to cash in on their popularity. The result caused controversy, apparently, by breaking the boundaries of permitted violence on television at the time and no doubt the producers were well pleased with that! The stories are; "The Neighbour", "The Tram", "Eyewitness" and "The Doll", and each is introduced by Argento himself, who was already a superstar director in Italy on the back of his first three films.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2014 - 02:59 pm:   

This started a really classy triple bill on the old favourite theme of a naive innocent investigating a sinister mystery that would have been better left well alone:

'Rebecca' (1940) directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by Philip MacDonald & Michael Hogan - ever since first seeing it as a young teenager I have insisted that this great film is one of the best haunted house ghost stories ever made. Horror fans usually act like I'm nuts when I say it but let me explain. This is a ghost story without a ghost but with a palpably evil presence from beyond the grave dominating an imposing gothic mansion and all those poor souls who live within it. It is a tale of psychological possession by a hideously corrupt personality that tainted all who came into contact with it and refuses to free them from the chains of the past. Manderley is haunted by the unquiet malicious dead every bit as much as was Hill House, the Belasco House or the Overlook Hotel. Hitchcock's genius was in getting that across through pure atmospherics and a perfectly paced escalation of dread that completely eschewed sensationalism in favour of pure story and intensely sympathetic characterisation.

The creepy opening dream sequence, with its iconic voiceover by the lead character (Joan Fontaine, in her most memorable role as the second Mrs de Winter), sets the scene brilliantly, sending delicious shivers down the spine with its intimations of the strange and dreadful story to come. From there we are plunged into a deceptively sunny and carefree past as we meet our heroine, who is never named, on holiday in Monte Carlo, as paid companion to the insufferable snob, Edythe Van Hopper (Florence Bates). There follows a fateful cliff top meeting with the enigmatic widower, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier, at his most dashing and yet oddly haunted by some unspoken trouble), and a charming whirlwind romance unfolds that ends in a shock proposal of marriage and escape from the odious employ of the outraged Ms Van Hopper. The honeymoon is like an impossible dream come true for this naive young working class girl and then they return to the family estate and the imposing facade of Manderley in the wilds of windswept Cornwall and the dream all too soon turns to nightmare.

Hopelessly out of her depth for the role of lady of the manor and receiving no help from the self-absorbed Maxim, who retreats into brooding morbidity on his return to the house, she finds herself painfully isolated and overwhelmed. Her feelings of inadequacy are heightened by constant reminders of how strong willed and well respected a person the first Mrs de Winter, Rebecca, had been and the poor girl reads her husband's surliness as his realisation that she can never hope to eclipse Rebecca in his heart. But worst of all is the open hostility and subtle mental bullying she experiences from the venomous housekeeper, Mrs Danvers (Judith Anderson, stealing the show), who idolised her former mistress and never misses an opportunity to point out, with withering scorn, the new Mrs de Winter's every faux pas as she tries desperately to fit in and adapt to her daunting new life. Then, also, there is the never to be discussed mystery of just how Rebecca met her untimely death. The story goes she went sailing from the beach house and never returned, her body being washed up miles along the coast where it was identified by her heartbroken husband, but every attempt to discuss the tragedy is met with frightened silence from the servants or explosive anger from Maxim. The insufferable strain of this miserable existence threatens to destroy their relationship before it has ever had a chance to get off the ground, despite the girl's heart-rending adoration of her "ideal husband".

However, curious lonely investigations lead the girl to shocking revelations about Rebecca's true nature as a cruel and twisted libertine who led a double life of unspeakable vice with a string of disreputable lovers, chief among them her odious "cousin", Jack Favell (George Sanders, in gloriously caddish form), and including, I would contend, the physical seduction of the psychotically besotted Mrs Danvers, whose shrine-like veneration of her bedroom and pawing over of her undergarments is chilling to behold. Dark suspicions begin to rise, fired by Maxim's increasingly volatile temper, that Rebecca did not meet a natural end and the current Mrs de Winter begins to feel ever more threatened in her precarious position as unwanted and unloved interloper.

**** BEWARE SPOILERS ****

Hitchcock cranks up the emotional suspense and sense of impending doom with impeccable understatement and pitch perfect pacing while Fontaine makes for one of his most agonisingly vulnerable heroines and Anderson is an unforgettably spine-chilling presence as the calculating and measured villainess who never puts a foot wrong but whose icy stare speaks volumes. The pivotal scene in which Danvers, under the palpably demonic influence of Rebecca's persona, completely crushes her hated rival's spirit and coaxes her to the brink of suicide is a masterclass of understated psychological terror. The hatred that flows from her eyes shows how utterly possessed by her former mistress's poisonous personality she has become and, I would again contend, makes her final act of self-destructive madness readable as a last howl of impotent rage from beyond the grave by the force that so completely dominates her.

What makes the story unique for its time, however, and still unsettling when one thinks of it, is how it craftily got away with condoning murder at the height of the artistically stifling Hays Code. Make no mistake, Maxim de Winter is revealed here as a killer with an uncontrollable temper, and his love struck new wife is shown to be willingly complicit in covering up his bloody crime. I didn't buy for one moment his feeble story of Rebecca "falling and hitting her head" moments after he admits he had struck her in a blind rage, on hearing of her "pregnancy". And neither would any rational individual unless they had to believe it for their own self-preservation. I ask you, who are the real villains in Daphne Du Maurier's story? What do we really know of Rebecca other than the judgement bestowed on her lifestyle by priggish conservatives and was Favell really so wrong in his, admittedly self-serving, attempts to see justice done after the failure of his blackmail attempt? Maxim was successfully goaded into murdering his first wife and that is the real reason why he remains so haunted by her, not merely because he disposed of her body following an unfortunate accident. Fontaine's character knows this but wipes the fact from her conscience and decides to live in silence with the knowledge which is the real reason she states "We can never go back to Manderley again." The vengeful spirit of Rebecca has won in the end and they can never know true happiness. Her poison now pollutes them every bit as effectively as it did poor mad Mrs Danvers.

That's why I call this marvellously restrained and haunting Hitchcockian masterpiece a ghost story. If ever there was a tale of an evil spirit possessing and destroying the living as a deviously plotted revenge from beyond the grave then it is here. When that private doctor in London signed Rebecca's death warrant he also sealed the fate of every other character in the story, and their's was the road to damnation.

Everything about the film is beautifully stylised. The ravishing cast, all at the height of their powers, the gloriously rich cinematography by George Barnes, the larger than life realisation of the fictional Manderley itself, out of opulent sets and inspired model work, the immortal quotability of the wonderfully literate dialogue, Franz Waxman's deliriously romantic and yet ominous score and the sheer overwrought melodrama of what the characters go through with its layer upon layer of psychosexual double meaning and beguiling supernatural subtext. Deservedly (and disgracefully) winning his only Best Picture Oscar it will forever remain one of Hitchcock's most imperishable masterpieces!
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2014 - 04:49 pm:   

Actually, Stevie, I'm a bit surprised you loved Four Flies on Grey Velvet... me, I was disappointed: I thought it lesser Argento. Though, it had going for it, it was made near the peak of Argento's powers/gaillos generally; and, it was nowhere near as terrible as later, 90's/2000's Argento. Still: Fulci's lesser effort The Psychic (1977), say, or yes, Bava's lesser Shock, beat Argento's lesser Four Flies, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2014 - 07:32 pm:   

Plot wise it's the most far fetched of the trilogy, and that's saying something, but stylistically I found it every bit as strong as the first two. Beautiful use of darkness and contrasting colours, a wonderful Morricone soundtrack (as with all three films), likeably charismatic performances from Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Francine Racette, Bud Spencer and, most of all, Jean-Pierre Marielle's eccentric gay detective and some of Argento's most inspired and groundbreaking suspense set pieces. And I thought the final twist was a great piece of cinematic subterfuge. Seriously, Craig, I consider it a classic of the form that pointed the way to his continued evolution as a great director with 'Profondo Rosso' (1975).
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2014 - 03:32 pm:   

You have a very fair point, Stevie—I saw it and initially took the whole in, judging it as such. But I really should go back and pay attention to the finer details... I probably would appreciate it more. After all, Profondo Rosso even isn't perfect, especially in its uncut form. Argento knows how to direct—Do You Like Hitchcock? has some tantalizingly good scenes, that sure make you wish it were better. But the span of his career is quite long, and the heyday of giallo is long since passed (sadly). One must be somewhat forgiving....
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2014 - 04:08 pm:   

'Profondo Rosso' is about to become the first film I've watched twice since starting these triple bills back in October 2010. My last viewing was of the much longer uncut Italian language version and this upcoming one will be of the shorter English language version I was always familiar with, and haven't seen in about 15 years. I thought the original director's cut was superior and more coherent plot wise to what was already Argento's first unarguable masterpiece. With him it's all in the wondrous technique, innovation and artistry, Craig. His films are pure operatic cinema at its most deliriously melodramatic. He'd have made a great silent director.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2014 - 07:13 pm:   

Does anyone here know where I can get an English subtitled copy of the Dario Argento film 'Five Days In Milan' (1973)?

Apparently it's well worth watching and one of his most underrated films, even if it was his one and only non horror movie to date. A lavish black comedy historical epic about the 1848 revolution in Italy, it's only commercially available in Italian with no subtitles, unfortunately, but if that's how I have to watch it then so be it. Favourable comparisons have been made to Leone's 'A Fistful Of Dynamite (1971) and Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon' (1975) so I've got to see it!

Had the film been a box office success - it failed dismally due to audience demand for more giallo thrillers - then Argento might have went on to become a true auteur making a variety of non-genre films. I can't help having mixed feelings on realising it was this experience that entrenched him ever after as a horror film maker and led to his greatest masterpieces.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 - 05:57 am:   

'Blue Velvet' (1986) written and directed by David Lynch - this was the film that had everyone sighing with relief as it got Lynch's fledgling career back on track following his disastrous experience with 'Dune' (1984). Having said that my honest reaction on first seeing the film was one of intense dislike. I'm a huge fan of classic film noir thrillers and this "sorry mess" came across almost like a piss-take of the genre, a pretentious and wilfully unexciting anti-thriller that shamelessly trampled all over viewer expectations. But then I grudgingly sat through it again a couple of years later and it was like watching a film I'd never seen before. Shorn of the demand to be thrilled by conventional plot mechanics and curious as to how I could have missed what all the critics were raving about I took more of an interest in the weird journey the characters take and became fascinated by their seemingly bizarre and illogical motivations. Then it hit me! This was David Lynch laying his soul bare and revealing his own passionate philosophy to the world in a way he hadn't done since his startlingly raw and nightmarish debut, 'Eraserhead' (1977). And his was a message that chimed completely with my own individualistic way of looking at the world and taking nothing at face value. Basically, I fell in love with the picture once I became aware of its real subversive intent and stopped comparing it to anything that had gone before.

Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle McLachlan, in his best role) is David Lynch and he is also every decent nerd with a heart and a puzzled fascination for the dark side of existence out there i.e. myself and most every other horror fan I've encountered. He reacts to the intrusion of horror and mystery into his life exactly as any of us would by turning amateur detective and trying to fathom not just whodunit and why but how such things could be. This is a young man in love with life and very much at ease with himself who is given an education in evil but who has the strength, integrity and compassion not to be corrupted by it but to absorb the information and deal with it while staying true to his own character and innermost convictions. I identified with him completely and applauded all of his actions, even on my first viewing, liking to think that's how I would have acted in the same circumstances. I felt the same way about James Stewart's character in 'Rear Window' (1954), Tony Musante in 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage' (1969) or Keith Gordon in 'Dressed To Kill' (1980) but, where the directors of those thrillers were interested in the pure mechanics of telling a gripping suspense story, Lynch treated the plot as secondary to his characters' motivations and how the experience tested and changed them, or not. Pivotal scenes in the resolution of the story happen off screen and we are time and again frustrated in our Hollywood fed expectations of how a pulp mystery thriller should pan out. That's because this is more of a morality play reflecting the writer/director's own passionately held faith in the inherent decency of mankind and the eternal dominance of rational good over irrational evil.

The finding of a severed human ear precipitates our hero not into adventure but on a dark ride into a world of psychopathic criminals and sexual perversion that he watches parade past him in stunned horror. The fear and disgust he feels is not enough, however, to stop him delving deeper into this foetid underworld that hides under the surface of his familiar all-American neighbourhood - like the bugs that crawl and slither under the perfect illusion of a well maintained lawn. But it isn't morbid curiosity nor some freshly kindled sick desire that drives him on in his dangerous investigations but feelings of overwhelming human compassion for the innocent victim of the story, the glamorous nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), as he realises she is being forced to submit to the demented sex games of the terrifyingly unhinged gangster, Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper, giving the performance of his career), due to his having kidnapped her husband and young son. Jeffrey realises he is hopelessly out of his depth but also that he is the only one who can help this poor woman. So he risks his life and his budding relationship with his one confidante, Sandy (Laura Dern) - who represents the flip side of feminity from Rossellini's dark woman of the world - in order to see justice done. Yeah, he succumbs to Vallens' distraught appeals for physical affection but he is only human, rather than a white knight, and the desire to provide succour in times of stress is a powerful aphrodisiac.

Inevitably coming to the attention of Frank and his cackling cronies Jeffrey is taken on a nightmare journey into the heart of their diseased world and barely escapes with his life. But still he does the decent thing when approached in the street by the helplessly naked Dorothy, even though it means letting his dark secret come out in front of Sandy and her respectable family. The boy seeking adventure has become a man accepting responsibility for his actions and it was just right he should be forgiven and congratulated in the end. He survived the journey having acquired wisdom and kept his integrity and love of life intact where many a weaker soul would have crumpled or succumbed to disillusionment, thus handing victory to the Franks of this world.

Overall the story is one of leaving childish things behind and rising to the challenge of maturity. Something that Frank was never able to do. That moment in the car when Jeffrey dared to defy and strike out at the terrifying bogeyman in front of him was when everything changed and Frank was left hopelessly behind in his child-man's fantasy world. We all face such moments of pivotal decision in our lives and this deceptively simple story of good vs evil actually shows us the risks and the rewards of doing what one knows in one's heart is the right thing to do. Even if it isn't exactly the most sensible course of action! Lynch clearly agrees with Edmund Burke's famous maxim - 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' Listen to your heart over your head when it comes to dealing with moral decisions is the message.

The film reveals its maker not as a cynic or some unfathomable weirdo but as a hopeless romantic armed with the knowledge of the dark side to bring his vision to life devoid of turgid sentimentality. 'Blue Velvet' exists in a cinematic world where Capraesque fantasy meets the harsh reality of film noir, they slug it out, and the good guys win, though not without getting a little dirty. So is the way by which we gain experience and wisdom. It is, imo, the director's fourth greatest masterpiece so far. No prizes for guessing the three above it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.1.56.95
Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - 01:20 am:   

This month's DVD haul:

'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' (1959) by Terence Fisher - one of the best films Hammer ever produced and, imo, the greatest of all the adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous novel and the finest on screen portrayal of Holmes & Watson ever! The Basil Rathbone version is another imperishable classic but this one just pips it, for me.

'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967) by Roman Polanski - a strong contender for the finest and funniest horror comedy ever made and another instant masterpiece of the genre for Polanski, then at the very height of his powers. Visionary and sublime it remains one of his most beautiful films.

'The Stepford Wives' (1975) by Bryan Forbes - forget the bollocks comedy remake, this is the real deal. A seriously scary and gripping paranoid horror thriller based on Ira Levin's great novel. Another of those effortlessly enthralling big budget adult entertainments that are the reason the 1970s is such a venerated decade.

'To The Devil A Daughter' (1976) by Peter Sykes - and here's another one! This is my personal favourite Hammer Horror as it was the very first X-rated movie I ever saw in the cinema and it scared the living crap out of me. Christopher Lee has never been more frightening than here. An all too often overlooked masterpiece of shit scary satanic horror that saw the studio bow out (for a time) on an absolute high.

'Audrey Rose' (1977) by Robert Wise - and another!! The director's last horror film is another belter of serious minded adult entertainment that suffered from unfair comparisons with 'The Exorcist' (1973). Wise never intended trying to emulate Friedkin's masterpiece but rather responded to its sociological impact by approaching the same subject matter, possession, from a different and less sensationalist angle. The result is one of the most subtle, convincing and disquieting supernatural dramas of its decade.

'The Boys From Brazil' (1978) by Franklin J. Schaffner - and yet another!!! Nothing to do with the World Cup this is another fantastic adaptation of an Ira Levin novel. Again it's one of the finest paranoid conspiracy horror thrillers ever made with a plot that involves the resurrection of Hitler by a secret global organisation of Nazis, led by the demonic Dr Mengele, himself. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

'Sorority House Massacre' (1986) by Carol Frank - one of the quintessential teen slasher movies that littered the 1980s in the wake of 'Halloween' (1978) and 'Friday The 13th' (1980). I've heard it's one of the better ones and should make for a fun nostalgic ride whatever.

'Graveyard Disturbance' (1987) by Lamberto Bava - a real find this one. All I know is that it's an Italian zombie horror comedy, of the intentionally funny variety, as opposed to the likes of 'Zombie Creeping Flesh', etc. Bava was at the height of his powers at the time so I'm really looking forward to it.

'They Live' (1988) by John Carpenter - one of my all time favourite sci-fi/horror movies that I haven't seen in far too many years. This was perhaps the last of Carpenter's films to show the full originality and exuberant energy of the films that made him famous. It is almost ridiculously entertaining and perfectly handled from first scene to last.

'Witchcraft' (1988) by Fabrizio Laurenti - Italian horror with Linda Blair and The Hoff facing off in a battle against satanic forces of evil. Yeah, you read that right. This one I gotta see!

'Witchcraft' (1988) by Rob Spera - weird coincidence time. Without knowing either existed I pick up, within days of each other, two horror films made the same year with the exact same title. This one apparently spawned no less than twelve sequels ffs!! Surely the first one has to be half decent?!

'The 'burbs' (1989) by Joe Dante - timeless horror comedy from one of the masters of the genre. Tom Hanks found his perfect level in these early comedies before people started taking him seriously as an actor and he began to get miscast all over the shop. This is one of Dante's most subversively entertaining crowd pleasers and a real classic of its type.

'Chopper Chicks In Zombietown' (1989) by Dan Hoskins - more zombie horror comedy shenanigans. It's one that passed me by at the time so I look forward to seeing it at last. I have a soft spot for Troma's brand of unpretentious B-movies and this is one of their most "highly regarded". It stars Billy Bob Thornton!

'Fire Walk With Me' (1992) by David Lynch - found a copy at last! Now I have to get the 'Twin Peaks' box set and that chrono watch can finally happen. I saw this in the cinema at the time (and not since) and thought it was profoundly disturbing, casting a whole new sinister light over the TV series that "followed" the events portrayed. One of Lynch's most underrated excursions into the world of nightmares made real.

'Powder' (1995) by Victor Salva - saw this once before on telly many years ago and remember being highly impressed. It's kind of like 'Edward Scissorhands' (1990) done as serious drama but with a pleasing and rather creepy ambiguity as to the true nature and motivations of the misunderstood mutant trying to live among us. Looking forward to a reappraisal.

'Anaconda' (1997) by Luis Llosa - when it came out in the cinema I really enjoyed this OTT romp as a gloriously old-fashioned unpretentious monster movie, clearly inspired by 'The Creature From The Black Lagoon' (1954), with great effects and a delirious lead performance by Jon Voight. Grossly misunderstood and underrated at the time I look forward to seeing it again.

'I Know What You Did Last Summer' (1997) by Jim Gillespie - a superior slasher movie, imo, that was the best film of its kind from the era - including 'Scream' (1996). I only recently found out it was based on a best selling novel, of the same title, from the 1970s, by Lois Duncan. That no doubt explains the unusually literate plot. Forgive it the abysmal cash-in sequels.

'Deep Rising' (1998) by Stephen Sommers - saw this once before on telly and thought it was a real gem hidden among an abundance of dross at the time. Excellent monster effects, serious scares, thrilling action sequences, a great cast playing it with just the right level of knowing humour and a wonderfully witty script make this one of the most entertaining Lovecraftian horrors I have seen. A cherishable minor classic, imo.

'Urban Legend' (1998) by Jamie Blanks - an interesting if not entirely successful attempt to do something a bit different with the then reburgeoning teen slasher genre. It pointed the way to the likes of 'Final Destination' (2000) and is a fun if unremarkable watch. I'd rank it some way behind 'Scream' and IKWYDLS but among the best of their imitators.

'Battle Royale' (2000) by Kinji Fukasaku - stone cold instant classic sci-fi/horror epic that blew me away the first and only time I saw it! The premise, based on the novel by Koushun Takami [inspired by Robert A. Heinlein's 'Tunnel In The Sky' (1955), which was itself a response to William Golding's 'Lord Of The Flies' (1954)], is genius itself and couldn't have been better served by the visionary direction, marvellously literate script and fantastic ensemble acting by a great young cast. Forget 'The Hunger Games'... this is the dog's bollocks!!

'Sympathy For Mr Vengeance' (2002) by Park Chan-Wook - any serious fan of great cinema who has yet to see Chan-Wook's incredible Vengeance Trilogy needs to do so asap. As inspired as they all are, for my money, the best and most shockingly bleak and violent is this first entry. A genre bending tale of descent into obsessive madness and terrible reprisal following the loss of a loved one during a botched kidnapping by desperately human "criminals". It's like the ultimate Patricia Highsmith psychological horror adaptation of a work she never wrote but should have. A masterpiece!

'Oldboy' (2003) by Park Chan-Wook - this second of the trilogy, based on a manga comicbook, is the one that brought the great South Korean auteur to the attention of the world, and rightly so. It's one of the most jaw-droppingly extreme, original, unpredictable and thoroughly gripping grand guignol revenge thrillers ever made with a devastating final twist that makes everything a whole lot worse. Choi Min-Sik, as the deranged anti-hero who goes through fifteen years of hell before his terrifying wrath is unleashed on those who persecuted him, gives the performance of the decade and is never less than riveting to watch. Another masterpiece!

'The Brothers Grimm' (2005) by Terry Gilliam - I missed this at the time and nervously keen to see it as by the sound of things it's the closest Gilliam has come to a supernatural horror movie. As usual with his films the critics didn't seem to know what to make of it and the reviews were decidedly mixed. I have great faith in the man, however, and as this was made back-to-back with his most recent masterpiece 'Tideland' (2005) I'm sure there must be plenty to love about it. I see the script was by Ehren Kruger which has me even more intrigued.

'The Cave' (2005) by Bruce Hunt - seriously underrated Lovecraftian horror B-movie with great creature effects and effectively claustrophobic location camerawork in a real cave system that was overshadowed at the time by Neil Marshall's masterpiece 'The Descent' (2005). It's not in the same league but is an extremely good horror movie in its own right.

'Lady Vengeance' (2005) by Park Chan-Wook - the most relatively subtle and insidiously disturbing of the trilogy this blindingly impressive and complex tale of nightmarish revenge, worked out with chilling patience over many years, really will make you believe that "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"! Unlike most revenge thrillers I defy anyone to work out how this one will be resolved as the horribly wronged anti-heroine is portrayed by Lee Young-Ae as a fully rounded three dimensional real woman, rather than some screaming harpie, and the horror comes from our and her conflicting emotions over whether the plan should succeed or not. For it is truly terrible... Yep, another one!

'Black Sheep' (2006) by Jonathan King - early Peter Jackson inspired schlock comedy horror from New Zealand, about killer sheep on the rampage, that I've heard nothing but good reports about. Fingers crossed it's even half as funny and imaginative as the films it attempted to emulate.

'Dead Snow' (2009) by Tommy Wirkola - more zombie comedy horror, this time of the Nazi variety. I'm curious to compare it to the batch of other highly impressive Scandinavian horror films of recent years; 'Cold Prey' (2006), 'Rare Exports' (2010), 'Troll Hunter' (2010), etc. Again, I've heard nothing but good reports.

'The Hole' (2009) by Joe Dante - saw it at the time and thoroughly enjoyed it as an old fashioned throwback to the 1980s supernatural thrill rides that this director always excelled at. Great unpretentious entertainment for horror and non-horror fans alike. It was good to see him back.

'Shock Labyrinth' (2009) by Takashi Shimizu - I've yet to be disappointed by this great Japanese horror director and some of his films are among the finest, most original and damn scary I ever saw e.g. 'Ju-On : The Grudge' (2002) and his Lovecraftian masterpiece 'Marebito' (2004). I know nothing about this one but it seemed to divide the critics so I'll make my own mind up. The fact that Shimizu believed so strongly in the project he went on to make a sequel, 'Tormented' (2011), bodes well vibes wise. We shall see...

'Stoker' (2013) by Park Chan-Wook - for me this is the director's greatest masterpiece to date and the most successful American debut by any of the great Asian horror directors of recent years. Beautifully made, written and acted I would rank it as the greatest homage to Hitchcock I have seen and equals many of the maestros finest films! Think 'Shadow Of A Doubt' (1943) meets 'Vertigo' (1958) by way of 'Psycho' (1960) but all filtered through Chan-Wook's unique vision. The Stoker family have to be one of the most horrible, yet all too believably human, bunch of damaged psychopaths in horror cinema history. I'm surprised some of the scenes ever made it onto the screen, being made in the States, while the incestuous subject matter is guaranteed to send shivers down the spine. This is the very best Southern Gothic horror melodrama I have ever seen!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.29.1
Posted on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 02:21 pm:   

This month I've gone out of my way to order a stack of old horror movies, from the silent era to the mid-1960s, as I was starting to run low for the triple bills. Some great old favourites and never seen before classics - going right back to the dawn of cinema - to come.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.64
Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - 02:08 am:   

Great stuff! I finally picked up a copy of Jaume Balagueró's 'The Nameless' (1999). I've been dying to see this adaptation of one of Ramsey's scariest novels for quite some time. Heard good things about it and I've been highly impressed by any of the director's films I've seen to date - 'Sleep Tight' (2011) in particular - so fingers crossed.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.29.1
Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 04:04 pm:   

I've gone horror DVD nuts this last while. Collected over a hundred of the things dirt cheap this last month or two. And I still haven't been to the cinema at all this year! Every time I look there's nothing on takes my fancy. Have there been any decent horrors of late, anyone?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.29.1
Posted on Monday, August 04, 2014 - 01:17 pm:   

Here they are...

'The Hunchback Of Notre Dame' (1923) by Wallace Worsley - the famous Lon Chaney Snr silent version that I haven’t seen before and, great as it no doubt is, can't see bettering the 1939 remake with Charles Laughton.

'The Cat And The Canary' (1927) by Paul Leni - another famous and hugely influential silent horror that, again, will be going some to improve on the 1939 remake, starring Bob Hope - one of my all time favourite horror comedies. This one too will be new to me.

'King Kong' (1933) by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack - a sin that it took until now for me to add this greatest of all monster movies to my collection. It pisses all over the two misguided remakes, imho, and remains one of cinema's greatest and most thrilling masterpieces - irrespective of genre! Give me stop motion animation over bloody CGI any day. Interestingly, I was reading an interview with Jan Ðvankmajer recently in which he was asked what form of animation he intended using for his upcoming new film ‘The Insects’... his answer, “I have grave reservations about the merits of computer animation.” I’d have punched the bloke!

'Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street' (1936) by George King - really curious to see this as Tod Slaughter is a British horror icon I remain completely in the dark about. Haven't seen a single one of his films and this was the most famous of them all. Incidentally, I loved Tim Burton’s version of the musical and can’t wait to see the story done as a straight gothic horror melodrama.

'The Gorilla' (1939) by Allan Dwan - horror comedy featuring the all but forgotten Ritz Brothers (Al, Harry & Jimmy). I’ve never seen any of their films, though, in their day, they were considered serious rivals to the immortal Marx Brothers. It also features Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill, no doubt hamming it up to riotous effect. This was another 1939 remake of a silent horror classic, ‘The Gorilla’ (1927).

'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' (1939) by Sidney Lanfield - the greatest of all the Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce adaptations of Holmes & Watson and only marginally pipped, imo, by the 1959 Hammer version. I haven’t seen this gloriously atmospheric classic in donkey’s years. It also features the ever reliable Lionel Atwill and John Carradine. Pure gothic horror brilliance!

'Son Of Frankenstein' (1939) by Rowland V. Lee - Ditto! The last truly great entry in the Universal cycle of Frankenstein movies and the last time Boris Karloff would don the famous make-up. Timelessly brilliant horror entertainment with Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill also all at the height of their powers. What a great year for cinema 1939 was!!

'The Ape' (1940) by William Nigh - sounds like an intriguing horror vehicle for Boris Karloff that would appear to have been virtually remade as 'The Ape Man' in 1943 with Lugosi in the same "mad scientist turning into killer monkey man" role. Should be good craic.

'The Ghost Train' (1941) by Walter Forde - I have very fond hazy memories from my childhood of seeing this ghostly horror comedy, starring Arthur Askey, on the telly and wonder if it still stands up today? We shall see. It was famously based on a play written by the young Arnold Ridley... yes, Private Godfrey himself.

'Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man' (1943) by Roy William Neill - first and best of Universal's multiple monster cash-in movies of the 40s with Lon Chaney Jnr reprising his most famous role and Bela Lugosi looking decidedly odd as the Frankenstein monster. I recall the opening sequence of this film scaring the bejesus out of me as a child and it remains one of my favourites of the series. Wonderful entertainment. And that completes my collection of all the classic Universal monster movies so a chrono watch is now possible!

'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1943) by Arthur Lubin - I've never seen this reputedly excellent technicolor version of the story, with Claude Rains as the infamous masked Phantom. Many critics seem to rank this film as the best adaptation of the story, though I doubt it could beat the potent atmospherics of the 1925 Lon Chaney Snr version. To my knowledge this was the only Universal monster movie made in colour. Really looking forward to it.

'Revenge Of The Zombies' (1943) by Steve Sekely - sequel to the very first horror movie I watched when I started these triple bills way up at the top of this thread, 'King Of The Zombies' (1941). I believe it stars John Carradine as a Nazi scientist reanimating the dead to fight for Hitler and, again, features the comic relief talents of Mantan Moreland as the cowardly Jeff.

'Shadow Of A Doubt' (1943) by Alfred Hitchcock - Hitch's own personal favourite of all his films and one of mine. The story still has the power to shock and packs one hell of a powerful emotional punch. Joseph Cotten is the very personification of the banality of evil as the calm deliberate serial killer, Uncle Charlie, and Teresa Wright is heartbreakingly vulnerable as his adoring niece. A timeless masterpiece!

'Arsenic And Old Lace' (1944) by Frank Capra - one of Capra's very best films and his most genuinely hilarious comedy, as well as his darkest. The all-star cast are uniformly sublime, with Cary Grant turning in the funniest performance of his career, and there's nary a dull moment in this jet black farce that plays with the conventions of horror and film noir to timelessly entertaining effect. For me it was bettered only in the director's career by 'It's A Wonderful Life' (1946). Nuff said...

'The Pearl Of Death' (1944) by Roy William Neill - the film that pitted Holmes & Watson against Rondo Hatton's Creeper, a shambling deformed monstrosity that can snap a man's back like a twig, and I've never seen it before! Loosely based on the short story "The Six Napoleons" (1904) it was one of five films in the Rathbone & Bruce series that very much qualifies as horror. Can't wait!

'The Spider Woman' (1944) by Roy William Neill - and this was the third of the five as it pits Holmes & Watson against Gale Sondergaard's Spider Woman, a serial killer who uses venomous spiders to despatch her victims. She would reprise the role in the non-Holmes horror pic 'The Spider Woman Strikes Back' (1946). Again, I haven't seen it before and can't wait. The other two Holmes horror films were; 'The Scarlet Claw' (1944) & 'The House Of Fear' (1945) both of which I'll be picking up soon.

'The Lost Weekend' (1945) by Billy Wilder - I've only seen this haunting masterpiece once before as a teenager and remember it disturbing the feck out of me. The intensity of Ray Milland's performance as the alcoholic writer suffering terrifying hallucinations as a result of the DTs is one of the most powerful and upsetting in cinema, imho. This is real life horror at its most unforgettably bleak and nightmarish. An emotional tour-de-force of mental disintegration that hasn’t dated a day in its power to shock.

'Rope' (1948) by Alfred Hitchcock – and this is another hugely influential and timelessly spellbinding tour-de-force of the macabre. One of those films that sucks the viewer in with the brilliance of its storytelling technique no matter how many times one has seen it before. Often imitated, never bettered! It was inspired by the notorious 1924 murder case of Leopold & Loeb, who killed an innocent for intellectual kicks – the dummies. It’s well up there in the pantheon of the director’s great masterpieces.

'Harvey' (1950) by Henry Koster - irresistibly light hearted and whimsical though it is there is something I've always found strangely unsettling about this classic supernatural (or is it?) fantasy. James Stewart plays a harmless buffoon who believes he is accompanied everywhere by a six foot tall talking rabbit called Harvey. Is he hopelessly insane, as the doctor’s intend to prove, or does the creature, that no one else can see, really exist? The film plays with our expectations and the very medium of cinema, where anything is possible, to remarkably beguiling and rather haunting effect. And still I wonder...

'The Day The Earth Stood Still' (1951) by Robert Wise - one of the greatest and most insidiously unsettling sci-fi thrillers of its decade that gets better and more rewarding on every repeat viewing. I remember being scared stiff of the implacable robot monster, Gort, as a kid but now find Michael Rennie's alien judge, jury and executioner, Klaatu, even more chilling. A film that has lost none of its apocalyptic resonance with the years. Of all Robert Wise's great genre pictures this is my favourite!

'Godzilla' (1954) by Ishirô Honda - first, best and still most disturbingly resonant of all the long, long line of Godzilla movies. This is the restored and remastered original Japanese version that sent shock waves around the world with its thinly disguised howl of outrage at the most hideous single act of mass murder ever perpetrated by the human race, not in the name of peace but as an act of brutal cold blooded revenge, imho. To this day I'll never understand why they didn't go for a simple offshore demonstration of power or, at very least, a military target! A people were crushed and humiliated unnecessarily and the rage of Mother Nature, exploited and defiled, was unleashed upon all of us. This story is very far from over...

'The Abominable Snowman' (1957) by Val Guest - scripted by Nigel Kneale as a big screen remake of another of his incalculably influential TV plays, 'The Creature' (1955), this is one of the creepiest and most atmospheric horror movies Hammer ever produced as well as one of the most atypical and stars Peter Cushing at his charismatic best in only his second outing for the studio. I wonder does the TV version survive but somehow I doubt it.

'The Monster That Challenged The World' (1957) by Arnold Laven - have hazy memories of seeing this once before as a child and really loving it. One of the most Lovecraftian of all the 50s sci-fi monster movies I remember it as being thrilling and frightening in equal measure with brilliantly realised giant pincered worm creatures burrowing up from the Earth's core to oust man from our arrogant domination of the surface. Really looking forward to a reappraisal.

'Voodoo Woman' (1957) by Edward L. Cahn - another 50s schlock horror "classic" that has been described as one of the best worst films ever made - and I've never seen it before! She's a beautiful woman by day and a hideous monster by night, apparently. Should be good fun.

'I Bury The Living' (1958) by Albert Band - I'm intrigued by the plot synopsis of this reputedly minor classic horror B-movie. The caretaker of a cemetery discovers that he can cause the untimely deaths of those who buy plots by marking their grave on his wall map with a black pin. Sounds original and quite like an episode of 'Boris Karloff's Thriller'. What will he do with this unholy power? It stars Richard Boone and Theodore Bikel.

'It : The Terror From Beyond Space' (1958) by Edward L. Cahn - what a difference a year can make to a jobbing director's reputation! Recognised as one of the all time classic monster movies this is the film that famously inspired Ridley Scott's horror masterpiece, 'Alien' (1979). Again, I've never seen it before and have longed to ever since first reading about it as a child. It also stars one of my favourite childhood actors, Marshall Thompson, of 'Fiend Without A Face' (1958) and 'Daktari' (1966-69) fame. I can't bloody wait!!

'The Fall Of The House Of Usher' (1960) by Roger Corman - I finally started collecting them. This was the first and one of the best of Corman's timeless Poe adaptations. Scripted by Richard Matheson the hauntingly ambiguous tale of familial madness and decay is turned into a gripping psychological thriller, with Vincent Price rubber stamping his horror icon status as the maniacal Roderick. Out of the blue, it must have seemed, this director of Grade Z schlock was revealed to be something of a visionary auteur when he put his mind to it!

'The Pit And The Pendulum' (1961) by Roger Corman - this is my second favourite Corman Poe, after 'The Tomb Of Ligeia' (1964), and one of the films I vividly remember scaring the living crap out of me as a kid. Once again Richard Matheson expands the original suspense story into an epic psychological thriller, with a truly frightening element of the supernatural. Vincent Price and Barbara Steele are at the absolute peak of their powers in this great horror masterpiece!

'King Kong Versus Godzilla' (1962) by Ishirô Honda - it had to happen and of all the deliriously guilty pleasures I've ever watched, groaned at and loved this pseudo-epic tops the heap! I'll never forget watching it on telly as a child in my mate's house with a bunch of us huddled round the set arguing about who was going to win and leaping up and down with every punch Kong landed. It's complete rubbish but absolutely bloody brilliant entertainment!! My dream double bill would be to get a feat of beers in with the mates and watch this back-to-back with Honda's 'The Mysterians' (1957). Only I might die laughing...

'Marnie' (1964) by Alfred Hitchcock – perhaps the most underrated and one of the most haunting films of Hitchcock’s final years this tale of psychosexual madness and obsession is as beautifully made and mesmerising as any of the films that preceded it, while being a great deal more subtle and enigmatic. Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery strike sparks off each other in one of cinema’s most subversive anti-love stories. This one, like ‘Vertigo’ (1958), was decades ahead of its time, imho. I would rank it as the director’s second last truly great film, with ‘Frenzy’ (1972) being the last.

'The She Beast' (1966) by Michael Reeves – that completes all three of Reeve’s films in the collection. I saw this once before on late night telly and couldn’t get over how cheap and amateurish it looked while still being a perfectly entertaining horror comedy. Talent will out and I consider this film to be the progenitor of all those cheap and cheerfully reverential genre movies, by undeniably talented unknown directors, that seemed to explode onto our screens in the 1980s. It’s daft as feck but great, great fun. The man was incredibly lucky to get Barbara Steele to appear in it!

'Fangs Of The Living Dead' (1969) by Amando De Ossorio – this was the Spanish director’s horror debut, before he went on to find cult fame with the excellent Blind Dead series, and I haven’t seen it before. Apparently it’s a vampire horror comedy heavily inspired by Polanski’s ‘The Fearless Vampire Killers’ (1967) and, of course, the Hammer vampire movies of the same period. It stars the indescribably luscious Anita Ekberg. Can’t wait!

'Hands Of The Ripper' (1971) by Peter Sasdy – believe it or not but I’ve never seen this highly thought of Hammer Horror the whole way through and only then on telly as a teenager when I remember being completely non-plussed by the unusually intelligent and emotional Freudian storyline. I now realise it plays like a Grand Guignol period remake of Hitchcock’s ‘Marnie’ (1964). Sasdy was an excellent director in the early 70s and I still find myself worrying about what happened to him during the making of ‘I Don’t Want To Be Born’ (1975). It was so bad it was kind of memorable but this one is genuinely one of the best late period Hammers.

'Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter' (1972) by Brian Clemens – the great scriptwriter’s only directorial effort and I have fond memories of seeing it once before as a teenager and thinking it was a marvellously entertaining cross between the traditional Hammer vampire movie and an old-fashioned swashbuckling adventure romp. Clemens had a great knack for crossing genres in his ingenious fast moving scripts, as evidenced by such fantastically varied and entertaining 70s series as ‘Thriller’ (1973-76) and ‘The New Avengers’ (1976-77), among many others. A real cult classic if ever there was one!

'Daughters Of Satan' (1972) by Hollingsworth Morse – an interesting find this one. It’s an American made satanic horror set in the Philippines and stars a young unknown Tom Selleck as a husband having to deal with his beautiful wife’s apparent possession by the spirit of a notorious witch, whose burning at the stake is depicted in a painting he purchases. Sounds intriguing and it’s an 18 Cert so fingers crossed. The plot sounds almost identical to ‘Beyond Evil’ (1980).

'It's Alive' (1974) by Larry Cohen – the film that made Cohen’s name as one of the great B-movie horror directors and still one of the most effective frighteners he ever made. The plot, about a ferociously homicidal new born baby, sounds as ridiculous as ‘I Don’t Want To Be Born’ (1975) but is turned into a genuine classic by the dead straight seriousness and intelligence of the handling, a powerfully affecting lead performance by John P. Ryan, as the tragically conflicted father of the thing, and Rick Baker’s outstandingly repulsive and convincing special effects. You really do believe that a mutant baby can kill, and kill horribly, in this great genre masterwork.

'The Night Child' (1975) by Massimo Dallamano – exciting find time again! I’d never even heard of this cult classic Italian horror before I picked it up. It stars Richard Johnson and, by all accounts, is one of the most effective and scary demonic possession films that came in the immediate wake of ‘The Exorcist’ (1973). A young girl is given an antique medallion as a present and is soon a blaspheming murderous slave to the powers of darkness. The director was responsible for a number of other highly thought of spaghetti horrors in the 70s so really looking forward to it.

'The Car' (1977) by Elliot Silverstein – remember this one well from numerous TV screenings when I was young and it’s a film that really grew on me over the years. I’m very keen to see it again and hope it still stands up. Obviously inspired by Spielberg’s ‘Duel’ (1971), as well as the boom in satanic horror movies at the time, and no doubt going on to have a profound influence on Stephen King’s ‘Christine’ (1983), it’s a film that gets over the ridiculousness of its central conceit – a driverless killer car – by the earnestness of the handling, great action sequences and a memorably charismatic lead performance by James Brolin.

'It Lives Again' (1978) by Larry Cohen – brilliant sequel to ‘It’s Alive’ (1974) that is hardly any less effective and again features John P. Ryan in an intense messianic role as he fights a lone battle for the mutant babies, now infesting the United States due to rampant pollution, to be recognised as human beings with a right to life rather than as monsters to be ruthlessly hunted down and killed. The film can be seen as a polemical allegory for the rights of the unborn and the “born different” to be treated with respect but that doesn’t detract one iota from its entertainment value as a serious minded, disturbing and thought provoking monster movie of the highest calibre.

'Dracula' (1979) by John Badham – one of the best cinema adaptations of the novel and the most unfairly neglected, imho. I would rank it as vastly superior to Coppola’s flawed 1992 “epic” and even better than the fun and hugely influential but dated 1931 version with Bela Lugosi. I’d probably place it third after Murnau’s ‘Nosferatu’ (1922) and Fisher’s ‘Dracula’ (1958). Frank Langella was perfectly cast as the Count, bringing exactly the right level of sexual charisma and diabolical menace to the role, and Laurence Olivier imbues Van Helsing with a convincing level of fear and vulnerability that only makes his bravery and determination in the face of this supernatural evil all the more stirring. A bona-fide classic!

'Contamination' (1980) by Luigi Cozzi – another Italian horror I hadn’t heard of before picking it up and it stars one of my favourite actors of the time, Ian McCulloch, of ‘Survivors’ (1975-77), ‘The Ghoul’ (1975), ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’ (1979) and ‘Zombie Holocaust’ (1980) fame, as well as various other appearances in everything from ‘Colditz’ to ‘Secret Army’ and ‘Doctor Who’ to ‘Hammer House Of Horror’, etc. The director was a long time associate of Dario Argento and made his directorial debut in the excellent episode of ‘Door Into Darkness’ (1973), “The Neighbour”, so the film has a fine pedigree, while the reviews make it sound like a mega-gory sci-fi/horror classic of its kind, apparently inspired by ‘Alien’ (1979). A ship sails into New York harbour with everyone aboard dead and horribly mutilated (sound familiar?) and the cargo hold full of large pulsating green eggs. Goona be a good ‘un, methinks!

'Maniac' (1980) by William Lustig – finally found a copy of this ultra-notorious slasher movie that has the reputation of being one of the most extreme and harrowing horror films of the video nasty era <gulp>. It got the redundant remake treatment in 2012 which has become like a rubber stamp of the original’s quality these days. Been nervously wanting to see this for decades, not least because I’ve heard it contains the most graphic and convincing gore effects of Tom Savini’s career and boasts a reputedly brilliant performance by Joe Spinell as the believably human homicidal headcase, Frank Zito. Also it stars the divine Caroline Munro. Should be some experience!

'Evilspeak' (1981) by Eric Weston – another notorious video nasty I’ve never seen before and a supernatural satanic horror that was endorsed by the horned one, Anton Szandor LaVey, himself <double>. I know very little about it plot-wise but was overjoyed to pick it up for a pittance as it’s another one I’ve been longing to see since my youth. LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan and author of ‘The Satanic Bible’ (I have a copy and it’s a blast!), was as much a self-promoting showman as a practicing Satanist and had a long involvement with Hollywood, allegedly acting as uncredited “occult advisor” on many horror films from the 1960s on. The film could well be rubbish but I still can’t wait to see it!

'The Howling' (1981) by Joe Dante – the director’s one certifiable horror masterpiece and easily the second best werewolf movie ever made. No prizes for guessing the best but it was made the same year and released a mere four months later, unfortunately stealing some of this film’s thunder. It is, nevertheless, a flawlessly realised, seriously frightening and cleverly satirical modernising and expanding of the myth, that removes the familiar “unwilling victim of lycanthropy” element and presents us with a race of monsters revelling in their unholy gift and able to transform at will, while passing for human and looking on outsiders as so much fresh meat. This makes the film as much an “outwardly welcoming small community that hides a dark secret” thriller as it does a traditional monster movie. With revolutionary transformation effects by Rob Bottin, a fabulous cast of famous names in memorable cameos and a treasure trove of delightful in-jokes for obsessive horror fans it is still every bit as effective and deliriously entertaining today as when it was made. One of the very best horror films of the 80s!!

'My Bloody Valentine' (1981) by George Mihalka – another seminal 80s slasher, unnecessarily remade in 2009 <yawn>. I remember seeing it on video back in the day and thinking it was a great whodunit horror thriller with a better than average plot and gore effects so keen for a reappraisal. The film benefits immensely from the unusual setting in a remote mining community that harbours a guilty secret from 20 years before on Valentine’s Day.

'Midnight' (1982) by John A. Russo – another apparently cult classic video nasty I’d never heard of before that sounds truly excellent. Russo was the writer of ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ (1968) and directed this film from his own 1980 novel. It sounds like one of those seminal horrors in which a group of young innocents travelling across America fall foul of a community of devil worshippers. One to look forward to.

'The New York Ripper' (1982) by Lucio Fulci – the maestro of splatter’s most notorious video nasty and a film I’ve longed to see since first hearing about it in my teens. This was the one in which many accused him of finally having gone too far as it deals explicitly with the reign of terror of a sexual psychopath in the Big Apple who does unspeakable things to his pretty young female victims. Can I take it? After recent exercises in extreme ordeal horror like; ‘Martyrs’ (2008), ‘Mum And Dad’ (2008) and ‘Antichrist’ (2009)... you bet ya! Incredibly, it seems to me, it stars the epitome of stiff-upper-lip Britishness, Jack Hedley, who was so memorable as Colonel Preston in ‘Colditz’ (1972-74). Surely he can’t be the killer?!

'Poltergeist' (1982) by Tobe Hooper – no introduction necessary and a sin it took until now to add it to the collection. Steven Spielberg, as producer and screenwriter, teamed up with horror auteur Hooper to produce one of the biggest hit horror movies of all time. It’s a film that’s impossible not to warm to because of the enthusiasm with which it was made and performed and the sheer jump-out-of-your-skin entertainment value of its breathlessly paced onslaught of horror clichés. Purists may balk at the family friendly atmosphere and Spielbergian sentimentality but if taken as what it is, a shamelessly populist ghost train ride of a movie, then one has to applaud it as a resounding success on every level and the best film of its kind ever made. Not a masterpiece of cinema by any means but a lovingly crafted whole lot of spooky fun for horror and non-horror fans alike.

'Q : The Winged Serpent' (1982) by Larry Cohen - this is my favourite of all Cohen’s horror films and came as a breath of fresh air at the time as it combined modern levels of extreme gore with a homage to the old-fashioned stop motion animated giant monster movies of the 50s. It also boasts a rivetingly intense and maniacal performance by Michael Moriarty as a complex and all too human anti-hero figure who unwittingly becomes embroiled in the action and attempts to manipulate the creature’s killing spree for his own ends. David Carradine, Richard Roundtree and Candy Clark also give sterling support. A real one-off original with fabulous special effects by David W. Allen & Randall W. Cook.

'Razorback' (1984) by Russell Mulcahy – one of the finest Ozploitation movies of its era and still the best thing Mulcahy ever directed. Another of the long line of “revenge of nature” killer animal movies that came in the wake of ‘Jaws’ (1975) it features a fearsome giant razorback hog rampaging around the Australian outback and making mincemeat of anyone who crosses its path. Certainly far from original the film succeeds on the stylishness of its direction and great location cinematography. It’s also pretty damn tense and exciting. A minor classic.

'Fright Night' (1985) by Tom Holland – a thoroughly entertaining thrill-ride. This is one of my favourite vampire movies chiefly because of the tightness of its ‘Rear Window’ (1954) inspired script and the irresistible charisma of the three leads; young William Ragsdale as the plucky hero we all dreamed of being as boys, Chris Sarandon as the by turns charming and terrifying vampire next door, and, most of all, Roddy McDowall in wonderful form as the initially sceptical “vampire hunter” Peter Vincent (an amalgam of Cushing and Price). The 2011 remake was complete bollocks but the 1988 sequel, ‘Fright Night Part II’, again starring Ragsdale & McDowall, is very nearly as great as the original. One to treasure no matter how many times one has seen it before.

'Island Of The Alive' (1986) by Larry Cohen – the final part of Cohen’s mutant baby trilogy and a notable drop in quality from the first two films (see above). In this one Michael Moriarty takes centre stage as the father of one of the monstrosities. Years have passed and a Government programme has been put in place by which the new born creatures are sedated and exiled to a remote tropical island to live out their lives. Our hero joins an expedition to the island to find out what has become of the by now adult mutants. The film is more hokily light hearted than those that went before and while being schlocky fun came as further evidence of the tailing off of its director’s career.

'Angel Heart' (1987) by Alan Parker – for my money this is Parker’s most perfectly realised film and one of the very best cross genre horror movies ever made. He’s a master of detail but a hit-and-miss director when it comes to convincing storytelling, however, all his talents came to powerful fruition in this stone cold classic and utterly gripping noir detective thriller, with a career best performance from Mickey Rourke, that segues, with relentless accumulation of unsettling details, into terrifying satanic horror. I saw it in the cinema at the time and came out glowing with excitement, in a way that, perhaps, only ‘Seven’ (1995) has affected me since. Robert De Niro gives his only truly great performance in a supernatural horror movie as the knowingly enigmatic Louis Cyphre (any other time he’s appeared in one the results have been atrocious, with ‘Frankenstein’ (1994), in particular, plumbing the depths of big budget, no understanding of the genre shite). Anyway, this tale of private investigator Harry Angel’s reawakening to his true nature (if only he’d stopped digging) is a flawless masterpiece, imo!

'Creepshow II' (1987) by Michael Gornick – nowhere near as effective as Romero’s 1982 original this three story portmanteau, again all based on stories by Stephen King, is, nevertheless, one of the better made and more entertaining of such films since the glorious heyday of Amicus (1964-80). The clear standout is the middle segment, “The Raft”, a near perfect visual realising of one of King’s greatest “tangible monster” tales. The other two, “Old Chief Wood’nhead” and “The Hitch-Hiker”, are great fun and, together with the interludes, make this a lovingly crafted and highly enjoyable ride for clued in horror fans everywhere.

'The Lost Boys' (1987) by Joel Schumacher – I’m not a great fan of this overly formulaic director but this is an undeniably entertaining and effective vampire horror comedy that shows him at pretty much the top of his game. It has rightly become recognised as something of an 80s classic. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking and go along for the ride. Good fun.

'Street Trash' (1987) by James Muro – another notorious video nasty I’ve long wanted to see! I believe the plot involves some kind of illicit hooch making it onto the streets with the unfortunate side effect that any of the bums who drink it proceed to melt into piles of stinking grue. I’m hoping for an extreme horror comedy along the lines of Frank Henenlotter or Peter Jackson’s early masterpieces of guerrilla filmmaking. It’s one of Troma’s most infamous titles so finger crossed!

'Surf Nazis Must Die' (1987) by Peter George – another cult classic, no budget schlockfest from Troma that I missed at the time and have long wanted to see. I believe it’s another extreme black comedy horror about a psychopathic gang of surfing neo-nazis terrorising the California coast in a ‘Mad Max’ (1979) style post apocalyptic world. It has a terrible reputation so I reckon it’ll be the perfect accompaniment to a carry-out with the mates in.

'Betrayed' (1988) by Costa Gavras – I consider this fantastic paranoid thriller, loosely based on fact, to be one of the most criminally underrated and powerfully gripping real life horror films of its decade! Debra Winger gives the performance of her career as the first time undercover agent for the FBI infiltrating a terrifying cult of psychopathic white supremacists and falling for their charismatic and all too believably human leader, Tom Berenger, also acting out of his skin and making this brainwashed monster terribly sympathetic and vulnerable, for all his nauseating opinions and barbarous crimes. It would make a great accompaniment to Hitchcock’s ‘Marnie’ (1964) as one of the most gripping and unpredictable anti-love stories ever made. The question throughout this riveting drama is just who is betraying who. Comparisons can also be made to ‘The Omen’ (1976) as the portrayal of a loosely linked strata of society – outwardly normal men, women and children - all paying fealty to unspeakable evil and plotting the overthrow of liberal democracy and decency is just as irresistibly disturbing and a whole lot more frightening, because it’s actually happening now as we speak. If these monsters are ever allowed to get their way again then the horrors of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust will seem like a dress rehearsal by comparison. Once seen never forgotten!

'Child's Play' (1988) by Tom Holland – forget the awful franchise that followed, this original, by the director of ‘Fright Night’ (1985), is another of the most thoroughly entertaining horror films of the 80s and a great deal scarier and more suspenseful than one could believe, given what poor Chucky was transformed into. Brad Dourif makes the film with his maniacal characterisation of one of cinema’s most memorable evil dolls. Funnily enough I just watched the sensationally scary Season 5 episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’, “Living Doll” (1964), written by Charles Beaumont, and this film could be seen almost as a remake as it utilises many of the same scare tactics. From Talking Tina to Chucky there is nothing more eerily subversive than the idea of a harmless child’s toy, with a murderous mind of its own, infiltrating a normal family scenario, when done with complete commitment. The words, “You’d better be nice to me”, still send shudders down my spine...

'Maniac Cop' (1988) by William Lustig – another seminal 80s slasher that passed me by at the time and I can’t wait to see at last, not least because it has one of Bruce Campbell’s most famous roles as a Hitchcockian “wrong man” hero trying to prove his innocence. As the title states the twist is that the relentless killer is a cop this time. It was written and produced by Larry Cohen so I’m hoping for some of his trademark social comment. Then again, maybe not...

'Dead Calm' (1989) by Phillip Noyce – I’d rank this as one of the very best and most brilliantly acted “yuppie in peril” psycho thrillers of its era that benefits enormously from the claustrophobic intensity of its setting – virtually all the action takes place on board a small yacht in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and involves just three people and a dog. An unassuming masterclass in suspense filmmaking, imho, that owes a huge debt of gratitude to Roman Polanski’s ‘Knife In The Water’ (1962).

'Barton Fink' (1991) by Joel & Ethan Coen – I saw this in the cinema at the time, and never since, yet of all the Coen’s movies it is possibly the one that has most haunted the back of my mind. I remember enjoying it and being baffled by it in almost equal measure and was struck by how like a David Lynch movie it was. They can be hit-and-miss but when they are firing on all cylinders, as here, then there are no finer or more visionary filmmakers in modern cinema. I’m really quite excited at the thought of seeing this again and giving it a serious reappraisal. For the record, I’d rank ‘No Country For Old Men’ (2007) as their masterpiece to date – but it’s only one of many.

'Cape Fear' (1991) by Martin Scorsese - I’d rank this as one of the select few; a remake that actually doesn’t make a mockery of the classic original, made by J. Lee Thompson in 1962, and, in fact, almost equals it. As Scorsese films go, however, it has to be seen as one of his most formulaic efforts and, with hindsight, can be seen as the start of a dip in his status as an uncompromising visionary auteur. Falling very much into the then in vogue “yuppie in peril” sub-genre of psycho thrillers it boasts memorably intense performances from a great cast, flamboyant direction, a tight script and top quality production values and never fails to grip the viewer but lacks the subtly subversive streak that made Thompson’s film so groundbreaking at the time. In the end De Niro & Nolte are no match for Mitchum & Peck.

'Demonic Toys' (1992) by Peter Manoogian – another in the long line of ‘Gremlins’ (1984) inspired “miniature monster” movies, again produced by Charles Band, son of Albert Band (see ‘I Bury The Living’ (1958) above). It appears to be a virtual remake of ‘Pupper Master’ (1989) with demonically “cute” animated toys running amok and killing actors more wooden than they are with understandable glee. Can you believe they even made ‘Puppet Master Vs Demonic Toys’ in 2004!! It was dirt cheap and should be a bit of schlocky fun whatever.

'Nightwatch' (1994) by Ole Bornedal – I’ve only seen the routine 1997 US remake, by the same director, and have it on good authority that this original Danish version is one of the best and most original psycho thrillers of its decade. Comparisons to ‘The Vanishing’ (1988 & 1993) and ‘Funny Games’ (1997 & 2007) spring instantly to mind. Why do they do it? Money, I hear you say? Never!! Really looking forward to seeing it.

'The Cable Guy' (1996) by Ben Stiller - this is my favourite Jim Carrey comedy in which he plays against type as a memorably sinister social misfit/deranged lunatic who latches onto Matthew Broderick's ordinary joe and basically sets about destroying his life. It's like a black comedy remake of Peter Weir's 'The Plumber' (1979) and just as oddly unsettling. The film could also be seen as a spoof of the "yuppie in peril" psycho thrillers that were so popular at the time; 'Fatal Attraction', 'Dead Calm', 'Pacific Heights', 'Cape Fear', 'Single White Female', etc...

'Crash' (1996) by David Cronenberg - once again Cronenberg attempted to film a great unfilmable novel and did a bloody good job of it! Like Ballard's fascinating but hard to take magnum opus it is a deeply disturbing and unflinching portrayal of a descent into fetishistic madness and sexual obsession, triggered by grief, that is strictly for discerning adults only. It's a toss-up between this, 'The Naked Lunch' (1991) and 'Spider' (2002) for the best film of the director's middle "artistic" period, before he lost his muse and went all mainstream, imo.

'Breakdown' (1997) by Jonathan Mostow – a fantastic Hitchcockian suspense thriller that I remember going to see at the time and being hugely impressed with. It was one of the very best films of its decade and one of the best of Kurt Russell’s career. The story, of a man desperately seeking his missing wife after her sinister disappearance, plays out like a more traditional thriller version of ‘The Vanishing’ (1988) and I defy anyone who hasn’t seen it before to work out where the myriad of ingenious plot twists will take us. Is it a small town with a dark secret horror? Is it a paranoid conspiracy of frightening dimensions? Is it a twisty murder mystery? Is it a psycho thriller? The script, by Mostow & Sam Montgomery, is a masterclass in playing with an audience’s expectations and keeping us rooted on the edge of our seats.

'The Edge' (1997) by Lee Tamahori – and this is another absolute belter of a suspense thriller and one of the greatest survival in the wilderness adventure movies I have ever seen. Comparisons to the likes of ‘Deliverance’ (1972) are not unwarranted! It was scripted by David Mamet and boasts three brilliant lead performances by Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin and Bart the Bear, of ‘The Bear’ (1988) fame. Bart steals the show as an absolutely terrifying killer grizzly relentlessly stalking a group of men stranded in the wilds of Alaska after their private plane crashes. The horrific mauling, pursuit and fight sequences are fantastically well directed and completely convincing. As killer animal movies go they don’t get any more Edge of the seat!

'The Game' (1997) by David Fincher - I remember going to see this at the time and having mixed feelings about it. Undeniably well made and gripping, with a great performance by Michael Douglas, it was still something of a disappointment after the masterpiece that was 'Seven' (1995) and I found the ending to be a real let down. However, it has stayed with me as an original paranoid thriller and I've been keen to see it again for a serious reassessment. The DVD contains an alternate ending that I'm also very curious about.

'Mimic' (1997) by Guillermo Del Toro – I consider this to be one of the director’s most frightening and underrated movies. If I was to rank it I’d put it fourth, after his three masterpieces; ‘Cronos’ (1993), ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ (2001) & ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006). It plays like a big budget throwback to the “tampering with nature” sci-fi/horrors of the 50s and features intelligent man-sized insects breeding in the New York subway system, with world domination as their ultimate goal. I haven’t seen it since first release, when it came as a breath of fresh air, and this is the Director’s Cut version. Looking forward to a reappraisal.

'Lake Placid' (1999) by Steve Miner - an entertaining horror comedy riff on 'Jaws' (1975) with a great all-star cast. I'm keen to reappraise this one in the wake of all the killer croc movies that followed it. 'Rogue' (2007) remains the best of the lot, for me, but this one isn't too far behind it.

'The Nameless' (1999) by Jaume Balagueró - found a copy at last!! This is one of the criminally few big screen adaptations of the work of my favourite horror writer, you know the one. The novel was the first thing I ever read by the great man and it scared me rigid. It remains one of my all time favourites and, by all accounts, this is a bloody good adaptation that marked the beginning of one of the greatest cinematic horror careers of modern times! I'm just a bit looking forward to this one...

'Shark Attack' (1999) by Bob Misiorowski - from what I've read this seems to be the best of the slew of low budget shark movies made in recent years. It stars Casper Van Dien and was going for next to nothing. Hopefully it'll be more fun than 'Deep Blue Sea', made the same year.

'Titus' (1999) by Julie Taymor - very curious to see this critically acclaimed first ever film adaptation of Shakespeare's most notorious play, 'Titus Andronicus', written early in his career as a shock horror, blood 'n' guts potboiler to get the punters in. I've read it and it is an outrageously violent, bleak, bloody and cynical tit-for-tat revenge thriller designed only to horrify and nauseate an audience. If 'Macbeth' was the progenitor of atmospheric gothic horror then this story pointed the way to all the excesses of the Grand Guignol.

'The Gift' (2000) by Sam Raimi - saw it in the cinema at the time and thought it was a fairly decent but far from memorable return to the horror genre for Raimi. I remember it as a well acted but routine psychic thriller. 'Drag Me To Hell' (2009) was much better. Time for a reappraisal.

'Arachnid' (2001) by Jack Sholder - by all accounts this is a surprisingly good non-CGI giant spider movie from Brian Yuzna's Fantastic Factory production company, responsible for quite a few decent horror films in recent years. Fingers crossed. At least it's got a good director.

'Shark Attack II' (2001) by David Worth - it's probably rubbish but was packaged with the dirt cheap original and I'll always have a soft spot for shark movies. Blame Steven Spielberg!

'Crocodile II : Death Swamp' (2002) by Gary Jones - killer croc schlock horror sequel to Tobe Hooper's 2000 original. It gets surprisingly decent write-ups, sounds a hoot and was going for peanuts.

'Battle Royale II : Requiem' (2003) by Kinji Fukasaku & Kenta Fukasaku - direct follow on sequel to Kinji Fukasaku's unforgettable sci-fi/horror masterpiece from 2000. Sadly the great man died during filming and the project had to be completed by his son, Kenta. I've heard good reports about it while never imagining for a second it could equal the original. In this one, I believe, the survivors turned revolutionaries are forcibly hunted down by a new group of unwilling contestants.

'Three Extremes' (2004) by Fruit Chan, Park Chan-Wook & Takashi Miike - this better known sequel to 'Three' (2002) is another three story portmanteau horror by a trio of great Asian auteurs. I've yet to see either film and know only the subject matter of Fruit Chan's segment, that was expanded into the brilliant cannibal horror 'Dumplings' (2004). That completes all Chan-Wook's horrors in the collection and leaves me needing only a handful of Miike's. Can't wait to see this!

'The Proposition' (2005) by John Hillcoat - scripted by one of my great musical heroes, the unfeasibly talented Nick Cave, this unassuming low budget Australian western was indisputably one of the greatest films of its decade and one of the most shockingly ultra-violent. I'd call it very much an extreme ordeal horror western that could hold its own with any of the 60s or 70s classics of the genre that so clearly inspired it. A tale of psychopathic butchery, terrible revenge and a devastating moral dilemma of near Biblical proportions!

'Trapped Ashes' (2006) by Sean S. Cunningham, Joe Dante, John Gaeta, Monte Hellman & Ken Russell - a real bolt from the blue find! I thought I was seeing things when I picked this one up, realised it was a portmanteau horror film I'd never heard of before and looked at the list of directors involved. Surely with all that talent at the helm it has to be good?! Interesting that it was made at the same time as 'Masters Of Horror' - perhaps Joe Dante isn't the only link?

'Antichrist' (2009) by Lars Von Trier - saw it in the cinema at the time, after battling through hordes of evangelical protestors outside, and was blown away by what a great traditional horror film it is! The visuals are at once beautiful and viscerally repulsive while the acting, by a cast of two, is astonishingly powerful and genuinely upsetting. A film that haunts the mind like few others I have seen in recent years and another strong contender for best horror film of the new millennium so far. For me it is Von Trier's masterpiece!

'The Human Centipede : First Sequence' (2009) by Tom Six - I've heard all kinds of mixed reports about this notorious body horror shocker and have to see it for myself to find out what all the fuss was about. It sounds truly repulsive and I can't for the life of me imagine how they tackled the subject matter and got the film a general release. I'm nervously curious and prepared either to love it or loathe it...

'Sleep Tight' (2011) by Jaume Balagueró - the best thing I've seen by this horror auteur to date and one of the few truly shocking Hitchcockian suspense thrillers of the modern era. It breathes whole new life into the "unseen stalker" sub-genre and pulls no punches in its portrayal of a frighteningly unhinged sexual obsessive. It is a psychological horror masterpiece of the very highest order!

'The Tall Man' (2012) by Pascal Laugier - that completes this great director's three horror films to date. I consider 'Martyrs' (2008) to be a modern masterpiece and one of a handful of contenders for best horror of the new millennium so far. Can't wait to see this one and 'House Of Voices' (2004), both of which were also critically acclaimed. I know next to nothing about either of them.

That took a while but I enjoyed it immensely!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.29.1
Posted on Tuesday, August 12, 2014 - 03:57 pm:   

Added over the last couple of weeks:

'The Brides Of Fu Manchu' (1966) by Don Sharp - the second outing for Christopher Lee as Sax Rohmer's evil genius, in a series of five "luridly entertaining" films that spanned the 1960s. Believe it or not but I've yet to see a single one of them and have long wanted to. I already have 'The Blood Of Fu Manchu' (1968) and 'The Castle Of Fu Manchu' (1969) in the collection, which only leaves 'The Face Of Fu Manchu' (1965) and 'The Vengeance Of Fu Manchu' (1967) still to get before a chrono watch is at last possible.

'Plague Of The Zombies' (1966) by John Gilling - found an affordable copy at last! Made back-to-back with 'The Reptile' (1966) I consider both films to be stone cold classics and among the most atmospherically frightening gothic horror films Hammer ever produced. This was their only zombie movie and is still one of the very best ever made. It surely must have been a huge influence on Romero's 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968), after which... everything changed.

'The Creature From Black Lake' (1976) by Joy N. Houck Jnr - one of a rash of bigfoot horror movies that came along in the 70s, no doubt inspired by the famous Patterson-Gimlin footage of 1967. Despite its low budget this one is reputed to be one of the best of the lot, and actually quite scary. It stars that old trouper of countless westerns, Jack Elam. Looking forward to it!

'Maniac Cop II' (1990) by William Lustig - apparently superior sequel to the director's cult classic slasher of 1988 that again stars Bruce Campbell. I haven't seen either movie and have long wanted to. Larry Cohen was the writer and producer on this one as well.

'Progeny' (1999) by Brian Yuzna - caught this late one night on telly and recall being surprised by just how good it was. The classic alien abduction and impregnation scenario is here treated as an out-and-out paranoid horror story, without any attempt to make the material "believable", and is all the better for it. Great alien and gore effects with top notch acting from Jillian McWhirter, Arnold Vosloo & Brad Dourif, and a notable seriousness of tone for this director, make this one of the most underrated horrors of its kind since 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968), imho.

'Bangkok Haunted' (2001) by Pisut Praesangeam & Oxide Pang - another highly thought of three story Asian portmanteau horror that, no doubt, went on to inspire 'Three' (2002) and its sequel 'Three Extremes' (2004). I haven't seen it before and have long wanted to. Three people late one night in a Bangkok bar each relate a "true" ghost story to each other.

'Monkeybone' (2001) by Henry Selick - I'm a big fan of Selick's animated nightmares for grown up children and this is the only one I still have to see. 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (1993), 'James And The Giant Peach' (1996) and 'Coraline' (2009) are all modern classics of stop motion animation, with just the right levels of fun, thrills, scariness and surrealism to appeal to all ages and sensibilities. This one got panned by the critics at the time and was a huge box office flop but has since garnered a strong cult reputation as his most daring and experimental film to date. It's about a comicbook artist who is relentlessly haunted by his most popular character, a demonic monkey representation of his repressed sexual fantasies. Sounds good to me. Fingers very much crossed.

'Shark Attack III : Megalodon' (2002) by David Worth - I picked this final part of the trilogy up for 25p - and the hilarious clips I've seen from it on YouTube are worth that alone! It's already being hailed as possibly the best worst movie ever made and it stars a pre-fame John Barrowman. Honestly, the shark effects in those clips are like nothing I've ever seen before. Quite breathtaking!

'Into The Mirror’ (2003) by Kim Sung-Ho - another of those critically acclaimed Asian horrors from the boom years that went on to get the inferior US remake treatment, as 'Mirrors' (2008). It sounds like an interesting cross between an Argentoesque giallo and a traditional Asian ghost story, that somehow involves mirrors. Other than that I'm in the dark.

'The Toolbox Murders' (2004) by Tobe Hooper - I normally steer well clear of remakes but this is the film that apparently rejuvenated Hooper's career and is meant to be one of the rare examples to equal, if not better, the cult classic video nasty original. From what I've heard it appears to be a supernatural horror rather than a traditional maniac slasher, which would make it a whole different story that just happens to also involve bloody murder by a variety of power tools. Fingers crossed. When this guy's at the top of his game there are few better horror auteurs, imho.

‘Mortuary’ (2005) by Tobe Hooper - I've heard good things about this Lovecraftian small town supernatural horror that continued the director's bit of a late period resurgence, following 'The Toolbox Murders' (2004). Something about an innocent family moving into their new home in the country and encountering an alien fungus that reanimates the dead. Sounds fun.

'The Human Centipede II : Full Sequence' (2011) by Tom Six - it sounds to be both an ingenious deconstruction of the first film and one of the vilest extreme ordeal horrors of recent years. Again, I'm nervously keen to see what all the fuss was about. The director is currently working on the final part of the trilogy, 'The Human Centipede III : Final Sequence', in which he has promised (or threatened) to up the offensiveness ante yet again! Exploitative rubbish or the ultimate horror satire? I'll let ya know when I've seen them...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.29.1
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - 04:59 pm:   

Four new acquisitions:

'The Scarlet Claw' (1944) by Roy William Neill - haven't seen it before but I believe it's a "small town with a dark secret" horror to which Holmes & Watson are called after a series of ghastly murders by some nightmarish folkloric creature. It's reckoned by afficionados to be the finest of the series, after 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' (1939), and has a similar plot. Obviously the story owes very little to Arthur Conan Doyle.

'The House Of Fear' (1945) by Roy William Neill - based loosely on Doyle's short story "The Five Orange Pips" (1891) this was really an excuse to make an "old dark house" horror movie, with the guests being bumped off one-by-one by some implacable faceless fiend, featuring Holmes & Watson as the resident investigators. I haven't seen this one either and can't wait!

'A Clockwork Orange' (1971) by Stanley Kubrick - one of the very best films of the 70s and the one masterwork of Kubrick's that keeps threatening to oust '2001 : A Space Odyssey' (1968) from the No. 1 spot in my affections. It is very much a horror film and one that I would insist must have had a profound influence on every extreme ordeal horror that came afterwards, from 'The Last House On The Left' (1972) on... This is visionary cinema of a different order of genius that fully exploited the possibilities of the medium like few other works before or since. If Malcolm McDowell had never appeared in anything else he would still be revered for his incredible performance here. A terrifying psychopathic prick we actually grow to love!!

'Eraserhead' (1977) by David Lynch - the one film of the 70s that really can be said to have changed cinema forevermore. It was the greatest decade in the medium's history and this astonishing headmelter of a visionary nightmare came like a shattering bolt from the blue at the time! Only his masterpiece 'Inland Empire' (2006) even begins to approach the insane power of this demented excursion into the darkest depths of a filmmaker's disturbed psyche. I haven't seen it in some 20 years but will never forget the deeply disturbing, nay life-changing, chord it struck with me when I first saw it late one Friday night on telly at the tender age of 16. I thought it was incoherent bollocks but I couldn't stop thinking and talking about it for weeks afterward. Until the penny dropped and I realised my consciousness had shifted from snickering mockery to revelatory awestruck wonder. Cinema needs another David Lynch right about now...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.201
Posted on Monday, September 15, 2014 - 12:20 am:   

This month's DVD haul:

'Nosferatu' (1922) by F.W. Murnau - plugged one of the most significant gaps in my horror DVD collection when I picked up this 2 disc, definitive, restored, blah, blah, Masters of Cinema version at long, long last for a more than affordable fiver! Murnau's towering masterpiece needs no introduction and remains one of the most seriously nightmarish and terrifying horror films in cinema history. Grainy old clips and stills from this movie were enough to give me nightmares as a child and Max Schreck's legendary performance as Count Orlok is the very personification of the stick figured bogeyman that haunts all our dreams. If Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (1897) kick started modern literary horror then this best of all big screen adaptations did the same for horror cinema as an artform as well as a popular scarifying entertainment. In truth it all started with Stoker's immortal character. My plan is to watch this in a chrono triple bill with Herzog's fascinating but flawed 1979 remake and the hugely entertaining recent tribute, 'Shadow Of The Vampire' (2000). That's from Max Schreck to Klaus Kinski to Willem Dafoe... three of the most enigmatic and uncompromising actors of their respective eras. This is how Vampires were always meant to be portrayed - as shit scary bloodsucking demons from hell with no redeeming features. All that doomed romantic crap like 'Interview With The Vampire' (1994) and that bloody 'Twilight' bollocks can go fuck!! Give me Reggie Nalder any day ffs!!

'Macbeth' (1948) by Orson Welles - was very excited to pick up this rare as hen's teeth completely restored version of Welles' reputed Shakespearean masterpiece, said to be the greatest of all the cinema adaptations of the story, but that was butchered by the studio at the time and remained unseen in its intended form until the 1980s! It was filmed as pure b&w gothic horror with Welles citing 'The Bride Of Frankenstein' (1935) and 'Wuthering Heights' (1939) as his visual inspirations! I can't imagine anything topping Roman Polanski's 1971 horror version but if this film does - and the man was at the height of his very considerable powers at the time - it must be some bloody masterpiece!! I am beside myself with excitement at the thought of seeing it at last!!

'Village Of The Damned' (1960) by Wolf Rilla - of all the great old science fiction films I grew up watching and loving as a kid none of them had a more profoundly frightening effect on me than this stone cold classic adaptation of John Wyndham's wonderful novel, 'The Midwich Cuckoos' (1957). Along with Don Siegel's 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956) I would rank it as perhaps the most nightmarishly persuasive alien invasion movie ever made. It is a meticulously subtle and unsettling masterwork of perfectly paced encroaching paranoia and fear of the unknown. It is also, without doubt, the creepiest movie on the theme of "evil children" ever made! Nothing can compare with those stony faced little blonde automatons and the unholy power behind their terrifying eyes. This is another one of those great genre stories that sucks you in and grips like a vice every time you sit down to watch it - no matter how many times one has done so before. As directorial one-hit-wonders go this is arguably the best of the lot, in my book. John Carpenter was an idiot to attempt a remake! The cosily familiar English countryside setting and the quaint fashions of the time only add to the film's startling power. An unassailable horror masterpiece!!

'Tales Of Terror' (1962) by Roger Corman - the most influential and one of the best of all the Corman Poes as it kick started the trend for all star portmanteau horror films that littered the 60s and 70s in its wake. This one, again brilliantly scripted by Richard Matheson, adapts three of Poe's most famous short stories; "Morella" (1835), "The Black Cat" (1843) and "The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar" (1845). Clearly inspired by the format of 'Boris Karloff's Thriller' (1960-62) it has Vincent Price introducing and starring in all three segments, while he is joined by Peter Lorre in the second (played as black comedy) and Basil Rathbone in the third. It remains one of the great classics of quality 1960s horror and a high point of Corman's career!

'The Raven' (1963) by Roger Corman - this is the least satisfying of the Corman Poes as it bears very little resemblance to the famous poem but was rather a return to the silly horror comedy format of 'The Little Shop Of Horrors' (1960), etc, albeit made with a hugely bigger budget (not saying much) and memorably combining the talents of Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre (who steals the show) at their most outlandishly hammy. It also stars a ridiculously young and uncharacteristically subdued Jack Nicholson - well wouldn't you be in that company!! It's kind of loveably daft fun but also kind of a waste of talent given what Corman had started to produce with this material. It's hard to believe Richard Matheson was the scriptwriter on this one!

'Children Of The Damned' (1964) by Anton M. Leader - an unexpectedly brilliant sequel to Wolf Rilla's 1960 sci-fi/horror masterpiece that successfully broadens Wyndham's original concept of insidious alien invasion by portraying the hybrid children as as much misunderstood victims as a hostile threat to be ruthlessly eradicated. It is the only film I can think of that managed to pull off such a ploy without lessening the intrinsic horror of what they actually are. One of the most intelligent and haunting genre movies of its decade that gets better and more affecting with every viewing. It was partially based on John Wyndham's legendary unpublished novel, 'Midwich Main', that, I hope and pray, will someday see the light of day!

'Die, Monster, Die' (1965) by Daniel Haller - another one of those cherished horror films that I vividly recall scaring the living hell out of me as a kid. A babysitter allowed me to sit up and watch it one night, as long as I didn't tell, and it was the scariest damn thing I had ever seen. Several of the set pieces haunted my dreams for a long time afterward... the dark cowled figure wandering the grounds, the gibbering abominations in the greenhouse and <shudder> that terrible old woman in the curtained bed, to name but a few! I've watched it again a couple of times since and would rank it, despite the lurid title, as the finest and most faithful H.P. Lovecraft adaptation I have seen - it being based on his groundbreaking sci-fi/horror masterpiece, "The Colour Out Of Space" (1927). Boris Karloff gives one of the most committed and effective horror performances of his final years as sinister old Nahum Witley, who hides a terrible secret that has been the scourge of his family and the local community for untold years, until a naive young outsider arrives determined to whisk his beautiful daughter away as his bride - bad mistake, man. Made with all the craft, elegance and potent atmospherics of any of the best Corman Poes or Hammer Horrors of the era - but a great deal more frightening than most of them - this is an all too often overlooked masterpiece of pure gothic horror excellence, imho!! As a horror movie it has just about everything...

'Season Of The Witch' (1972) by George A. Romero - saw this on telly once before many years ago and can hardly remember a thing about it. That probably has more to do with me being either pissed or half asleep than the quality of the film. Only Romero's second horror movie it's a highly regarded low key supernatural drama that owes more than a passing nod to 'Night Of The Eagle' (1962), being the story of a jaded suburban housewife's dabbling in witchcraft and getting way out of her depth. It's about time I gave it a proper viewing with my critical faculties tuned in!

'Vampyres' (1974) by José Ramón Larraz - I'd never heard of this apparently notorious cult classic British horror before I picked it up and it sounds, ahem, pretty damn interesting. A tale of two busty bisexual vampires - played by Playboy centrefolds - who roam the English countryside picking up men and women, taking them back to their gothic mansion and sucking them dry. This is the long unavailable uncut version and, by all accounts, despite all the explicit bonking and bloodletting, it's a really fine, genuinely well made horror film in its own right. Should make exciting viewing...

'Lifeforce' (1985) by Tobe Hooper - I've long considered this one of Hooper's very best films and certainly his most underrated. Based on the Colin Wilson novel, 'The Space Vampires' (1976), and scripted by Dan O'Bannon & Don Jakoby it was a gloriously entertaining throwback to the high concept sci-fi/horror thrillers of Nigel Kneale and came as something of a breath of fresh air at the time. Also it has a wonderfully straight faced cast of great British character actors, marvellous special effects, truly creepy desiccated zombies and the divine Mathilda May wandering about stark naked for most of its length (she could suck me dry anytime!!)... so, duh, what's not to like?! This one will be a real nostalgia trip for me as I haven't seen it since the 80s on video.

'Reanimator' (1985) by Stuart Gordon - and I've another real nostalgia trip in store with this classic directorial debut that, again, I haven't seen since the heady days of video. Although based on one of H.P. Lovecraft's most populist and untypical horror novellas, 'Herbert West : Reanimator' (1922), it succeeds brilliantly at capturing the darkly parodic OTT nature of the tale and doesn't shirk on the excessive gory details that HPL had such fun with. Gordon found his perfect level in this film balancing the nauseating horror and delicious gallows humour with rare precision and creating one of the most outrageously entertaining tongue-in-cheek schlock horror nasties of its era... just like the misunderstood and underrated original story, imo. Even when Lovecraft was writing lowest common denominator nonsense to order he couldn't help but do it with impeccable style! I'm really, really looking forward to seeing this one again.

'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part II' (1986) by Tobe Hooper - I saw this at the time and absolutely hated it. Then I caught it again about 15 years ago and couldn't believe how much I enjoyed it with expectations set to zero. The truth is Hooper deliberately set out to spoof all the extreme splatterfests that came in the wake of his original gothic masterpiece and this sequel works as a wildly entertaining and very funny pitch black comedy. Dennis Hopper gives one of his most deranged performances (which really is saying something) as the vengeance obsessed, chainsaw toting ex-Texas Ranger, Lefty Enright, remorselessly hunting down Leatherface and his family with his own particular brand of justice in mind. Admittedly not a patch on the original it's still one hell of a wild ride - completely bonkers, ridiculously gory and one of its director's most underrated films, I now realise.

'Truth Or Dare?' (1986) by Tim Ritter - ultra low budget cult classic slasher movie, that I missed at the time, with an unusually intelligent plot and a somewhat sympathetic three dimensional portrayal of the maniac, for a change, that harks back to the elaborate revenge horrors of Vincent Price. After discovering the truth about his wife a cuckolded suburban husband suffers a severe mental breakdown from which he emerges a masked angel of death tracking down all those he suspects of having slept with her - including his "best friend" - and subjecting each of them to a deadly game of Truth or Dare? Really looking forward to seeing this at last!

'The Serpent And The Rainbow' (1988) by Wes Craven - I consider this to be Craven's best and most interesting film. A voodoo horror filmed on location in Haiti that treats the subject seriously and boasts a great lead performance by Bill Pullman, at his most sympathetic, as an American scientist investigating the truth behind the "zombie myth" and getting hopelessly out of his depth in a frighteningly alien culture. Allegedly based on fact it does descend into lurid sensationalism in the end but is nevertheless one of the finest chillers ever made on the subject, imho, and proof that the director really can deliver the goods when he feels like it. Haven't seen it in over 20 years and looking forward to a reappraisal.

'Bride Of Reanimator' (1990) by Brian Yuzna - I've never seen this highly thought of sequel that apparently does for 'Reanimator' (1985) what 'The Bride Of Frankenstein' (1935) did for 'Frankenstein' (1931). In many ways these films are as much a parodic homage to James Whale's masterpieces as Lovecraft's story was to Mary Shelley's great novel. I now have all three films in the series, along with Yuzna's 'Beyond Reanimator' (2003), and, as I've yet to be disappointed by either director, I can't wait to get watching them in chrono order at long last.

'Leprechaun' (1993) by Mark Jones - now this is one really silly low low budget horror comedy in the long line of such films that followed 'Gremlins' (1984) but it is one that I found it impossible not to warm to. It is made notable by the two leading actors in a cast of then unknowns - Warwick Davis and Jennifer Aniston. Davis is on fantastic form and very funny as the cheerfully demonic little man in the green suit and buckled shoes of the title who implacably hunts down and kills a group of clean cut American kids - led by Aniston - who have made off with his pot of gold. It sounds ridiculous and it is but the great make-up job, Davis's demented performance and the groan inducing cheesy one liners he delivers make it great fun. The six film franchise that followed got progressively more corny but was always made entertaining by the wee man's sheer charisma. As guilty pleasures go this one's a riot - just don't take it at all seriously. And I say that as a proud Irishman lol.

'Wishmaster' (1997) by Robert Kurtzman - I remember seeing this in the cinema at the time, with low expectations, and really enjoying it as an OTT tongue-in-cheek supernatural shocker with a memorably wicked monster and some ingenious death sequences. Imagine Freddy Krueger crossed with the demon from 'Jeepers Creepers' and that's what the diabolical Djinn here puts me in mind of. Hardly great art but undeniably entertaining schlock horror fun. Just forget the sequels.

'Stir Of Echoes' (1999) by David Koepp - this was one of the better and more gripping big budget supernatural thrillers of its era - but then it was based on Richard Matheson's highly original 1958 psychological horror novel. Unfairly overshadowed and under appreciated at the time - when everyone was being inexplicably wowed by the mundane codology of 'The Sixth Sense' - it is deserving of reassessment as one of the most effective of all the many Matheson adaptations, imho. Kevin Bacon gives one of his best performances in it.

'Cabin Fever' (2002) by Eli Roth - the director's debut was an entertaining throwback to the grim and grainy backwoods splatter movies of the video nasty era, leavened by a broad streak of knowing black humour and a plot that plays with horror fans expectations. If not quite a classic it was made with enough style and verve to herald the arrival of a spirited new kid on the block. I'm curious to see how kind time has been to it.

'Darkness' (2002) by Jaume Balagueró - the director's second horror film, following his 1999 adaptation of Ramsey's 'The Nameless', sounds like a great old fashioned satanic/haunted house shocker and that's all I know about the plot. Interestingly it was made for Brian Yuzna's Fantastic Factory production company - so their plan to nurture new talent would appear to have been a great success in his case. Really looking forward to it!

'Darkness Falls' (2003) by Jonathan Liebesman - saw this in the cinema at the time and thought it was a genuinely scary, well made and curiously underrated supernatural monster movie of a type that 'Jeepers Creepers' (2001) had made popular again. It just falls short of classic status but is certainly one of the better American horror films of its era - a bit like 'The Frighteners' (1996) done dead straight. The plot was inspired by the true story of Matilda Dixon, an Australian woman wrongfully accused and executed in 1841 for a number of child murders. Her vengeful spirit is said to have haunted the community ever since, coming for their children at night as a demonic Tooth Fairy. Shudder...

'Dreamcatcher' (2003) by Lawrence Kasdan - there wasn't a lot of love shown for this film at the time and it almost finished the director's career but I saw it in the cinema, not having read the Stephen King novel (from 2001) and knowing nothing about the plot, and thoroughly enjoyed it as a really well made and acted big budget, all star cast, good old fashioned alien monster movie. It was the unpredictability of the story and the energy and enthusiasm with which it was presented that won me over. The alien creatures - in all their forms - are truly hideous nightmare abominations straight out of our worst childhood fears. Their first appearance is a startling moment of surreal horror that I remember really making me jump with its "WTF!" unexpectedness. Looking back I can see the plot as an example of King at his most pulpishly self-indulgent - being a kind of amalgamation of 'It' (1986) and 'The Tommyknockers' (1987) - but the film brings it to life with unashamedly entertaining aplomb. I would say Kasdan's supposed "directorial aberration" vies with 'The Mist' (2007) as possibly the most effective King adaptation of recent years. Criminally underrated, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.29.1
Posted on Monday, September 15, 2014 - 01:13 pm:   

And these:

‘The Company Of Wolves’ (1984) by Neil Jordan – co-scripted by the author, Angela Carter, this is one of the most original and interesting blends of horror and fairytale fantasy ever made, as well as completing a trio of classic, game changing werewolf movies from the early 80s – you all know the other two. Jordan clearly has a love of the genre, as he keeps returning to it, though with frustratingly variable results – ‘High Spirits’(1988) was appallingly bad, ‘Interview With The Vampire’ (1994) was horribly misjudged overblown romantic tosh and ‘In Dreams’ (1999) was an entirely forgettable psychic thriller, imo. However, this ravishing nightmare of a film and the equally original and beautifully understated vampire opus ‘Byzantium’ (2013) are his two unquestionable horror masterpieces. Haven’t seen this in too many years.

‘Hostel’ (2005) by Eli Roth – like him or loathe him Roth has carved out an important niche for himself in the evolution of the horror film by unashamedly paying ghoulish homage to the worst excesses of the video nasty era and managing to get his movies shown in our multi-plexes. He does so with undeniable flair, energy and sicko humour even if his enthusiasm does sometimes get the better of him by veering into tastelessness. The popularity of Roth’s films to an unshockable post-9/11 audience was as much a sign of his cinematic nous as it was of the times! I saw this when it came out and thought it was a great extreme ordeal horror of compelling intensity, up until the last 20 minutes or so when he lost the plot and things got very silly indeed. Time to view the Unseen DVD version. Again, crafty if tasteless marketing that...

‘Hostel Part II’ (2007) by Eli Roth – haven’t seen this notorious sequel that was universally vilified for its unrelenting misogyny and I’m nervously curious to see how Roth could have upped the ante from the first film and still have delivered a watchable “entertainment”. ‘Cabin Fever’ (2002) and ‘Hostel’ (2005) made him a horror director of note, if questionable judgement, before this one turned him into something of a pariah, it seems. Again, the DVD was marketed as the Unseen version but by then squeamishness had already set in with the general public. Lord knows what we can expect from ‘The Green Inferno’ (2013) when, or if, it ever gets an official release!

‘The House Of The Devil’ (2009) by Ti West – I’ve heard great things about this reputed throwback to the slow burning character driven satanic horror movies of the 70s and very keen to see it at last. West has built up an enviable reputation as a horror director in recent years by eschewing the shock tactics of Eli Roth and going for atmosphere and suspense over cruelty and gore... or so I’ve heard. I’ll let ya know when I’ve seen it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 85.255.233.128
Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 - 03:53 pm:   

Can't believe it's been over 5 months since I last updated this. Had a lot going on... and then some! Anyway here goes - picked up all these dirt cheap on DVD recently:

'A-Haunting We Will Go' (1942) by Alfred L. Werker - despite the title there isn't a ghost to be seen in this watchable but sadly underpowered late period Laurel & Hardy comedy. The macabre plot involves them becoming comic relief assistants to the imposing stage act, Dante the Magician, with his startling ability to work real sorcery rather than conjuring tricks, and the smuggling out of town of a notorious gangster sought by the police whom they have hidden in a coffin. Things get complicated when a real corpse turns up during the act. It's all harmlessly charming fun guaranteed to raise a grin and a chuckle but they were well into their decline by that stage and the film, like all of those they made at Fox, with their concentration on scripted laughs over spontaneous slapstick, simply can't hold a candle to the timeless genius of their earlier work with Hal Roach.
MACABRE MURDER PLOT - Horror/Crime/Comedy

'Spellbound' (1945) by Alfred Hitchcock - this film completed a trilogy of romantically paranoid psychological thrillers, directed by the great man on his arrival in Hollywood, in which a distraught woman struggles with her love for a man she suspects of being a psychotic killer (is he or isn't he?) - after 'Rebecca' (1940) and 'Suspicion' (1941). This time it's Ingrid Bergman falling for an amnesiac Gregory Peck who apparently murdered and took on the identity of a renowned psychoanalyst... or did he? The bewildering plot is merely an excuse for a dazzling plunge into the world of repressed memories and nightmarish Freudian symbolism, buoyed by Hitch's complete mastery of visual storytelling, Miklós Rózsa's hauntingly weird and groundbreaking electronic score and, of course, the famous dream sequence concocted by my favourite mad genius, the great Salvador Dali (I routinely cycle through all his paintings as the wallpaper on my PC and phone). Only Hitchcock could have pulled all these elements together into what is a timelessly enthralling macabre melodrama.
SPLIT PERSONALITY KILLER - Crime/Horror

'Strangers On A Train' (1951) by Alfred Hitchcock - another of Hitch's imperishable masterpieces of psycho horror that was based on Patricia Highsmith's stunningly assured debut novel from 1950. Robert Walker joined the pantheon of great screen psychopaths with his unforgettably menacing performance as Bruno Anthony and Farley Granger was never better as the guileless everyman who becomes the unwitting focus of his murderous obsession. Everything about this nail-bitingly tense suspense thriller is well nigh flawless, from the razor sharp script by Raymond Chandler to the pitch perfect performances and the stunning directorial set pieces. It is a work of seemingly effortless cinematic genius that hasn't dated a single day in its power to grip and shock the viewer, and I would rank it high up in the masters Top 10 films. Only 'Psycho' (1960) and 'Shadow Of A Doubt' (1943) can even begin to hold a candle to it. Was he the greatest director who has ever lived? He gets my vote!
STALKER - Crime/Horror

'Svengali' (1954) by Noel Langley - I never knew this British adaptation of George Du Maurier's famous novel 'Trilby' (1894) even existed before I picked up the DVD - and it sounds excellent! Horror icon Donald Wolfit plays the evil hypnotist Svengali with Hildegard Neff as the poor innocent waif who falls under his demonic spell. It also features Terence Morgan as the man who loves and strives to free her, future Holmes Jeremy Brett, Alfie Bass and Harry Secombe in a fine cast of British character actors and was filmed in glorious technicolor as a gothic chiller, thus pointing the way to the Hammer Horrors that were soon to take over the world. Really looking forward to seeing it! I wonder how it compares to the more famous 1931 version with John Barrymore?
EVIL HYPNOTIST - Horror

'20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' (1954) by Richard Fleischer - this was always one of my favourite films as a child and I haven't seen it in well over 30 years! James Mason is unforgettably charismatic as the mad genius, Captain Nemo, by turns frighteningly deranged and heart-breakingly misguided as he commits mass murder in a vain attempt to end all wars. I would rank this as easily the finest of all the many Jules Verne adaptations. They really don't make them like this anymore and the film hasn't dated a day in its ability to excite, scare, awe and move the viewer. One of director Fleischer's finest films and given the man's outstanding services to genre cinema that really is saying something! I can't wait to see it again and wallow in pure nostalgia.
EVIL GENIUS - Sci-Fi/Horror

'The Ladykillers' (1955) by Alexander Mackendrick - in my opinion this was the best thing ever to come out of Ealing Studios - including 'Dead Of Night' (1945) and 'Kind Hearts And Coronets' (1949) - and the greatest macabre black comedy ever made in Britain, if not the world... I remember catching it without any foreknowledge one Sunday afternoonas a child and being struck by the blinding revelation that a film could not only be hilariously funny but seriously unsettling and creepy as well. The chilling murder sequences, done dead straight, haunted me for a long time afterward and I've loved the movie ever since! The key to the film's success is in the flawless excellence of its rarely bettered ensemble cast and the perfection of balance struck, in the script and direction, between broad character based comedy and nail-bitingly tense Hitchcockian suspense. A truly timeless masterpiece that can be enjoyed over and over again while remaining as fresh and uniquely entertaining as the day it was made! Please don't bother with the Coen Brothers abysmally misguided remake.
MACABRE MURDER PLOT - Crime/Horror/Comedy

'The Night Of The Hunter' (1955) by Charles Laughton - I've always loved this film since first being petrified by it as a child and having just recently read Davis Grubb's 1953 novel, and been blown away by its terrifying and intensely moving poetic brilliance, I am even more in awe of Laughton's astonishing directorial achievement here. Robert Mitchum gives arguably the finest performance of his career as the psychopathic Preacher and all concerned capture the unforgettable essence of the book with rare sensitivity and pitch perfect judgement. Frightening, tense, exciting, charming and painfully poignant this one just about has it all and stands as a unique masterpiece of pure cinema that haunts the mind like few other films of its era!!
PSYCHOPATHIC CRIMINAL - Crime/Horror

'Jason And The Argonauts' (1963) by Don Chaffey - what can I say about this towering masterpiece?! If I had to pick one film that first turned me on to the magic of cinema and the thrill of being scared silly by seeing the impossible happen in front of my eyes then it is this one, hands down, no ifs or buts!! My earliest memory of being absolutely terrified and literally having to dive behind the sofa was seeing this glorious work of art at the age of four or five, and I've loved it and Ray Harryhausen ever since. Every time I watch it I still get shivers up and down my spine at those hideously animated monsters and Bernard Herrmann's petrifying score. The sequence with Talos the bronze giant coming to grinding life and his remorseless pursuit of the poor sods who wakened him is a masterclass in pure cinematic terror! Then what about those bloody demonic cackling skeletons gleefully hacking our heroes to pieces ffs!! That was when so called "children's entertainment" had real shit scary balls!! God, I love this film and was overjoyed to finally pick it up on DVD. Happy days!!!!
MYTHICAL MONSTER - Fantasy/Horror

'The House Of 1,000 Dolls' (1967) by Jeremy Summers - Vincent Price stars as the evil stage hypnotist Felix Manderville in this early slice of British horror sleaze. Apparently it's the one film he regretted making because of the extreme ordeal sexual subject matter and torture sequences that were filmed when he was off set! Taking place in Tangiers it tells of the hypnotising and abduction of holidaying beautiful young Western women who find themselves imprisoned by white slavers in the house of ill repute of the title - where they are made to do terrible things... or else. I'm sure what was considered shocking XXX material back then will probably come across as charmingly quaint in these post 'Hostel' (2005) days but I'm still really looking forward to seeing this.
EVIL HYPNOTIST - Horror

'Nightmares Come At Night' (1970) by Jess Franco - one of seven legendary erotic horrors Franco made starring the hauntingly beautiful screen icon Soledad Miranda, in the last two years of her tragically short life. This one sounds like a sexed up giallo thriller involving a lesbian striptease artist who is plagued by horrific nightmares in which she sees herself brutally killing people only to find they have really been murdered on awakening. Is she a sleepwalking psychopath or the victim of a sinister plot? I'm sure I've seen that story device used somewhere before but can't for the life of me remember where. Should make for stimulating viewing whatever...
GIALLO - Horror/Crime

'The Wizard Of Gore' (1970) by Herschell Gordon Lewis - really keen to see this notorious splatter movie as it is generally reckoned to be the director's best and most professional film (which isn't saying much). For all their cheesy cheapness and ridiculously OTT homemade gore effects I really found myself enjoying the only other two I've seen; 'Blood Feast' (1963) and 'Two Thousand Maniacs' (1964). The plot of this one involves an evil sorcerer who poses as a stage magician, Montag the Magnificent, and does terrible things, with a variety of weapons and power tools, to the beautiful young women he calls up as volunteers. Apparently the gore effects were the most extreme and, ahem, "realistic" of Lewis's career! Can't wait!
EVIL SORCERER - Horror

'The Beguiled' (1971) by Don Siegel - I consider this slow burning psychological thriller to be one of Siegel and Eastwood's most underrated and memorable collaborations. Of their five films together I'd rank it third after 'Dirty Harry' (1971) and 'Escape From Alcatraz' (1979) and it is without doubt the single most atypical and original film of either man's career. Clint is in excellent form playing against type as a villainous and really rather sleazy seducer of young girls at a remote all girl boarding school in the Deep South during the final days of the American Civil War. They find him lying wounded and near death after a fierce battle, and they take him in and nurse him back to health but he repays their kindness with ruthless manipulation and mind games, looking on them as his own personal harem, until jealousy, madness and murder come along to shatter the "idyllic" dream. No doubt influenced by Powell & Pressburger's masterpiece of dangerous sexual obsession among a group of cloistered women, 'Black Narcissus' (1947), the film went on to inspire much of the haunting atmospherics of Peter Weir's 'Picnic At Hanging Rock' (1975) in its turn. A real one off classic, imho.
DESCENT INTO MADNESS - War/Drama/Horror

'The Devils' (1971) by Ken Russell - in a maverick career marked by a singularity of vision, curmudgeonly self indulgence and quite a few baffling aberrations of judgement that veered into self parody there stand several unequivocal masterpieces of cinema, and chief among them, imo, is this towering historical/horror epic - one of the very best and most controversial films ever to come out of Britain! Based on the true story of alleged demonic possession amongst the nuns of Loudun in 17th Century France, as famously documented by Aldous Huxley in his great book, 'The Devils Of Loudun' (1952), Russell's film stands as both a powerful condemnation of political corruption within the Catholic Church and as a transcendent glorification of the power of true faith and spiritual goodness in the individual. Oliver Reed, in his greatest performance, as the flawed but committed priest, Urbain Grandier, gives us a portrayal of tragically human vulnerability and Christ-like self sacrifice, for the greater good, that is worthy of Graham Greene at his most profoundly moving. And the bravura direction, the stunning production design, disorienting use of music and near fanatical intensity of the acting by all concerned paints an unforgettably disturbing picture of Hell on earth, filth, decadence, cruelty, blasphemy and madness that batters the senses into awestruck capitulation. One of the greatest, most shocking and fiercely intelligent horror films ever made and one of the finest films... period!!
DEMONIC POSSESSION - Horror

'Dirty Harry' (1971) by Don Siegel - great film but what's it doing in a horror collection I hear you cry! Controversially inspired by the real life Zodiac killings, then terrorising California, this first outing for Eastwood's most memorable character (yeah, including that one!) is still arguably the finest and most breathlessly exciting police procedural serial killer thriller ever made. I would rank Andy Robinson's spine-chilling performance as the Scorpio Killer, ruthlessly holding San Francisco to ransom as he randomly picks off innocent victims, as well up in the Top 10 most disturbing screen psychopaths of all time. But, as rivetingly deranged as he is, this is Clint's film all the way and in his brilliantly intense and hilariously un-PC maverick cop, Harry Callahan, he created one of the most charismatic and quotable screen icons in cinema history. The ridiculously entertaining franchise that followed would see him face; murderous vigilante cops, psychopathic terrorists, Mafia hitmen, and yet more serial killers, none of whom were a match for his trusty .44 Magnum. I bloody love these films and unashamedly identify completely with the character!!
SERIAL KILLER - Crime/Horror

'Play Misty For Me' (1971) by Clint Eastwood - Eastwood's directorial debut, encouraged by his great mentor, Don Siegel (who appears in a notable cameo), is an excellent and too often overlooked psycho thriller with the same "fateful one night stand" plot as 'Fatal Attraction' (1987), though, for me, this is the better, more gripping and unpredictable film. Jessica Walter gives a great subtly menacing performance that grows ever more convincingly deranged as her psychotic advances to Clint's cool bachelor are spurned, following sex. She rather reminds me of a younger, prettier Kathy Bates in 'Misery' (1990) and her doting obsession is just as skin-crawlingly creepy. A minor suspense classic and one of the braver and more unusual, not particularly heroic or sympathetic, roles for its star. 1971 was a bloody good year for Eastwood and Siegel - and cinema in general!!
PSYCHOPATHIC WOMAN - Horror

'Vampyros Lesbos' (1971) by Jess Franco - the most famous and highly regarded of Franco's erotic horror collaborations with Soledad Miranda, here starring as the beautiful lesbian vampire, Countess Nadine Oskudar, who becomes enamoured of Ewa Strömberg's busty blonde nymphette and plans to make her her immortal lover. Just typing that is getting me going here!! Yet, for all the luscious nudity and steamy clinches the film is still considered a quality milestone of the psychedelic era and arguably the finest achievement of Franco's stupendously prolific career. The score by Franco, Manfred Hübler & Siegfried Schwab is recognised as a classic in its own right and we even have old trouper Dennis Price as the spoilsport Van Helsing figure. So I was very excited to pick this up on DVD and, no doubt, further excitement awaits when I get round to watching it!!
VAMPIRE - Horror

'Walkabout' (1971) by Nicolas Roeg - one of the eeriest and most haunting films of the 70s I consider this masterpiece to be second only to 'Don't Look Now' (1973) as one of Roeg's greatest cinematic achievements. I find it works as an existential "descent into madness" nightmare every bit as much as it does a gripping survival adventure and a profoundly moving, yet impeccably understated, culture clash tragedy. The alien beauty and terrible isolation of the Australian outback has never been better captured on screen and the remarkable maturity of the child actors' performances, given the stark subject matter, is matched only by their captivating naturalism. I often wonder about what sparked the shocking suicidal madness that opens the film and keep coming back to the ethereal beauty of young Jenny Agutter... and the reason for the other horrible death that follows. Could there be a link? Can she be seen as some bewitching siren-like entity luring men to their love and luststruck doom? Like all Roeg's films this is a story with no easy answers. It is a spellbinding work of art that really gets under the viewer's skin with its subtly disturbing nuances of terrible truths left unspoken. One to cherish and endlessly mull over no matter how many times one has seen it before.
DESCENT INTO MADNESS - Adventure/Horror

'Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory' (1971) by Mel Stuart - WTF?!?! Have you gone nuts, Stevie?! Most definitely not!! This film seriously creeped me out as a child (still does) and I vividly remember Gene Wilder's manically sinister performance giving me nightmares at the time! Structurally and in effect this is very much a horror film for children masquerading as a cheery musical fantasy. A group of kids are invited on a tour of a reclusive confectionery maker's top secret factory and are horribly "killed off" one-by-one in a series of poetically just "accidents" as punishment for their perceived bad behaviour. And they call that acceptable children's entertainment?! Roald Dahl was a demented genius and this deliriously wonderful masterpiece is as perfect and timelessly entertaining an adaptation of his macabre vision as it is possible to imagine ever being made. One to wallow and rejoice in time and time and time again!! Best not mention the woefully misguided Tim Burton remake, eh...
MAD SCIENTIST - Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror/Musical

'Angels' Wild Women' (1972) by Al Adamson - this was the final part of cult director Adamson's notorious trilogy of psycho biker movies, after 'Satan's Sadists' (1969) and 'Hell's Bloody Devils' (1970). A gang of tough biker babes on a violent crime spree fall foul of a Manson-like killer cult and exact a righteously bloody revenge after the death of one of their number. The film deliberately courted controversy by actually being shot at the notorious Spahn Ranch in the California desert, where the Manson Family had set up their murderous commune! Quintessential 70s low budget exploitation fare of the kind Quentin Tarantino has spent most of his career vainly trying to emulate. They certainly don't make 'em like this anymore!
KILLER CULT - Crime/Horror

'Silent Running' (1972) by Douglas Trumbull - I've seen this glorious sci-fi masterpiece umpteen times - including on the big screen introduced by Mark Kermode - and I love it, love it, love it!! Bruce Dern will always be one of my all time favourite actors because of his stunning, multi-layered and painfully sympathetic anti-heroic performance here! Let us never forget that this is an intensely claustrophobic "descent into homicidal madness" psychological horror film as much as it is a Kubrickian deep space epic. Freeman Lowell is a deranged eco-warrior lunatic and a cold blooded killer incapable of normal human interaction - in many ways he reminds me of one of Ramsey Campbell's righteously narrow focus psychopaths. He feels more affinity with the precious plants he obsessively tends and the silent robot trio of Huey, Louie and Dewey, who unemotionally assist him, than he ever can with his own kind... and therein lies the tragedy of the man and, indeed, of the entire human race. This uniquely fascinating and moving cinematic experience, with its brutally uncompromising message, is just another one of the many reasons why the long 1970s was, hands down, the greatest period in film history. I so envy anyone who hasn't seen this and watches it for the first time. Have the tissues ready...
DESCENT INTO MADNESS - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Sleuth' (1972) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz - stone cold classic cat and mouse psychological thriller that was one of five great genre films scripted by Anthony Shaffer in the 1970s. The other four were; Hitchcock's 'Frenzy' (1972), 'The Wicker Man' (1973), 'Murder On The Orient Express' (1974) and 'Absolution' (1978) - which will give some idea of how supremely talented the guy was!! The cast of three - Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine & Alec Cawthorne - are in superb form and clearly having a ball with the material as they try to outwit and out act each other through the labyrinthine twists and turns of Shaffer's dazzlingly clever, witty and disturbing plot - of marital betrayal, elaborate revenge and fitting counter revenge. Again, I sincerely envy anyone who hasn't seen it before and knows nothing about the story. Prepare to be shocked and entertained out of your wits! Yep, another imperishable 70s masterpiece of the macabre!! Warning: avoid the pants remake at all costs...
DEADLY GAME - Crime/Horror

'The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad' (1973) by Gordon Hessler - scripted by the one and only Brian Clemens, then at the height of his powers and popularity, this was the second of Ray Harryhausen's timelessly wonderful trilogy of Sinbad movies and, I would say, the fourth best of his famous mythological fantasies - after 'Jason And The Argonauts' (1963), 'The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad' (1958) and 'Clash Of The Titans' (1981) - which just goes to show what bloody fine films they are!! A pre-Doctor Who Tom Baker is charismatically demented as the evil sorcerer Koura, while Jon Phillip Law is suitably dashing as our sea-going hero and Caroline Munro has never looked more divinely beautiful as his bit on the side. But Harryhausen's cavalcade of frighteningly animated monstrosities and Clemens' typically ingenious script, with its episodic string of mind bending puzzles leading to a priceless treasure, are the real stars of the show. This film scared me stiff as a child, with its eerie otherworldliness, and I still get goosebumps at the thought of watching it today. Pure cinema magic!!
MYTHICAL MONSTER - Fantasy/Horror

'The Man With The Severed Head' (1973) by Juan Fortuny - all I know about this obscure Spanish horror is that it stars horror icon Paul Naschy, a guy I know only by reputation having never seen any of his films, and that it was one of a brief rash of gory mad scientist movies involving head transplants in the early 70s i.e. 'The Incredible Two Headed Transplant' (1971) and 'The Thing With Two Heads' (1972). Should be fun and I'm curious to finally see what all the fuss was about Naschy. Fingers crossed...
MAD SCIENTIST - Horror/Sci-Fi

'The Nun And The Devil' (1973) by Domenico Paolella - notorious Italian nunsploitation horror made to cash in on the controversy stirred up by Ken Russell's 'The Devils' (1971). Yet, by all accounts, this is an almost equally fine work of incendiary cinema that was also based on a true historical case of sexual deviance and accusations of demonic possession in a mediaeval convent, that led to the calling in of the dreaded Inquisition. It is considered the finest "exploitation" movie in the sub-genre, after Russell's more artistically concerned masterpiece, and despite all the graphically blasphemous sex and violence was intended as a serious attack against the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church in Italy. One to look forward to for all kinds of reasons!
DEMONIC POSSESSION - Horror

'Soylent Green' (1973) by Richard Fleischer - the last of a trio of stone cold classic sci-fi movies that starred Charlton Heston, at his most charismatic, in the late 60s-early 70s. You all know the other two. Based on the classic dystopian novel of a near future world buckling under the weight of over-population, 'Make Room, Make Room' (1966) by Harry Harrison, the plot presents one of the most memorably disturbing and coldly logical paranoid conspiracies ever dreamt up, and boasts an iconic final twist that has lost none of its blood freezing potency - in fact, if anything, it is even more insidiously unsettling now than it ever was. Where are we headed as a species and what might we ultimately be driven to in order to survive?! Notable also as the last film of Edward G. Robinson's career one couldn't imagine a more fittingly moving role for him to have bowed out on. I haven't seen it in some 25 years, and then only once, but have never forgotten the hair-raising experience! They don't come any more gripping...
PARANOID CONSPIRACY - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Westworld' (1973) by Michael Crichton - based on his own original screenplay, rather than one of his novels, this marked a staggeringly impressive and original directorial debut for the unfeasibly talented Crichton! Just look at the number of huge hit genre films that have come from his pen, from 'The Andromeda Strain' (1971) to the 'Jurassic Park' franchise (1993-2015), and you'll see what I mean. This one, starring Yul Brynner in one of his most iconic roles, as the implacable android gunslinger, and the memorable pairing of Richard Benjamin and James Brolin, as the warmly sympathetic ordinary joe targets of his relentless pursuit, remains as sensationally effective, scary and irresistibly gripping a chase thriller as the day it was made! It had a profound influence on the adrenaline pumping thrills of James Cameron's 'The Terminator' (1984), and the theme of entropy ensuring the inevitable failure of even the most stringent safety precautions, in the face of ever more complex technological systems and the chaotic nature of the universe, was also central to Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park' (1993), while remaining ever more relevant in these days of frighteningly fast technological advancement fuelling unpredictable social change. Yet another outrageously entertaining and thought provoking sci-fi masterpiece from the 1970s!!
KILLER ROBOT - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Assault On Precinct 13' (1976) by John Carpenter - the film that brought fledgling director Carpenter to the world's awestruck attention this fantastic action/horror thriller remains one of the best paced and most exciting genre films of its era. Like 'Halloween' (1978) it has been slavishly imitated to death since but never even come close to being equalled, nevermind bettered! A painstakingly well constructed and relentlessly suspenseful siege thriller, made on a shoestring budget, it more than bears comparison to earlier masterpieces such as 'The Birds' (1963), 'Zulu' (1964) or 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968) and can also be seen as an unflinching contemporary updating of the "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" theme familiar from countless westerns e.g. 'My Darling Clementine' (1946), 'High Noon' (1952), 'Rio Bravo' (1959), etc, etc... Looked back on the identifying of violent gang culture as an insidious threat from within to the stability of Western society can also be seen to have kickstarted a whole sub-genre of paranoid sociological thrillers, in which the forces of Law & Order are seen as hopelessly outnumbered. Everything from 'Scum' (1979) to 'The Warriors' (1979) and the apocalyptic 'Mad Max' (1979-85) series to 'Escape From New York' (1981), 'Romper Stomper' (1992), 'The Purge' (2A013), etc, started here. Remember the recent riots in London and shudder... One of the man's incalculably influential early masterpieces!! Again, forget the fatuously irrelevant remake...
PSYCHOPATHIC GANG - Horror/Crime

'The Enforcer' (1976) by James Fargo - I'll always have a huge fondness for this third outing for Eastwood's Dirty Harry Callahan as it was the very first X-certificate movie I ever got to see on the big screen, at the age of 12 with a bunch of mates (don't ask how...), and it remains one of the most thrilling nights of my life and another reason why I love cinema so much. After leading a sheltered life, with regard to what I was permitted to watch at home, the no holds barred action, intensity of the acting and brutal realism of the violence in this fantastic thriller shocked and excited me to the core...and I've never been the same since. This time Harry is up against as frighteningly ruthless a gang of psychopathic killers as ever graced the screen, with their howling, wild-eyed leader, Bobby Maxwell (DeVeren Bookwalter), making for a particularly disturbing principal villain - his performance haunted me for quite a while after. Another 70s classic I could never grow tired of rewatching! Here's how I would rank the entire series; 1. 'Dirty Harry' (1971) - 2. 'The Enforcer' (1976) - 3. 'Magnum Force' (1973) - 4. 'Sudden Impact' (1983) - 5. 'The Dead Pool' (1988). They're all great and I'll be adding them all to the collection!
PSYCHOPATHIC GANG - Crime/Horror

'Who Can Kill A Child?' (1976) by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador - was just a bit excited to come across this extremely rare and critically acclaimed Spanish horror classic t- said to be one of the very best of the ever effective "evil child" sub-genre and that, going by the plot synopsis, bears a striking resemblance to Stephen King's great short story 'Children Of The Corn' (1977)! An English couple holidaying in Spain take a boat trip to a little visited off-shore island and find themselves stranded and at the mercy of vicious hordes of feral children who have killed off the entire adult population and set up their own insanely immature community. Sounds fecking brilliant and is frequently hailed as possibly the best horror film ever to come out of Spain!! I can't bloody wait!!
EVIL CHILD - Horror

'Empire Of The Ants' (1977) by Bert I. Gordon - fairly infamous schlock horror throwback to the giant monster movies of the 50s, based on a H.G. Wells short story, that sees Joan Collins unhappily slumming it during one of the frequent lulls in her up-and-down "acting" career. Having said that I've been dying to see this for as long as I can remember as it sounds wonderfully cheesy and I love anything to do with ants, especially giant ones. One to wallow in, grinning inanely, over a feat of beers methinks! Let's see... already having 'Them!' (1954), I believe that only leaves; 'The Naked Jungle' (1954), 'Phase IV' (1974) and 'It Happened At Lakewood Manor' (1977) still to get. Unless you know better?
GIANT ANIMAL - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Exorcist II : The Heretic' (1977) by John Boorman - I've tried to watch this notoriously unsatisfying sequel twice before, with as open a mind as possible, and came away just as frustrated as cinema audiences were at the time. Yet still something niggles at me to give the film another go with expectations set to zero. Boorman was either insanely brave or just insane to attempt such a ponderously slow moving existential drama, all but devoid of scares or even any true sense of threat, as the follow up to the most terrifying horror epic ever made. Where Friedkin's masterpiece was deeply philosophical and thought provoking in its perfectly paced escalation of dread and fracturing of cosy everyday reality it also had the sense to scare the living daylights out of people with its graphic explosions of pure satanic horror. All we get here are ruminations on faith and the definition of good and evil that, while sincere and well acted by Richard Burton, become unbearably tedious as we wait for something bloody exciting to happen. Time for a third ever hopeful reevaluation, methinks...
DEMONIC POSSESSION - Horror

'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) by George A. Romero - I've long owned the 139 min director's cut version of Romero's masterpiece on DVD and this is the 127 min original release version with all of Tom Savini's most notorious gore scenes intact. For some reason the longer version cut out the more extreme head explosions and eviscerations, etc... perhaps Romero got cold feet about them once his film started to be taken seriously by the critics? Anyway, I now have the complete opus and one of these days intend to watch the whole glorious thing in all its bloody splendour for the very first time - with a bit of research and deft disc juggling. Forget the user friendly gung-ho remake and the vast majority of half-baked clones it inspired - this is the real deal!! Incendiary guerrilla filmmaking of rare intelligence, blistering energy and visceral power!! It remains the ultimate Zombie epic to end all and will always stand as Romero's most ambitious and stunningly impressive achievement! Another unbetterable timeless masterpiece of 70s cinema!!
ZOMBIE - Horror/Sci-Fi

'The Eyes Of Laura Mars' (1978) by Irvin Kershner - familiar from countless TV screenings when I was younger this John Carpenter scripted supernatural serial killer suspenser, starring Faye Dunaway and a very young Tommy Lee Jones, is probably the best of the gialloesque psychic thrillers involving a beautiful woman's mental link to a psychopath who becomes aware of her hapless meddling and marks her as his next victim. A theme that has been done to death in the years since. While a solidly gripping "woman in peril" adult entertainment it's just a pity the studio didn't allow the up and coming Carpenter to direct his script as well, as Kershner's handling of the material never rises above the merely adequate.
PSYCHIC POWERS - Horror

'Jaws II' (1978) by Jeannot Szwarc - "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..." This inevitable cash-in sequel, and the franchise that followed, really never should have been made given the supreme masterpiece status of the 1975 original - the greatest experience I ever had in a cinema and, imho, Spielberg's finest directorial achievement, made when he still had youthful fire in his belly and before his head got turned to sentimental mush by the double edged success of 'ET' (1982). Having said that there is much to love about this film and I well remember the thrill of going to see it in the cinema at the time with a bunch of hopelessly excited mates - even if we did bemoan the relative lack of gore afterward! The shit scary shark, my great hero - Roy Scheider as Chief Brody, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Jeffrey Kramer's deputy and that awesome pulse pounding music were still there and the intensity of the acting by a talented young cast of potential victims really communicated the terror of their predicament to the viewer with irresistible force, in the film's unbearably tense second half. So this stands as a memorable experience of mixed feelings from my childhood that I'd always rather have had than not. I do love sharks...
KILLER ANIMAL - Horror/Adventure

'Apocalypse Now Redux' (1979) by Francis Ford Coppola - his other great epic of unquantifiable cinematic genius, after the 'Godfather' movies and, in my opinion, very much a surreal horror odyssey as much as it is a hellish depiction of the insanity of war. Only Elem Klimov's 'Come And See' (1985) is any way comparable in its nightmarish intensity. I've long loved the original version and been dying to see this definitive expanded director's cut, with an incredible extra 49 minutes of all new material ffs!!!! The journey Martin Sheen's character takes is one of the most visually thrilling and psychologically punishing descents into madness - where Brando's Kurtz reigns supreme in haunted babbling idiocy - ever put on film and could claim to be as much a modernised adaptation of Dante's 'Inferno' as Joseph Conrad's great plunge into nihilism, 'Heart Of Darkness' (1899). Is it any wonder Coppola lost his marbles during the making of it and afterward was never quite as inspired again as a filmmaker. God help him but his artistic burnout was our cause to celebrate! So this promises to be one of the greatest DVD watching experiences of my life!! I plan to save it, like the still unseen director's cut of 'The Exorcist' (1973), for a very special occasion indeed. By fuck do I love 1970s cinema!!!!
DESCENT INTO MADNESS - War/Horror

'Mad Max' (1979) by George Miller - the original Australian sci-fi shocker that launched Mel Gibson on the path to stardom and kickstarted the whole grungy post-apocalypse survival/action sub-genre, so hugely popular in the 80s. This is still a blisteringly exciting and mega-violent thriller, of deadly gang feuds, revenge and counter revenge, that pulls no punches in its nihilistic vision of a world descending into barbaric anarchy, while the dwindling forces of Law & Order, as personified by super-cool highway patrol cop, Mad Max Rockatansky, make an increasingly cynical last stand, with civilisation and all notions of common human decency disintegrating around them. Hugely influential it stands as one of the great milestone genre pictures of its era and has lost none of its power to shock, excite and entertain! A truly visceral classic that shows what can be done on a meagre budget with unknown actors when the passion, energy, intelligence and raw talent is there to deliver!
PSYCHOPATHIC GANG - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Scum' (1979) by Alan Clarke - picked up the never before broadcast on TV full uncensored director's cut of this notorious 70s shocker, scripted by Roy Minton and based on his and Clarke's original BBC play from 1977, that was deemed too controversial to be shown and never saw the light of day. I consider it to be the finest and most harrowing prison horror movie ever made, and the film has lost none of its visceral power or relevance with the years. The fiercely anti-heroic role of Carlin is the one that Ray Winstone will always be remembered for. His story of teenage incarceration in a brutal boys' Borstal and rising to the top by strength of will and sheer bloody ruthlessness is utterly riveting and pulls no punches in its unrelentingly bleak depiction of extreme physical violence, psychological and emotional torture - committed by himself, his fellow inmates and, most disturbingly, by the viciously sadistic warders - is nothing short of nightmarish, and contains many of the most profoundly distressing scenes of horror ever committed to film. A masterpiece that, once seen, can never be forgotten - and I've never seen this version before!!
INHUMAN PRISON - Prison/Horror

'The Warriors' (1979) by Walter Hill - heavily inspired by John Carpenter's 'Assault On Precinct 13' (1976) this fantastically exciting and violent all-action chase thriller is one of three masterpieces that will always ensure Hill's place in the cult director Hall of Fame - along with 'The Driver' (1978) and 'Southern Comfort' (1981). Its portrayal of New York City as little more than a lawless jungle, where criminal gangs with their own peculiarly ruthless code of honour make a mockery of Law & Order, can be seen as instrumental in the evolution of the post-apocalypse genre of the 80s. It's no surprise that ever more nihilistic visions of the future breakdown of society would follow in its wake e.g. the 'Mad Max' trilogy (1979-85), 'Escape From New York' (1981), 'The New Gladiators' (1984), etc... The nine members of "The Warriors" street gang find themselves stitched up for the murder of a rival leader during a city-wide truce and have to battle their way to safe ground with every other criminal faction in New York out for their heads. That's the set-up and the rest is high-octane bloody thrills right up to the unpredictable finish. A raw, stripped down, no nonsense classic of its type that never fails to grip and entertain!
PSYCHOPATHIC GANG - Adventure/Horror

'The Boogeyman' (1980) by Ulli Lommel - another of those infamous video nasties that I've never seen and been dying to since back in the day! So I was overjoyed to pick up the DVD, along with its ultra-rare 1983 sequel, for less than a quid each. The only other Lommel movie I've seen to date was the bloody awful pseudo-Hitchcockian psycho thriller 'Prozzie' (1983) so I'm kind of nervous about what quality to expect from this effort. It has a strong cult reputation and stars old trouper John Carradine, while the demonic ghost cum slasher storyline would appear to have been an obvious inspiration for Wes Craven's 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984), so here's hoping. It's all about the vengeful spirit of a murdered psychopath that is trapped within a mirror that reflected his killing. Years later the mirror is shattered and the ghost set free to kill and kill again. Can't wait to see it at last!
DEMONIC GHOST - Horror

'The Changeling' (1980) by Peter Medak - the first of a trio of quality 80s horror films that starred George C. Scott (marvellous actor!), including; 'Firestarter' (1984) and 'Legion : Exorcist III' (1989). I'd rank this as the best of them, at least until Blatty's long awaited director's cut of 'Exorcist III' sees the light of day. Allegedly based on true events experienced by the scriptwriter, Russell Hunter, this is one of the most understatedly convincing and effective ghost stories ever put on film, imo, and ranks right up there with the likes of; 'The Uninvited' (1944), 'The Innocents' (1961) and 'The Haunting' (1963), even if it was overshadowed that year by the more in-your-face terrifying vision of Kubrick & King's 'The Shining' (1980). The film works as an engrossing mystery thriller and a chilling supernatural shocker combined and I've found it gets better and more satisfying with each repeat viewing - due in no small part to the commitment of Scott's anguished performance. An all too rare classic of its type!!
GHOST - Horror

'Motel Hell' (1980) by Kevin Connor - if I was overjoyed to pick up 'The Boogeyman' (1980) then I was positively ecstatic to stumble across, at long bloody last, a copy of this equally infamous cult classic video nasty that I've long dreamed of seeing ever since first catching the trailer way back in the day, and being haunted by the famous pig-headed, chainsaw wielding cover shot on the video - lovingly reproduced on this DVD! I've heard it's a seriously well made jet black Grand Guignol horror comedy, inspired by the old EC Comics, and features an iconic performance by Rory Calhoun as a folksy old cannibal farmer whose smoked meats are renowned as the finest in the county, made from passing strangers he bushwhacks on the highway! Sounds bloody marvellous and the director was also responsible for these fondly remembered cult classics; the best of all the Amicus portmanteaus, 'From Beyond The Grave' (1974), 'The Land That Time Forgot' (1975), 'At The Earth's Core' (1976), 'Trial By Combat' (1976), 'The People That Time Forgot' (1977), 'Warlords Of Atlantis' (1978) and 'The House Where Evil Dwells' (1982)!! One to salivate over finally seeing at last...
CANNIBAL - Horror

'Nightmare City' (1980) by Umberto Lenzi - and yet another long anticipated splatter classic from the video nasty era that I'm beside myself with joy to own a copy of t last - yeehaa!!!! Considered one of the best and most extreme of the Italian zombie movies that came in the wake of 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) and 'Zombie Flesh Eaters' (1979) this is one I was ridiculously excited to find for silly money - £2 ffs!! Tapping into the fear ovr nuclear accidents that was then scaring everyone rigid, after 'The China Syndrome' (1979) and its virtual prediction of the Three Mile Island incident, the story involves radioactive contamination from a nuclear power plant leading to a rapidly spreading zombie plague, of the fast running and supernaturally strong variety, as opposed to Romero and Fulci's shambling undead. Perhaps Lenzi's best regarded film and an influential milestone of the zombie genre this is one cult classic I intend to save for a special occasion and one that, I trust, will make a mockery of the "so bad they're brilliant" Italian zombie flicks inflicted on us by the likes of Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso, et al, in the years that followed. What a great year for horror 1980 was!!
ZOMBIE - Horror

'Clash Of The Titans' (1981) by Desmond Davis - this was Ray Harryhausen's last glorious hurrah as a filmmaker and stands as one of his finest fantasy achievements, featuring some of the most memorable and scary animated creations of his career. The hideous Medusa, in particular, really creeped me out! Compared to the recent awful CGI laden remake the wonderful set pieces and visionary production values now look even better than they did back then, imho. I remember going to see it in the cinema at the time and coming out my imagination alight with those old Greek myths and how much more exciting and dangerous the world must have been back then... before I came back down to earth. Somehow, in my eyes, none of the huge budget fantasy epics that came afterward quite managed the same level of weird magic as these films - including the recent works of Peter Jackson. There was a thrilling briskness of pace, a lack of pomposity, an unassuming innocence and concentration on creating a true sense of wonder that is the very essence of cinema, at its most beguiling and otherworldly, that I will always find irresistible.
MYTHICAL MONSTER - Fantasy/Horror

'Escape From New York' (1981) by John Carpenter - as Carpenter inspired them so Walter Hills's 'The Warriors' (1979) and George Miller's 'Mad Max' (1979) can be seen to have directly influenced this classic sci-if/horror thriller that turned Kurt Russell from a homely star of Disney films into a tough guy superstar overnight, in the iconic role of one-eyed mean machine Snake Plissken! Set in a near future dystopia in which New York has been abandoned to the criminal gangs who overran it, and turned into a walled super-prison to contain them, the contrived but ridiculously entertaining plot has Donald Pleasence, as the US President, crashing behind the wall in Air Force One and Plissken being sent in on a one man virtual suicide mission to try and rescue him from an army of blood crazed sub-human psychopaths infesting the shattered remains of the once proud metropolis. After that it's going-ho action yet grittily nihilistic anti-heroics all the way to the nerve-shredding climax. This is one of Carpenter's most thoroughly entertaining thrillers made when he was at the absolute top of his game as a director, and has lost none of its high octane sucker punch appeal over the years. Please don't bother with the virtual remake of a sequel, 'Escape From LA' (1996) - it's truly awful and marked the beginning of the man's decline, imo. Remember him for this and the other genre masterpieces that surrounded it!!
INHUMAN PRISON - Sci-Fi/Prison/Horror

'Excalibur' (1981) by John Boorman - I consider this visionary masterpiece to be the greatest adult fantasy epic ever made and would hail it as Boorman's finest directorial achievement - yes, even over 'Deliverance' (1972)!! Over ten years in gestation it was originally conceived as an adaptation of Tolkien's 'The Lord Of The Rings' (1954-55) and it was that fantasy masterwork that the wondrous set design, costumes and overall iconic look of the film were created with in mind. Eventually the 'Rings' project was abandoned as too costly to do full justice to and the focus was widely switched to the mythic profundity of the Arthurian Legend cycle instead, with Sir Thomas Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur' (1485) as the principal source. I've actually read it and consider the work to be one of the most towering achievements in literary history - up there with the works of Shakespeare, Dante's 'Divine Comedy' or Milton's 'Paradise Lost'. One has to experience the absolute best to be able to judge all that exists below it. As evidence; it wasn't until special effects had evolved sufficiently for Peter Jackson to finally bring Tolkien's work to cinematic visualisation but even that brilliantly entertaining and ambitious trilogy pales, imo, beside Boorman's more succinctly powerful vision here. What he somehow managed to create was a hauntingly otherworldly representation of the Dark Ages that never existed in actuality but that feels completely right on the level of pure mythic fantasy, and that convinces us utterly of the part played in the fates of men and nations by the insidious power of witchcraft and sorcery. Filmed entirely on location in Ireland - the breathtaking countryside of which has never looked more beautiful on screen - and eschewing any reliance on grandstanding special effects or unconvincingly glossy production values, that hamper most fantasy cinema of the kind, the focus was centred on the grime, dirt, sweat and blood of the times and the authenticity of the performances. These people aren't imaginary caricatures acting out pantomime roles but real flesh and blood human beings caught up in the bewildering whirlwind of historic events that became legends for all time. Yet, in the midst of all the blood spattered and sweat drenched realism, we have Nicol Williamson, as the charmingly eccentric Merlin, and Helen Mirren, as the deliriously satanic Morgana, striking sparks off each other as the feuding emissaries of light and darkness, good and evil, Heaven and Hell on Earth. The balance struck between the feel of real history unfolding and of being transported into another world of eldritch uncertainty, that haunts all our dreams of the past, is nothing short of perfect and one of the greatest conjuring tricks of 20th Century cinema, imho. One to revel in time and time again, and get moe out of after every enraptured viewing, it stands as a work of as close to cinematic genius as these eyes have ever beheld, nor, with its incredible, nay Kubrickian, use of classical music, that these ears ever harkened to. Incredible filmmaking!!!! Ah, to see it on the big screen...
WITCHCRAFT - Fantasy/Horror

'The Funhouse' (1981) by Tobe Hooper - it's while picking up all these familiar titles on DVD that I'm beginning to realise just how many great horror classics there still are, from back in the day, that I'm only familiar with by long lusted after reputation! This is another one to get stupidly excited about and is the only one of Hooper's films from his critically acclaimed golden period that I still haven't seen. Life is good!! By all reports this is one of the most seminal, classically structured slasher movies of the 80s and features a particularly frightening and horribly deformed antagonist slicing and dicing the usual bunch of irritating teenage airheads in ever more imaginatively gruesome ways, as brought to life by Craig Reardon's famously repulsive "old school" special effects. The action is set in the reliably creepy surroundings of a deserted carnival by night, so, as it was made in between the career highpoints of 'Salem's Lot' (1979) and 'Poltergeist' (1982), everything would appear to be in place for a rare horror treat with this one! One of these days I'm going to run out of such films to watch for the first time so these are moments to treasure for a diehard horror fan like me. Sigh...
DEFORMED KILLER - Horror

'Outland' (1981) by Peter Hyams - I'll always remember this film as sort of marking the last great hurrah of a golden period of visually spectacular and highly intelligent, big budget, outer space sci-fi blockbusters, for discerning adults, that began, need I say, with Stanley Kubrick's crowning masterpiece, '2001 : A Space Odyssey' (1968). See what I mean about the long 1970s?... Sean Connery has rarely been more charismatically heroic than he is here, as the "one honest lawman" standing up for what is right in the face of a terrifyingly callous high level conspiracy he uncovers on a remote mining outpost on Io, the innermost of the four moons of Jupiter. The film looks sensational and works as a thoroughly satisfying mix of then topical (as now) corporate conspiracy thriller, ala 'The China Syndrome' (1979), neo-noir detective thriller, ala 'Chinatown' (1974), and good old fashioned western morality play, most obviously paying homage to 'High Noon' (1952), in its nail-bitingly tense final reel. I consider this to be Hyams' second best movie, after the similarly paranoid sci-fi thriller 'Capricorn One' (1978), and it is much superior to his other big picture in the genre, the "never should have been attempted" inevitable disappointment that was '2010 : Odyssey II' (1984) - the film that really did draw down the curtain on the glorious era Kubrick gifted to the world.
PARANOID CONSPIRACY - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Southern Comfort' (1981) by Walter Hill - quite obviously inspired by John Boorman's great masterpiece of masculinity under threat, 'Deliverance' (1972), this is, imho, Hill's best film. A riveting,y tense, scary and exciting horror thriller atmospherically filmed on location in the eerily alien swamplands of the Louisiana bayou. Like all his movies the set-up is wonderfully simple and designed to plunge us straight into the nerve-shredding lay well mounted action and suspense, as we follow a hapless squad of ill-prepared National Guard trainees on manoeuvres in a pitiless wilderness who fall foul of homicidally ruthless and implacably vengeful Cajun locals they have the misfortune to get way on the wrong side of. It's all a question of who will be next to die and who, if any of them, will make it back to civilisation alive, and features career defining performances by familiar face character actors such as; Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Peter Coyote, T.K. Carter and Franklyn Seales - you know them all to see. So what's not to like? This is a "take no prisoners" blokes' movie with knobs on and, imo, had a profound and unrecognised influence on John Carpenter's great masterpiece of the following year, 'The Thing' (1982)! One of those effortlessly gripping films that sucks the viewer in and has one hanging on the edge of one's nerves from first moment to last, no matter how many times it has been seen before. Fantastic stuff!!
HOMICIDAL LOCALS - Adventure/Horror

'Time Bandits' (1981) by Terry Gilliam - in any other year this awe inspiringly imaginative and visually stunning epic would have run away with the "best fantasy" accolades but it was up against John Boorman's 'Excalibur'. The film that first made people sit up and take notice of Gilliam as a seriously great visionary film director I'd still rank it as his third best picture, after; 'Brazil' (1985) and 'Twelve Monkeys' (1995). It was also the second of his trilogy of early Pythonesque dark comedies, featuring some of his former team mates in prominent and exceptionally funny roles - the other two being the criminally neglected 'Jabberwocky' (1977) and his 1985 masterpiece, again. I remember seeing this on the big screen at the time and being blown away by the originality of its vision, while laughing myself sick at the brilliantly absurdist humour of it all and identifying completely with the young hero on his dizzying odyssey through history with that loveable band of unforgettable little men. My admiration has only increased with the years. This is the kind of dazzlingly brave and perfectly controlled fantasy image mongering that shows up the lazy mega-budget CGI fests of nowadays for the pitifully by-the-numbers shallow entertainments, devoid of depth and imagination, that they mostly are. Cinema has never and will never be about the technology available but is all about the spellbinding translation of concept into imagery in the service of story of the truly great auteurs, and they don't come any greater or more uncompromisingly honest than this maverick genius. Impossibly thrilling, charming, hilarious, poignant and damn scary (David Warner's satanic sorcerer is the very personification of evil) this film just about has it all. Fire up your imaginations and plunge in again, people!!
EVIL SORCERER - Fantasy/Horror/Comedy

'Creepshow' (1982) by George A. Romero - this finally completes the trilogy in my collection and I would rank the film as still the single best and most wonderfully entertaining portmanteau horror made since the glory days of Amicus. For once a dream team of talents on paper - King and Romero paying tribute to the EC horror comics they grew up in love with - actually came to gloriously successful fruition when actualised! Everything about the production oozes labour of love and is a joy to behold - from the spot on ensemble casting in all six stories and the perfectly judged balance of macabre humour and serious scares to the charmingly animated framing device, Tom Savini's typically repulsive special effects and the sparkling wit of King's reverently irreverent script. One of Romero's most atypically commercial and yet still finest directorial achievements it stands as a cherishably nostalgic bona-fide classic of 80s horror at its most crowd pleasingly popular! Haven't seen it in way too many years!
PORTMANTEAU - Horror

'Slumber Party Massacre' (1982) by Amy Holden Jones - apparently this was intended as a satirical black comedy feminist piss-take of the then world conquering misogyny of the slasher genre but, ironically, ended up just as notorious a splatter movie as the films it was supposedly commenting upon. A house full of scantily clad nubile college babes fall foul of a homicidal maniac with an oversized power drill, etc... Should make for hokey nostalgic fun.
SLASHER - Horror

'Boogeyman II' (1983) by Ulli Lommel & Bruce Starr - interesting sounding early example of the post modern self-reverential style of "film within a film" horror movie cash-ins that Wes Craven was to claim responsibility for in the 90s with 'A New Nightmare' (1994) and 'Scream' (1996). Ulli Lommel, himself, stars as a Hollywood director of B-movie schlock horrors making a film of the "true" events portrayed in 'The Boogeyman' (1980) and, of course, cast and crew find themselves falling prey to the same demonic haunter of the mirror from that film. Truly there are no new ideas...
DEMONIC GHOST - Horror

'Jaws III' (1983) by Joe Alves - I somehow managed to miss this in the cinema at the time and have never got round to catching it since. The third outing for Spielberg's most famous monster has a surprisingly strong cast, with Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jnr and Simon MacCorkindale joining the franchise, and, of course, there's that music again, so a fairly exciting and nostalgic guilty pleasure is guaranteed when I finally get round to seeing it at last! Once again, it really should never have been made but what the heck... it's a shark movie!
KILLER ANIMAL - Horror/Adventure

'CHUD' (1984) by Douglas Cheek - yeah, you guessed it, this is still another cult classic horror I've been dying to see since my wayward youth, in the heady days of home video, when it frequently called to me from the shelves of my local rental but somehow went unseen. The title stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers and the story involves the ever popular urban myth of a race of mutants living beneath the streets of a major metropolis - in this case New York - familiar from the likes of; 'Death Line' (1972), 'Creep' (2004), 'Marebito' (2004), 'The Midnight Meat Train' (2008), etc, and, most effectively in prose, T.E.D. Klein's great masterpiece, 'Children Of The Kingdom' (1980). This time the subterranean flesh eating monstrosities, snacking on passing unfortunates they drag down manholes, are the results of illegal dumping of toxic waste in the sewer system that has mutated the homeless population who shelter down there. So there's at least an attempt at social relevance in the script, and the strong cast, for this kind of low budget movie, including the ever reliable; John Heard, Daniel Stern, Kim Greist, John Goodman and Jay Thomas, would indicate that this should be better than the average schlock horror offering from the 80s. God, but I'm going to have fun over the coming months deciding what order to watch all these long anticipated movies in!!!!
MUTANT - Horror/Sci-Fi

'Firestarter' (1984) by Mark L. Lester - a solidly entertaining rather than inspired adaptation of the 1980 Stephen King novel that, along with 'Christine' (1983), 'Cujo' (1983) and the truly awful 'Children Of The Corn' (1984), marked the end of an astonishing purple patch of films based on his early works - 'Carrie' (1976), 'Salem's Lot' (1979), 'The Shining' (1980), 'Creepshow' (1982) & 'The Dead Zone' (1983) all speak for themselves! This one boasts a stellar cast giving their all, even if George C. Scott was miscast as a Cherokee assassin and the principal villain, John Rainbird (a part William "Falconetti" Smith would have been born to play), and has a gripping blend of paranormal horror/sci-fi, paranoid conspiracy and chase thriller plot devices and great conflagratory special effects, when Drew Barrymore goes all "Carrie" on us, but the directing is disappointingly mundane and never threatens to do the material full justice. From here on watching Stephen King adaptations on the big or small screen was akin to playing Russian roulette with one's hopes and expectations! Still, this one is a decent and perfectly enjoyable production.
PSYCHIC POWERS - Horror/Sci-Fi

'Ghostbusters' (1984) by Ivan Reitman - the most iconic and wildly popular horror comedy ever made and, yes, still one of the most irresistibly entertaining. Bill Murray, Dan Ayckroyd and Harold Ramis are on career best form (with Murray, in particular, at his most hilariously cynical) as the intrepid trio of hi-tech ghost exterminators ridding New York City of an inexplicable infestation of ectoplasmic ghouls from the other side. Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis and Ernie Hudson give sterling support and Reitman's pacing and direction of the fantastical set pieces is pitch perfect, producing an instant classic of crowd pleasing thrills for all ages and tastes, way beyond your typical horror fan. Yet, for all that, Ayckroyd & Ramis's script, and the Lovecraftian themes of Old Gods breaking through to reclaim the Earth that the film explores, are way more genre savvy than its all-conquering reputation would suggest, making this a near miraculous achievement in appealing to just about everyone. One of those timeless classics that exists way out on a plane of its own beyond any type of meaningful criticism. Just sit back and lap it up is all you can do!
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'Brazil' (1985) by Terry Gilliam - now this is one film I can't praise enough! Not only is it Gilliam's greatest masterpiece and the second best film of the 80s, after Leone's 'Once Upon A Time In America' (1984), but, imo, it is the finest film ever made in Britain, full stop!! Yep, it comes right at the top of my list, as can be verified on the RCMB. A blindingly brilliant jet black comedy updating of George Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian future in 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949). It made the po-faced official adaptation of the previous year dwindle into insignificance and works on virtually every level one could care to mention. Jonathan Price was perfectly cast as the humble everyman politely going about his business in unquestioning servitude to the State who finds himself branded as an "undesirable" and an "outlaw" due to a ridiculously simple administrative error of Kafkaesque dimensions. Indeed 'The Trial' (1925) is as much referenced in Gilliam, Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown's inspired script as is Orwell. This was also the last of the director's films to have a distinct flavour of Python about it, when at their most savagely satirical, and, although he's made almost as great films since, 'Twelve Monkeys' (1995) in particular, it kind of marked the end of a period of truly visionary imagination and uncompromising intensity that harked back to the nightmarish animated shorts he made his name with. The all-star cast are all in great demented form, seeming to be fired with the man's manic creative energy, and the dark futuristic production design is simply staggering - at once breathtakingly beautiful and horribly claustrophobic in its austere immensity. Yet, for all that, this is an ultimately intimate character study of awakening to reality, bitter disillusionment and the hard fought freeing of the human spirit from the ties of having to conform... through the ultimate escape into fantasy. One of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of the 20th Century, imho!!!!
EVIL REGIME - Sci-Fi/Horror/Comedy

'April Fools' Day' (1986) by Fred Walton - one of the more famous 80s slasher movies that somehow passed me by at the time. Walton was the director of the earlier classic 'When A Stranger Calls' (1979) so I'm hoping for good things from this one. The requisite group of irritating college kids are invited to the remote island mansion of an eccentric friend on an April Fools' Day weekend and, one-by-one, end up being horribly murdered in a series of deadly practical jokes. Should be fun.
SLASHER - Horror

'The Hitcher' (1986) by Robert Harmon - Rutger Hauer has never been more menacing than in this classic all-action chase thriller and I would rank his role here as another of the most intensely scary psychopaths in horror cinema history. One really fears for young C. Thomas Howell's character as he is relentlessly pursued across the California desert as the latest random victim in an insane death pact - "kill me or be killed" being the maniacally grinning stalker's demented proposition. Breathlessly exciting, shockingly nihilistic and brutally unpredictable the film mixes elements of the slasher genre with the intelligence of an existential road movie and the implacably gripping suspense of 'Duel' (1971), 'Westworld' (1973) or 'The Terminator' (1984) to deliver one of the very best genre films of the 80s. Forget the half-assed sequel and the crappy remake, this one still stands as an impossibly entertaining rollercoaster of a thrill ride into the realm of pure terror! Haven't seen it in far, far too long.
STALKER - Horror

'Raiders Of The Living Dead' (1986) by Samuel M. Sherman - an ultra-low budget but, by all accounts, cheesily entertaining "so bad it's good" zombie/mad scientist horror, from one of the kings of American underground schlock, that will be going some to top the hilarious ineptitude of the Italian zombie movies being churned out at the same time. One to get the beers in and switch the brain off to get the most out of... it would seem. Can't wait!
ZOMBIE - Horror/Sci-Fi

'Jaws IV : The Revenge' (1987) by Joseph Sargent - Again, I've always contrived to miss this critically mauled final part of the franchise, that brought back Lorraine Gary's Ellen Brody as the central character and teamed her with a shamefaced Michael Caine, as the bottom of the fish barrel was well and truly scraped clean. For all that the film promises to be watchably nostalgic fun, if only for the shark and the music and the happy memories of Spielberg's masterpiece and childhood games at the beach and in the swimming pool it will no doubt bring back.
KILLER ANIMAL - Horror/Adventure

'Cellar Dweller' (1988) by John Carl Buechler - from the director of the entertaining B-movie horror comedy 'Troll' (1986) comes more of the same, again featuring a hideous monster lurking in the basement of an apartment building from which it emerges to devour the oddball residents one-by-one. This time the ever reliable Jeffrey Combs stars as a horror comic artist whose most famous creation, the flesh eating demon of the title, comes to corporeal life, by some means or another, and goes on a bloody rampage. Sounds fun and another one just right for getting the beers in and unashamedly wallowing in cheesy 80s nostalgia.
DEMONIC MONSTER - Horror

'Halloween IV : The Return Of Michael Myers' (1988) by Dwight H. Little - I grudgingly decided to add this to the collection as it was going for pennies, along with 'Halloween V' (1989), and those two films were at least made in the 1980s slasher hey day and starred Donald Pleasence, while following the continuity from the first film. As for the rest of the franchise, continued after a lengthy gap and no longer even pretending to make chronological sense, they don't exist in Stevie World. A dead horse can only be flogged so much!
SLASHER - Horror

'Ghostbusters II' (1989) by Ivan Reitman - the whole creative team behind the classic 1984 original returned for this inevitable sequel but were unable to recapture the magic of old. Having said that this isn't anywhere half as bad as one might expect and has stood the test of time as an entertaining and imaginative horror comedy in its own right. The joyful exuberance has been replaced with a darker edged cynicism that plays well to Bill Murray's character but rather leaves the rest of them out in the cold. So a bit of a frustrating and ultimately deflating experience, given what we were all hoping for, but one that nevertheless has its moments of comedy gold. Worth watching with expectations set to neutral and fond memories of former glory held in check.
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'Halloween V : The Revenge Of Michael Myers' (1989) by Dominique Othenin-Girard - same comments apply as for 'Halloween IV' (1988) above. As far as I'm concerned Michael Myers died for real at the end of this one, marking the end of the 80s slasher boom... For the record, I also consider 'Friday The 13th Part IV : The Final Chapter' (1984) to have been just that and they'd need to be giving away the 'Elm Street' sequels (1985-91) before I'd be tempted. 'Freddy Versus Jason' (2003) may have been a supremely daft guilty pleasure but it still doesn't excuse the bloody awful films that led up to it. That's my final word on the subject!
SLASHER - Horror

'Legion : Exorcist III' (1989) by William Peter Blatty - now this is one of the most fascinating horror films of its era and one that I have a special fondness for. Based on Blatty's sequel to 'The Exorcist' (1971) - the equally terrifying 'Legion' (1983) - I insist on adding what should have been the proper title to the ill-advised E3 release moniker that was forced on him by studio execs. John Boorman's 'Exorcist II : The Heretic' (1977) was a noble but misguided attempt to further explore the issues of Faith that were integral to the original but it forgot that it was supposed to be a horror film. With the book and this long cherished cinema adaptation Blatty refused to make the same mistake and delivered works of rare intelligence and philosophical depth that fully lived up to and expanded upon his earlier vision, while scaring the crap out of us at the same time! The version of his film that was released is something of a flawed masterpiece, boasting one of George C. Scott's greatest later performances, as Lieutenant Kinderman (taking over the mantle from Lee J. Cobb and, let us never forget, Peter Falk's Lieutenant Columbo), and I've found it gets better and more unsettling on every viewing. However, this version was not the film that Blatty made but rather a truncated, rewritten, re-edited and partly reshot botch job by those frigging studio dickwads again! It has long been rumoured that the original Director's Cut still exists and will eventually be released, no doubt once legal wrangles have been settled, but until that happens - and we can finally drop the 'Exorcist III' tag for just plain 'Legion' - this bastardised but still damn impressive and scary film will have to suffice. Don't ya just hate the Hollywood system ffs?!
DEMONIC POSSESSION - Horror

'Vampire's Kiss' (1989) by Robert Bierman - I haven't seen this highly though of jet black horror comedy that was one of the films responsible for turning Nicolas Cage into an eccentric cult star. Apparently he gives one of the defining performances of his career as a stressed out New York yuppie who believes he is turning into a vampire after being bitten on the neck by a beautiful mystery woman during a steamy one night stand. Favourable comparisons have been made to 'American Psycho' (2000) but, by all accounts, this film is more hilariously laugh out loud funny, while being just as dark a descent into blood drenched madness! When Cage is good he's very good and all the reports are that he's at the very top of his most manic game here. Looking forward to it.
VAMPIRE - Horror/Comedy

'The Vineyard' (1989) by James Hong & William Rice - cult classic vampire movie with a difference that stars familiar face James Hong, of countless oriental villains fame, as Dr Elson Po, an apparently ageless world famous winemaker - red, naturally - who has a habit of inviting young people on guided tours of his private vineyard, none of whom are ever seen again... yet still the bottles of claret keep piling up. The story follows the latest group of seven pretty young things as they, one-by-one, are turned into their host's supply of special reserve, while he appears to grow ever younger. It gets consistently good write-ups and sounds great fun. Another one to look forward to.
VAMPIRE - Horror

'The Witches' (1990) by Nicolas Roeg - I missed this unusual outing for Roeg at the time and have long been curious to see it. The general consensus would seem to be that this is the finest, most accurate and wickedly witty of all the many adaptations of Roald Dahl's macabre classics for children. It'll be going some to better 'Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory' (1971) - a film that never fails to creep me out, for all its day-glo chirpiness - but if it even comes close to the same ball park - and reports are that it's very dark indeed - then it must be some classic of its kind! And I can think of no one better to play the wickedest witch of them all than Anjelica Huston. Whatever happened to her?! I feel I may have a rare treat in store with this one...
WITCHCRAFT - Fantasy/Horror/Comedy

'The Silence Of The Lambs' (1991) by Jonathan Demme - perhaps the most famous horror thriller of its decade and deservedly so. Anthony Hopkins had a distinguished acting career already behind him but this was the film that turned him into a superstar overnight. Debates still rage over the quality of his performance as Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter but I thought he was great in this, getting the balance of dark charisma, caged menace and delicious black humour just right, falling, imo, the right side of Vincent Price-like ham while convincing us utterly of the man's irredeemable evil. However, for me, Ted Levine completely stole the show from him as the seriously terrifying Buffalo Bill serial killer, a true monster in human form if ever there was one and providing the majority of the film's most unforgettably frightening scenes! Add to that Jodie Foster, in a wonderfully intense, sympathetic and heroic performance as fledgling FBI Agent, Clarice Starling, having to compete with these two outrageously deranged psychopaths, and Scott Glenn as her cold eyed "seen it all" superior and mentor, and you have one of the most perfectly cast and acted genre films of all time! Another of those effortlessly enthralling and intelligent suspense thrillers for discerning adults that never fails to grip the viewer with the strength of its story as soon as one sits down to watch it again. Incalculably influential and leading to a barrel scraping film and book franchise, that turned Thomas Harris's creation into a kind of intellectualised Freddy Kreuger figure for non-horror fans, Demme's masterpiece will always stand head and shoulders above what it was ultimately responsible for. Yes, Brian Cox was mesmerising as Lecter in Michael Mann's 'Manhunter' (1986) - another serial killer masterpiece - but his was only a memorable cameo role while Hopkins first turned the character into a fully rounded three dimensional human monster for the ages. That's my opinion for what it's worth.
SERIAL KILLER - Horror/Crime

'Romper Stomper' (1992) by Geoffrey Wright - another of those viscerally disturbing slices of low life horror that Antipodean cinema is so dismayingly adept at! See also the likes of; 'Bad Boy Bubby' (1993), 'Once Were Warriors' (1994), 'The Boys' (1998), 'Chopper' (2000), 'Animal Kingdom' (2010), 'Snowtown' (2011), etc. Cinema doesn't come any more "in your face" uncompromising than this stark psycho gang thriller that takes us right inside the irrational hate-fuelled rage of the worldwide cancer that is the white supremacist neo-nazi movement - this time infesting the slums and back alleys of Melbourne, Australia (the bastards get everywhere). Featuring an unforgettably powerful and mesmerisingly multi-layered star-making role for the young Russell Crowe, it was no surprise he went on to conquer the world after this as a new breed of fiercely macho leading man. Comparisons to; 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971), 'The Last House On The Left' (1972), 'Scum' (1979) and 'The House On The Edge Of The Park' (1980) are not out of place! Intensely uncomfortable viewing and a real classic of its kind!
PSYCHOPATHIC GANG - Crime/Horror

'Alive' (1993) by Frank Marshall - an utterly gripping mix of disaster movie, with the most terrifyingly convincing plane crash sequence I have ever seen, survival in the wilderness adventure and admirably matter of fact cannibal horror, made all the more macabre, for me, by the sensitivity with which the inevitable resorting to the unspeakable in order to stay alive is handled. I consider this a near perfect and extremely affecting dramatisation of the notorious true events from 1972 in the Andes Mountains. It was one of the most startling real life tales of horror and survival against all the odds of modern times. Some of the survivors of that terrible experience were involved as technical advisors in the production and it really shows. Great underrated filmmaking, imho!
CANNIBAL - Adventure/Horror

'Groundhog Day' (1993) by Harold Ramis - in my opinion this is the best film Bill Murray was ever in and one of the most ingeniously original mixtures of absurdist fantasy, existential horror and romantic comedy ever put on screen. The key to the film's timeless appeal is all in the brilliance of Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin's script and the pitch perfect casting of Murray as the arch-misanthropist, TV weatherman Phil Connors, who is plunged into a living hell, as he is forced, by powers wisely left unseen, to relive the same godawful day over and over and over again. In these impossible circumstances Connors literally exhausts every imaginable possibility in his attempts to escape this presumably divine retribution - and the filmmakers had the balls to explore even the darkest avenues open to him, making this far more than just your typical supernaturally tinged romcom. I consider it a hilariously funny, genuinely unsettling, painfully poignant and ultimately uplifting one-off of a dark/light fantasy masterpiece to stand comparison with the great Capraesque examples from the 1940s, that Hollywood had supposedly lost the knack of making. 'It's A Wonderful Life' (1946) remains the pinnacle of the genre, and will never be surpassed, but this glorious gem of a throwback isn't too far behind it!! Nuff said...
TIME TRAP - Fantasy/Horror/Comedy

'Copycat' (1995) by Jon Amiel - of the avalanche of police procedural serial killer thrillers that came in the wake of 'The Silence Of The Lambs' (1991) this was easily one of the best, even if it was completely overshadowed at the time by David Fincher's masterpiece, 'Seven' (1995). Gritty and hard hitting with great performances by an all-star cast and a convincingly banal psychopath in William McNamara, inspired and aided by Harry Connick Jnr's Lecter-like evil genius behind bars, it still stands up as a pleasingly unpredictable quality entertainment for adults. And, being one of those, perhaps, morally questionable films that made serial killers disturbingly "cool", the "copycat fanboy" plot no longer seems quite as far fetched as it once did...
SERIAL KILLER - Horror/Crime

'The Usual Suspects' (1995) by Bryan Singer - one of the most auspicious directorial debuts of the 90s, buoyed by a fantastic ensemble cast and Christopher McQuarrie's ingeniously unpredictable script, this neo-noir masterpiece tells of the devilish mind games of enigmatic criminal genius, Keyser Söze, a kind of latter day Fu Manchu figure, as he ropes a hapless band of low life hustlers into a deadly game of intrigue, betrayal and murder, that unfolds in a bravura series of jigsaw puzzle flashbacks and startling suspense set pieces. One of those instant classic adult entertainments that grips like a vice from our first introduction to the doomed players up to the shocking headmelter of a final twist, that has one racing back to watch the whole thing again bathed in the light of unholy revelation. Singer and McQuarrie were never able to match the same level of filmmaking genius in their subsequent careers, settling into the roles of Hollywood journeymen, but their place in cinema history is assured by the timeless excellence of this macabre masterwork - one of the best films of a very fine year indeed!! See 'Seven' and 'Twelve Monkeys', then try to disagree...
EVIL GENIUS - Crime/Horror

'Mars Attacks!' (1996) by Tim Burton - in the mercurial career of Tim Burton there have been many inspiring highs and frustrating lows, from the visionary genius of 'Edward Scissorhands' (1990) or 'Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street' (2007) to the misguided folly of 'Planet Of The Apes' (2001) or 'Alice In Wonderland' (2010), but, for my money, this fantastically funny and macabre black comedy masterpiece stands head and shoulders over them all!! I saw it in the cinema at the time and came out glowing with admiration, having had my socks well and truly entertained off. It pissed all over the other BIG alien invasion movie of that year - the frankly cretinous 'Independence Day' (1996), imho. Everything about the film was perfectly orchestrated as the ultimate loving homage and piss-take of all those great cheesy sci-fi movies from the 1950s. The flawless special effects, typically bizarre production design, brilliantly utilised all-star cast and sheer sense of "anything goes" devilish fun of the movie was a joy to behold and has rarely been equalled before or since. I also consider it one of Burton's most unpredictable and uncompromisingly dark films as the gleeful cruelty of the cackling skull-faced aliens and refreshingly episodic structure of the film means we are never rooting for just one character and are left unsure who will live and who will die right up until the gloriously silly and inspired pay-off. Criminally underrated and quite, quite sublime entertainment for grown up kids everywhere. I do love this film!
ALIEN INVASION - Sci-Fi/Horror/Comedy

'Cube' (1997) by Vincenzo Natali - I went to see this unheralded little film in my local arthouse cinema at the time, knowing nothing about it, and was totally blown away! In my opinion it was the greatest directorial debut of the 90s and arguably the very best sci-fi film! A level of success made all the more remarkable by the micro budget and cast of unknowns it was made with! Right from the inspired opening, with its "Fuck me!" visual shock, the movie grabbed my attention and had me gasping in admiration from first second to last. Six seemingly random people, from all walks of life, awaken to find themselves trapped in a hi-tech maze of interconnected identical cube shaped rooms and, on exploring, they find, to their horror, that they are riddled with a variety of deadly boobytraps that whittle their number down one-by-one as they desperately search for a way out or any clue as to how they came to be there and who or what is behind their nightmarish predicament. The tension never lets up for a second and the character development of these unfortunate souls is mapped out with exemplary precision and complete unpredictability, making for a deceptively simple survival thriller of rare intelligence and, I would even say, near visionary genius. For such a one off original I've heard unusually good reports about the two sequels as well; 'Cube II : Hypercube' (2002) and 'Cube Zero' (2004), so I'm looking forward to checking them out. With this film Natali proclaimed himself an instant cult hero of independent genre filmmaking to get very excited about!!
DEADLY GAME - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Lost Highway' (1997) by David Lynch - finally, at long last, I picked up the 2 disc special edition of the only David Lynch film I have yet to see! I have it on good authority that this is one of his weirdest and most effective surreal headmelters of an existential horror movie! It stars Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty and Robert Loggia and, thankfully, that's about all I know about it. If it is even close to the same quality as his two most recent masterpieces, 'Mulholland Drive' (2001) and 'Inland Empire' (2006), then I'm in for one hell of a disturbing treat - and some critics rank it even better than either, though I doubt anything can top the nightmarish intensity of IE, for me his crowning achievement to date. Another one to save for a very special occasion, when I find myself in the right frame of mind for his uniquely unsettling vision. For the record here's how I'd rank the rest of his films; 1. IE - 2. MD - 3. 'Eraserhead' (1977) - 4. 'Blue Velvet' (1986) - 5. 'The Elephant Man' (1980) - 6. 'The Straight Story' (1999) - 7. 'Wild At Heart' (1990) - 8. 'Fire Walk With Me' (1992) - 9. 'Dune' (1984).
SURREAL NIGHTMARE - Surreal/Horror

'The Relic' (1997) by Peter Hyams - old fashioned Lovecraftian creature feature, atmospherically set in the Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which becomes the hunting ground for a huge mythical monster that feeds on human hypothalamus glands (shades of 'The X Files') and was somehow brought to life by the arrival of an ancient stone statue from the jungles of South America. It's hardly what you would call groundbreaking genre cinema and came across as oddly antiquated when I saw it on first release but all the cliche's are professionally mounted and as entertaining as one would expect, the creature and gore effects are first rate, apart from a few unmissable moments of ropey early CGI, and the stalwart cast give it their all with admirably straight faced conviction. Hyams is a hit-and-miss but sometimes inspired director and this is definitely one of his better genre efforts. I'd rank it his fourth best, after his great trilogy of paranoid thrillers; 'Capricorn One' (1978), 'Outland' (1981) and 'The Star Chamber' (1983).
LOVECRAFTIAN MONSTER - Horror

'Apt Pupil' (1998) by Bryan Singer - the much anticipated follow-up to Singer's classic debut, 'The Usual Suspects' (1995), is one of the best recent Stephen King horror adaptations - marked by a pair of great central performances by Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro - but it still came as something of a holding action disappointment after the promise of greater things that preceded it. The story, a kind of initiation into the worst evils of adulthood "coming of age" psychological thriller, was never one of my favourites by the author as I always found it somewhat far fetched and overly melodramatic in its use of Nazism and the Holocaust, when any kind of closer to home evil would have sufficed. For me it was the least satisfying tale in 'Different Seasons' (1982), so one has to credit the director, scriptwriter, Brandon Boyce, and the fine cast with turning it into such a gripping and insidiously disturbing psychodrama. Quality filmmaking that just falls short of true greatness, imho.
EVIL CHILD - Horror

'Spiral' (1998) by J&#333;ji Iida - a really interesting find this one. It was made at the same time as Hideo Nakata's breakthrough J-Horror classic, 'Ringu' (1998), by the same production company, and is the official continuation of the Sadako story based on K&#333;ji Suzuki's own 1995 sequel to his original 1991 novel. Got all that? 'Ringu' became famous and the original sequel flopped at the box office and was forgotten prompting another unconnected sequel to be made the following year, 'Ringu II' (1999), with a radically different story from the original novels! The lure of filthy lucre strikes again. Suzuki eventually completed his trilogy of novels with 'S' (2012) that was also filmed as 'Sadako' (2012) - so we have two completely distinct trilogies of films spawned by the runaway success of the first book. How's that for milking a cow dry!! One could watch 'Ringu 0' (2000), 'Ringu' (1998) and 'Ringu II' (1999) as one version of the story and then jump into an alternate universe and watch 'Ringu' (1998), 'Spiral' (1998) and 'Sadako' (2012) as a completely different take on the tale!! I wonder which series is the better and can't wait to try the experiment...
DEMONIC GHOST - Horror

'Memento Mori' (1999) by Tae-Yong Kim & Kyu-Dong Min - inspired by the box office success of 'Whispering Corridors' (1998) this was another critically acclaimed South Korean ghost story set in an all girls high school. The plot this time concentrates on a secret lesbian relationship between two students that is ruthlessly condemned on discovery leading to the girls being shunned as "freaks", an inevitable suicide and revenge haunting, as referred to in the title, in which each of the chief homophobes meets a terrible fate. Interestingly the film was the first ever to portray lesbianism in a sympathetic light in the country and caused a storm of controversy over there due to its perceived targeting of teenagers with a pro-gay message! Who said horror cinema can't be relevant?
GHOST - Horror

'The Talented Mr Ripley' (1999) by Anthony Minghella - a well acted and solidly gripping but, imo, overly reverential adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's classic 1955 novel, that introduced the world to the greatest psychopathic killer in literature - bar none! Matt Damon is adequate rather than inspired as the inexperienced and dangerously impulsive young Tom, before he had mastered his art and hence was at his most vulnerable. The strength of the story and quality production values carry it but Minghella reveals himself as a workmanlike director far from capable of the levels of Hitchcockian suspense that were required to do Patricia's most famous creation justice. It's a good and fairly chilling psychological thriller but, given the source material, it should have been so much better.
PSYCHOPATHIC CRIMINAL - Crime/Horror

'American Psycho' (2000) by Mary Harron - being a great admirer of Bret Easton Ellis's unforgettably deranged 1991 novel I went to see this at the time kind of expecting a travesty, for if ever a book was deemed unfilmmable it was that one! But Harron did a fantastic job of channeling the dark satirical elements of the story into a ridiculously entertaining horror classic for the new millennium. The masterstroke was in the casting of Christian Bale, as Patrick Bateman, and that legendarily committed actor has never been better than here. His portrayal of the insufferably arrogant yuppie playboy and arch hedonist turned sweating, paranoid serial killer is absolutely sensational - somehow managing to be terrifyingly insane, ultra cool, slimily repellent, hilariously dick-headed and oddly poignant all at the same time. It's another deliriously powerhouse performance for the Top 10 screen psychopaths list, no question!! Although I hesitate to call the film a comedy I find myself laughing out loud, often in shock, every time I watch it, and that's virtually all down to Bale. It's rare for a modern literary masterpiece to result in such an equally great film adaptation, that paints its own vision without being slavishly reverential, but that's what happened here, in a kind of perfect alchemical reaction, and the movie is one to cherish and get more out of on every viewing - for those who can take it. Sublime and admirably uncompromising filmmaking, imho.
SERIAL KILLER - Horror

'Deep In The Woods' (2000) by Lionel Delplanque - this was a critically acclaimed and award winning French deconstruction of the then newly resplendent Hollywood teen slasher genre, exemplified by 'Scream' (1996). A group of five beautiful young actors are invited to the forest hideaway of a reclusive millionaire to perform a stage version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' and find themselves being gorily bumped off one-by-one by a psychopathic killer dressed as a wolf. Apparently it's a lot more clever and unpredictable than that synopsis makes it sound and was one of the films chiefly responsible for a resurgence of interest in horror cinema in France. Sounds good and rather similar to Michele Soavi's slasher classic 'Stage Fright' (1987)!
SLASHER - Horror

'Memento' (2000) by Christopher Nolan - I'd rank this unique psychological thriller as as another stunning directorial bolt from the blue to go alongside the likes of 'The Usual Suspects' (1995) or 'Cube' (1997) and, imo, it remains Nolan's finest achievement. Guy Pearce is unforgettably heartbreaking as the doomed protagonist suffering from the very real condition of anterograde amnesia - the inability to store recent memories that leaves the sufferer walking through a fog of minute-by-minute incomprehension of his whereabouts or circumstances. Add to that a classic revenge thriller plot, involving his implacable but hopelessly handicapped hunt for the man who raped and murdered his wife, and you have one of the most original and uncompromisingly intelligent adult suspense entertainments ever made. The ingenious structure of the narrative, told in intercut chronological and reverse time order, takes us right inside the man's hideous affliction, forcing us to share his nightmarish disorientation, while remaining all too painfully aware of how vulnerable he is to cynical manipulation by those around him. It's a hauntingly poignant picture of a personal hell that gets under the skin like few other films. Since then Nolan's career has been ridiculously overhyped and, to my mind, frustratingly hit-and-miss, but with this masterpiece, and other almost equally fine films, such as 'Insomnia' (2002) and 'Inception' (2010), he has certainly sealed his credentials as a modern genre auteur to be taken seriously.
NIGHTMARE ILLNESS - Crime/Horror

'Scary Movie' (2000) by Keenen Ivory Wayans - a fairly amusing, if you switch your brain off, and very silly horror comedy that launched a successful franchise which is of interest primarily as a record of what was popular in the horror genre at the time and as proof of how across the board appealing horror cinema is. No other genre works quite as well when outrageously spoofed - as I have always contended.
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'Dagon' (2001) by Stuart Gordon - was very excited to unexpectedly pick this up dirt cheap as, apparently, and despite the misleading title, it is a faithful and damn scary adaptation of the best short horror work ever written by anyone, imho, H.P. Lovecraft's flawless masterpiece, 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' (1936)! Gordon had long planned to make this as a carefully balanced and reverent labour of love and, from what I've heard, he succeeded in delivering his finest horror film to date and one of the truest visualisations of Lovecraft ever put on the screen. Can't wait to see it at last!! I just hope it can match my expectations... <gulp>
LOVECRAFTIAN MONSTER - Horror

'Frailty' (2001) by Bill Paxton - this has to be one of the most underrated and effective psychological horror films of its decade and came as an astonishingly assured directorial debut for Paxton. An incredibly creepy and disturbing Southern gothic chiller that has much to say about the dark side of Bible Belt religious mania and the indoctrination of innocent children into the prejudices and delusions of their "god fearing" parents. Paxton himself is mesmerisingly deranged as the father of two boys who turns into an axe wielding psychopath, abducting and butchering any poor unfortunates who cross his path and don't happen to come up to his own fiercely evangelical standards of "morality". God has a way of pointing out the "demons" in human form who hide among us and it has fallen to him to send them back to Hell, while he expects his boys to carry on the holy crusade after him! Tense, atmospheric, scary, brilliantly acted and building to a real head swiveller of a final twist I rank this as a modern horror classic deserving of serious reevaluation and acclaim. Great stuff!!
PSYCHOPATHIC FAMILY - Horror

'Ghosts Of Mars' (2001) by John Carpenter - I saw this at the time and, rather shockingly, found it belonged firmly in the "so bad it's good" category of campy low budget schlock horror nonsense. Everything about the film is so absurdly OTT and amateurish that one could be fooled into believing it a stroke of self parodying genius but, sadly, the truth is that Carpenter's heart just wasn't in the project and after tossing it off he abandoned Hollywood for the next decade claiming "artistic burnout". Nevertheless, the resulting film, with its "alien possession" plot ripped off from Ray Bradbury and Nigel Kneale, and its hilariously bad acting and dialogue, is uproariously entertaining and energetic in a way that harks back to the worst zero budget excesses of the 1950s. Don't take that as a recommendation but there are worse ways to spend an evening - and that's the kindest thing I can say about this gobsmacking farrago from the former master of horror suspense!
ALIEN POSSESSION - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Ichi The Killer' (2001) by Takashi Miike - finally picked up the full director's cut version, with the anime bonus disc that explains Ichi's origins, of Miike's insanely mega-violent surreal masterpiece! I've watched the shorter version a couple of times before and been mesmerised by the bravura brilliance of its hyper-kinetic visuals, incredible action scene choreography and vomit inducing gore. Yet, I have only the vaguest of notions what the bloody film is all about or who we're supposed to be rooting for! Apparently this version and the reputedly even more extreme accompanying Cert 18 animated movie, again overseen by Miike, make a lot more sense of the fractured timeline of the film. Basically, it's an extreme revenge vigilante thriller cum psychopathic super-antihero martial arts movie, in which anything goes and graphic scenes of gleefully sadistic torture and mutilation are the order of the day! Only in Japan could such "popular entertainment" even be imagined... Forget 'Kill Bill' (2003-04) - this nightmarish phantasmagoria pisses all over it, imho.
VIGILANTE KILLER - Crime/Horror

'Scary Movie II' (2001) by Keenen Ivory Wayans - more brainless horror comedy nonsense that is still fun for spotting all the obvious targets spoofed. It's the weakest of the original run but still miles better than the abysmal reboot 'Scary Movie V' (2013).
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'The Mothman Prophecies' (2002) by Mark Pellington - went to see this at the time with great excitement, as I'm a huge fan of John Keel's 1975 book - one of the scariest and most weirdly Lovecraftian "true" stories I've ever read - and I thought Pellington's previous film, 'Arlington Road' (1999), was a bloody masterpiece, but I came out frustrated at how garbled the, frankly, unfilmmable story had come across on screen. There were good things in there, notably the straight faced commitment of the cast, and the director managed to conjure up an unsettlingly eerie atmosphere, but I thought the script didn't do a good enough job of explaining Keel's inner journey and the oddly disturbing theory of "ultradimensionals" it led him to. I now think the time is right for a proper reassessment of the film with my expectations of what I had wanted to see held in abeyance. I have a sneaky feeling this one could well be a grower.
SUPERNATURAL ENTITY - Horror

'Ripley's Game' (2002) by Liliana Cavani - an absolutely brilliant and entirely faithful adaptation of the third book from Patricia Highsmith's timeless Ripley series. John Malkovich nails the now middle aged Tom Ripley to perfection and the ingeniously twisted plot, of a particularly devious Mephistophelian revenge on an unwitting innocent for a minor slight, shows the character at his most remorselessly evil and, yet, oddly sympathetic. The rest of the cast are equally impressive in their psychologically meaty roles and Cavani shows herself to be a Hitchcockian suspense director of rare and uncompromising talent. This one makes Minghella's overly polite version of 'The Talented Mr Ripley' (1999), entertaining though it is, all but shrivel up and disappear in comparison. Now I have to track down René Clément's 'Plein Soleil' (1960) - with Alain Delon as Tom - and Wim Wenders' 'The American Friend' (1977) - with Dennis Hopper - to see how they compare... For the record here's how I'd rank the books: 1. 'The Talented Mr Ripley' (1955) - 2. 'Ripley's Game' (1974) - 3. 'The Boy Who Followed Ripley' (1980) - 4. 'Ripley Under Ground' (1970) - 5. 'Ripley Under Water' (1991). If you haven't read them you haven't lived!!
PSYCHOPATHIC CRIMINAL - Crime/Horror

'Scary Movie III' (2003) by David Zucker - the Wayans' handed control of the franchise over to the old master of such hokum with this one and it is easily the funniest of the series having all the manic energy we've come to expect from the creators of the 'Airplane' and 'Naked Gun' movies. Hardly great art but it is harmlessly daft fun.
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'Dark Tales Of Japan' (2004) by Yoshihiro Nakamura, Masayuki Ochiai, Takashi Shimizu, Kôji Shiraishi & Norio Tsuruta - one of the lesser known but still highly thought of multi director portmanteau horrors from the height of the Asian horror boom. I'm more than familiar with the excellent work of Takashi Shimizu and Norio Tsuruta while the other names are new to me but, apparently, well known auteurs in Japan. This one takes place on a long night time bus journey in which a sinister old woman tells each of the other five random passengers a ghost story to pass the time. Shades of 'Dr Terror's House Of Horrors' (1965). I wonder who the driver is and where they are bound?... That's now five Asian portmanteaus I have in the collection, along with; 'Curse, Death And Spirit' (1992), 'Bangkok Haunted' (2001), 'Three' (2002) and 'Three Extremes' (2004) - all of which I have yet to watch. Some treats in store there!!
PORTMANTEAU - Horror

'Dead Man's Shoes' (2004) by Shane Meadows - think a gritty low budget British kitchen sink drama slasher movie with a surprise supernatural element and that's exactly what you get here. It's Meadows' most satisfying and hardest hitting film to date with a career best and utterly riveting performance by Paddy Considine as the implacable ex-military psychopath bringing bloody justice to a pitiful gang of inept low life hoods who did him wrong. 'Get Carter' (1971) meets 'Halloween' (1978) in the Midlands! A no holds barred classic of its kind.
SLASHER - Crime/Horror

'Night Watch' (2004) by Timur Bekmambetov - I missed this surprise blockbuster hit from Russia at the time and long been curious to see what all the fuss was about. It was based on a best selling novel, 'The Night Watch' (1999) by Sergei Lukyanenko, and sounds like another of those high concept, biblically inflected dark fantasy epics about demons and angels in human form fighting for supremacy on Earth, unsuspected by the mortal populace they live among, that were all the rage around the turn of the millennium. No doubt inspired by the likes of Chris Carter's 'Millennium' (1996-99), and 'The Prophecy' (1995-2005), 'Blade' (1998-2004) and 'The Matrix' (1999-2003) series of films, amongst others, I'm hoping for something a bit different from this one, other than the fact of it just being set in Russia. One to nervously look forward to catching up with at last.
SUPERNATURAL ENTITY - Horror/Fantasy

'Romasanta' (2004) by Paco Plaza - this was the second solo directorial effort of the co-director, with Jaume Balagueró, of the excellent 'REC' (2007-14) series of films. As his first film, 'Second Name' (2002), was an adaptation of Ramsey Campbell's 'The Pact Of The Fathers' (2001) I'm rather excited to investigate the rest of Plaza's career! This highly regarded horror was sold as a good old fashioned period werewolf movie, with an unusual twist, in that it purports to be based on true events surrounding the unusually frenzied serial killings of Manuel Blanco Romasanta in 19th Century Spain. At his trial Romasanta pleaded innocence due to being afflicted with lycanthropy and the case went down in legal history, as well as Spanish folklore! I'm curious to see how the purportedly supernatural elements of the story are approached or if they give us a straight serial killer thriller. The title character is played by the suitably lupine Julian Sands in what is said to be one of his best roles. All sounds very promising...
WEREWOLF - Horror

'Fragile' (2005) by Jaume Balagueró - I rank Balagueró as one of the very finest horror auteurs working today and this was his third film, being a traditional ghost story set in an English children's hospital, to which Calista Flockhart (long been a fan!) arrives as a new nurse and, of course, finds herself investigating the background to an apparent haunting and, no doubt, wishing she hadn't. Knowing the man's pedigree I'm confident he can deliver a superior spooky shocker out of that familiar set-up. His next film, 'REC' (2007), directed with Paco Plaza, was the one that launched him into the big time and it's interesting to note that both men began their directorial careers with Ramsey Campbell adaptations; Balagueró's 'The Nameless' (1999) and Plaza's 'Second Name' (2002) - as noted above - and that both men's talents were nurtured by Brian Yuzna's Fantastic Factory independent production company. Many thanks, Brian. Ya done good!!
GHOST - Horror

'Hard Candy' (2005) by David Slade - a controversial and frighteningly topical minimalist horror thriller that I've been nervously curious to see ever since first hearing about it. An internet paedophile grooms an underage girl for sex but has the tables turned on him when she agrees to meet. Kind of an "evil child" horror with a righteous twist. Or is it...? I'll let ya know my thoughts when I've seen it. Subject matter like that is going to take some bravery and sensitivity of handling to be in any way "entertaining"!
EVIL CHILD - Horror/Crime

'Land Of The Dead' (2005) by George A. Romero - saw this in the cinema at the time and remember being profoundly disappointed by it in comparison to the sublime spoofing of the genre in 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004) - the finest zombie movie of its decade, imo. However, time has me looking back rather more kindly on Romero's return to his most iconic creation as a natural progression of the apocalyptic scenario behind the original trilogy, that suffered on release from too high fan expectations and a lack of the epic feel he perfected in his masterpiece 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) - as too did 'Day Of The Dead' (1985) before going on to gain classic status. This one came way too late and can't hold a candle to the earlier films but I suspect a rewatch will have me appreciating it as a decent coda rather than the abject failure I wrote it off as at the time. Or so I hope...
ZOMBIE - Horror/Sci-Fi

'Tzameti' (2005) by Géla Babluani - an unassuming micro budget b&w Georgian horror film that caused a real stir around the world, being hailed as a work of rare power, intelligence and originality, and that sounds, to me, like a psychologically punishing mix of elements from 'The Passenger' (1975), 'Cube' (1997) and 'Hostel' (2005). A penniless drifter impulsively assumes the identity of a deceased drug addict and follows directions to a mysterious "job" the man had been given that unwittingly lead him to a remote criminal gambling den where he finds he has no option but to take part in a series of "winner takes all" games of Russian roulette with twelve other individuals desperate to make their fortune or die trying! Only one of them will leave the place alive... and very rich. This rather ingenious set-up produced one of the most universally acclaimed Hitchcockian suspense thrillers of recent years, as the poor sod, unable to reveal his true identity or face certain execution, attempts to escape the nightmarish trap he has walked into. I've been dying to see this one since catching all the hubbub and unfortunately missing it at the time. Sadly the first time director was later tempted to remake the film in the US with an all-star cast, as 'Thirteen' (2010), with predictably feeble results. The curse of 'The Vanishing' (1988) strikes again...
DEADLY GAME - Horror/Crime

'Altered' (2006) by Eduardo Sánchez - this was the solo directorial debut of one of the co-creators of 'The Blair Witch Project' (1999) and sounds like a rather fine and original twist on the old "alien abduction" theme, that involves a group of redneck hunters tangling with nasty extraterrestrials in the deep dark woods. By all accounts not as derivative as the synopsis may sound, the action is presented evenly from the human and alien point-of-view, with flashbacks to an encounter fifteen years before that left the men psychotically obsessed with revenge and obtaining proof of their experience, resulting in a deadly game of cat and mouse with an implacable foe. Sounds intriguingly different and marked the resurgence of an increasingly impressive horror career that threatens to outshine the insane hype that launched it! We shall see...
ALIEN ABDUCTION - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Bug' (2006) by William Friedkin - another find to get excited about! This was Friedkin's critically acclaimed return to the horror genre, after his underrated shocker 'The Guardian' (1990), and marked his first collaboration with playwright Tracy Letts, that was later to result in the career highpoint 'Killer Joe' (2011) - a blistering gothic noir psycho thriller. With a virtual cast of two the film was hailed as a claustrophobically intense and psychologically punishing - as much for the actors, Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd, as for the audience - exploration of "folie à deux", as a young woman fleeing an abusive relationship succumbs to the insane delusions of her hopelessly needy new lover, an ex-soldier who may have been covertly experimented on and suffers from terrifying hallucinations (or are they?) of parasitic physical invasion. Sounds heavy duty stuff and I can't bloody wait to see it!!
DESCENT INTO MADNESS - Horror

'Children Of Men' (2006) by Alfonso Cuarón - I went to see this knowing nothing about it at the time and was blown away by what is one of the finest "end of the world" sci-fi movies ever made, imho. Based on the P.D. James novel 'The Children Of Men' (1992) the plot is an ingenious variation on the apocalyptic plague scenario. This disease doesn't kill people, it "merely" makes all women on Earth irreversibly barren, thus dooming all humanity to a long drawn out and inevitable demise! Clive Owen gives the best performance of his career, as a cynical administrator for the dystopian regime that rules Britain, who finds himself kidnapped and unwillingly entrusted with the protection of a young woman refugee who appears to be miraculously pregnant, and thus the one female on the planet who is immune to the plague. After that it's non-stop action and heart-pounding suspense all the way as they attempt to flee the authorities, who would ruthlessly use her for their own gain, and deliver the girl to a safe haven that may mean the salvation of the entire human race. The visceral punch of the action scenes is particularly thrilling and the vivid creation of a recognisable near future Britain, falling apart at the seams while being overrun by desperate refugees and roaming criminals, cannot be faulted in its utterly convincing attention to detail. I would rank this as a stone cold classic of its kind and possibly the very best dark sci-fi thriller of the new millennium so far. Quite brilliant filmmaking!!
KILLER PLAGUE - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Day Watch' (2006) by Timur Bekmambetov - the concluding sequel to 'Night Watch' (2004), that was based on the second half of Sergei Lukyanenko's first novel in his five book series; 'The Night Watch' (1999), 'The Day Watch' (2000), 'The Twilight Watch' (2008), 'The Last Watch' (2009) and 'The New Watch' (2012) - phew, how's that for milking a cow dry! This was a shoe-in to be made after the worldwide success of the first film and I'm only glad they decided to end the story here, as five films would have been stretching things just a tad, imho. I intend to go into these films knowing as little as possible about the plot, though, from the cover art, modern 'Blade' style vampires would seem to be involved... or maybe not? And, again, I'm keeping my expectations in check but hope to be pleasantly surprised this unusual horror duology from Mother Russia.
SUPERNATURAL ENTITY - Horror/Fantasy

'Jindabyne' (2006) by Ray Lawrence - I consider this riveting psychological thriller from Australia to be one of the finest works of pure cinema of its decade - a beautifully shot, remarkably well acted and indescribably haunting emotional tour-de-force of Dostoevskian aspirations!! It charts the devastating effect on a remote outback community, and one group of alpha male fishing buddies, in particular, of the unsuspected reign of terror of an all too human monster in their midst. This is a serial killer movie like none other I have seen before and charts the uncomfortable coming to light of the career of a casually racist and matter-of-fact rapist and murderer of local aborigine women, looked on as "fair game", being deemed less than human in his eyes, and the divisions it opens up between neighbours, friends and family members as each struggles to deal with their own feelings of shock, outrage, shame and guilt, when they find their personal values irrevocably put to the test. It's an old story of all too recognisable evil made unforgettable by the searing intelligence and originality of the unusual "moral dilemma" angle from which the material is approached. To say any more would be to potentially spoil what is one hell of a powerful exploration of conscience versus pragmatism and the subtly poisonous effects of complacency on the human spirit, as well as the transcendent power of redemption over all. A real one-off masterpiece, imo!!
SERIAL KILLER - Crime/Horror/Drama

'Puffball' (2006) by Nicolas Roeg - based on a reputedly controversial 1980 feminist horror novel by Fay Weldon this welcome return to genre cinema by the great auteur of the 70s sounds like 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) meets 'The Wicker Man' (1973) by way of 'The Life And Loves Of A She Devil' (1983), is set in the emerald wilds of rural Ireland, stars; Donald Sutherland, Miranda Richardson and Rita Tushingham, and involves a naive young interloper (Kelly Reilly) falling foul of local witchcraft and an abominable pregnancy! Yeah, pretty much a dream come true on paper!! I had no idea the film even existed until something drew me to the DVD and I'm unfeasibly excited and nervous to find out if such dizzyingly seductive exhortations to watch can even come close to being fulfilled. Roeg's always fiercely independent and uncompromising films have a habit of confounding critics and public alike before going on to be hailed as overlooked masterpieces years down the line. Can lightning strike once again? Hopes have rarely been higher... and is it just me or does anyone else find puffballs oddly unsettling?
WITCHCRAFT - Horror

'Scary Movie IV' (2006) by David Zucker - more shameless horror spoofing with a host of familiar faces and bags of zany energy. The second best of the series, imo. Yes they're lowest common denominator juvenile rubbish but sometimes that's just what a body needs.
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'Diary Of The Dead' (2007) by George A. Romero - I saw this once before on telly and wasn't overly impressed as I was going through a severe zombie overdose at the time. 'The Walking Dead' has since rejuvenated my enthusiasm so I've decided to give Romero's second trio of zombie films another go. This one and its 2009 follow up, 'Survival Of The Dead', are supposedly happening at the same time as the events of 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968) so can be seen as a broadening out of the original story rather than sequels. Maybe I was wrong to dismiss them? A proper rewatch with critical faculties honed should sort the wheat from the chaff. But whatever the truth of their quality these after thoughts, with their unmistakeable whiff of cash-in, will always pale beside the visionary genius of the original trilogy.
ZOMBIE - Horror/Sci-Fi

'1408' (2007) by Mikael Håfström - although not entirely successful this was still one of the more effective and scary Stephen King adaptations of recent years with a great central performance by John Cusack that really makes you fear for the character. The story is one of the author's undeniable horror classics having a brilliant premise that completely turns the old theme of the "haunted hotel room" on its head and that owes as much to 'The Twilight Zone' as it does to M.R. James. This is a faithful rendering that just loses it in the end with an overblown CGI heavy finale but the DVD has an alternate and hopefully more subtle ending that I'm very curious to see. I'd put it just behind 'The Mist' (2007) and 'Dreamcatcher' (2003) and slightly ahead of 'Apt Pupil' (1998).
GHOST - Horror

'Sunshine' (2007) by Danny Boyle - spectacular looking throwback to the big, high concept outer space sci-fi epics of the long 1970s that follows a suicide mission to the heart of our dying Sun in order to reignite the core with nuclear explosions. The science may be somewhat dubious but this film is all about visual excitement and grand ecological themes, with Boyle judging the first half of the movie to perfection... before he jettisons the sense of cinematic awe for cheap horror thrills by morphing the picture into a standard slasher movie on a spaceship. Like 'Alien' (1979) without the cool monster. So a bit of a frustrating curate's egg of a picture - like too many of Boyle's hit-and-miss career - but there is so much to admire here, on a technical level, that I'd still give it a "full marks for effort" thumbs up in the end. It is certainly the director's most ambitious and beautiful to look at film.
DEFORMED KILLER - Sci-Fi/Horror

'The Midnight Meat Train' (2008) by Ryuhei Kitamura - a slasher movie with Vinnie Jones as the psychopath may sound cheesy but apparently this was hailed as the best and scariest Clive Barker adaptation since 'Hellraiser' (1987) and got the great man's personal stamp of approval. As it was directed by one of the great Asian horror auteurs of the boom years and the original story was always one of my favourites from 'The Books Of Blood' (1984-85) I'm rather nervously keen to see it. There have been so many piss poor Barker movies made over the years that it would be refreshing to see someone get it right at last.
SLASHER - Horror

'Seventh Moon' (2008) by Eduardo Sánchez - the director's second lone horror film was an Asian horror inspired ghost story telling of an American couple honeymooning in China who stumble into one of those remote rural towns with a dark secret, at exactly the wrong time of year, and fall foul of the local 'Festival of the Hungry Ghost', when the gates of hell are opened and the restless dead must be placated. Sounds excellent and gets good write-ups for an independent low budget shocker. Sánchez would appear to be quietly going from strength to strength as a modern horror auteur of reliability and canny good judgement in the projects he elects to work on. Very promising... and makes me wonder what his 'Blair Witch' (1999) cohort, Daniel Myrick, has been up to in the years since.
DEMONIC UNDEAD - Horror

'The Killing Room' (2009) by Jonathan Liebesman - interesting find time. I'd never even heard of this minimalist psychological thriller, by the director of 'Darkness Falls' (2003), until I came across it and liked the sound of the plot. It was a critical hit at festivals but disappeared commercially and sounds like a clever variation on the theme of Vincenzo Natali's 'Cube' (1997). Four hard up nobodies off the street volunteer to be guinea pigs in a paid government experiment and find themselves locked in a featureless room where they are subjected to a barrage of intense physical and psychological tests - with the subject deemed "least suitable" being summarily put to death at unpredictable intervals! As their number diminishes the survivors struggle not only to escape but to understand the very rules of the game that their survival depends on. Sounds right up my street!
DEADLY GAME - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Splice' (2009) by Vincenzo Natali - a critically well received but rather overlooked hi-tech genetic engineering update of the 'Frankenstein' theme by this supremely talented and admirably leftfield Canadian auteur, responsible for some of the most fiercely intelligent and original genre pictures of recent years. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley star as a pair of maverick scientists recklessly splicing together different species of animal DNA and getting hopelessly out of their depth when their creation takes on an accelerated evolutionary path of its own that they could never have predicted. By all accounts every effort was made to make the film as scientifically accurate and non-sensational, yet still scary and gripping, as possible. I'm quietly confident this is going to be something special rather than just another hokey creature feature. Here's hoping.
MAN-MADE MONSTER - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Survival Of The Dead' (2009) by George A. Romero - filmed as a direct follow on to 'Diary Of The Dead' (2007), and featuring some of the same characters, Romero shows us more of the immediate effect on civilisation of the original zombie apocalypse from 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968). I never bothered seeking this one out at the time due to frustrated boredom with the whole premise but curiosity has won me over in the end. With these films (he had planned another two set in the same timeframe!) Romero almost pre-empted the wealth of detail and character development that makes 'The Walking Dead' such unmissable television. But since that show's resounding success he has wisely announced he will not be making any more zombie movies. The zombie apocalypse scenario is done and dusted but we have Romero to thank for the pinnacles of excellence it rose to. These films can now be seen as interesting late period footnotes by the master.
ZOMBIE - Horror/Sci-Fi

'Burke And Hare' (2010) by John Landis - although I've heard decidedly mixed reports about this Simon Pegg/Andy Serkis horror comedy I had no choice but to add it to the collection being a huge fan of Landis's previous landmark films in the genre; 'Schlock' (1973), 'An American Werewolf In London' (1981), 'Innocent Blood' (1992), 'Deer Woman' (2005) & 'Family' (2006) - every one a thoroughly entertaining classic, imho. He manages to balance laughs and scares consistently better than any other director I know of. This one is bound to be at least ghoulishly entertaining given that kind of pedigree and the infamous and oft filmed subject matter... he hopes!
PSYCHOPATHIC DUO - Horror/Comedy

'Insidious' (2010) by James Wan - I saw this wonderfully entertaining and genuinely scary crowd pleaser of a horror film in the cinema at the time and it was a great experience to share with an appreciative audience of all ages. The goal was clearly to produce a 'Poltergeist' (1982) clone for the new millennium and in that the filmmakers certainly succeeded, imho. The balance of perfectly judged frights, gripping family drama, 'Twilight Zone' style weirdness and refreshing moments of comic relief was got just right and resulted in a modern classic that appeals to horror and non-horror fans across the board. I have no doubt it will go on to be recognised as one of the most influential horrors of its era that will still be entertaining audiences decades down the line. They've tried to repeat the formula since with an inevitably lacklustre sequel last year and the likes of 'Sinister' (2012) and 'The Conjuring' (2013) but this one beats them hands down as an all round thrilling great big ghost train ride of a movie. Great stuff!!
GHOST - Horror

'Shutter Island' (2010) by Martin Scorsese - along with his remake of 'Cape Fear' (1991) this is the closest Scorsese has come to making a true horror film, being a paranoid neo-noir detective thriller claustrophobically set in a remote island institute for the criminally insane to which Leonardo DiCaprio's bemused US Marshal is called to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a patient. Great gothic atmospherics and an increasingly nightmarish tone, leading to a memorably grotesque twist ending, make this a superior mystery chiller of the ever gripping "outsider stranded in an isolated community that hides a dark secret" variety. Valid comparisons could even be made to 'The Wicker Man' (1973). It is a mark of the man's stature as a filmmaker that this first rate thriller, that would happily be held up as the greatest achievement of innumerable lesser directors, leaves one feeling ever so slightly frustrated that it isn't another one of his masterpieces!
DESCENT INTO MADNESS - Crime/Horror

'We Are What We Are' (2010) by Jorge Michel Grau - very keen to see this critically acclaimed, reputedly gritty and hard hitting low budget Mexican horror that appears to have rejuvenated the old cannibal genre and has already been given the unnecessary US remake treatment, in 2013. It tells the story of a pitifully poor group of inexperienced young siblings who are unexpectedly left orphaned after being raised to feed on human flesh procured by their fearsomely protective father. Now they have to go out in the big bad world and get dinner for themselves. Sounds an excellent and original approach to the subject matter and I look forward to seeing it with bated breath. I imagine such a bleak storyline could really only have been carried off convincingly in a society wracked with poverty and overcrowding like Mexico City, where it was entirely shot. Fingers, toes and all other flexible body parts are well and truly crossed...
CANNIBAL - Horror

'Apollo 18' (2011) by Gonzalo López-Gallego - now this is one great and genuinely scary Lovecraftian horror movie, imo, and also the cleverest and most original found footage film of recent years. The central conceit of a secret final manned mission to the Moon in the mid 70s to investigate strange reports of apparently alien life is carried off with complete conviction and grips the viewer from start to finish as we experience the excitement, awe, isolation and terror of those guys up there. One of those unsung independent shockers that belies its meagre budget and puts to shame any number of moribund big studio efforts. A minor classic of its kind with outstandingly convincing period detail.
ALIEN MONSTER - Sci-Fi/Horror

'The Grey' (2011) by Joe Carnahan - now this is my kind of movie! An all action "survival in the wilderness" thriller with a group of vividly portrayed tough guys trying to make it back to civilisation and getting whittled down one-by-one by an implacable foe whose domain they have strayed into and are hopelessly ill-prepared to cope with. Think; 'Deliverance' (1972), 'Chato's Land' (1972), 'The Shadow Of Chikara' (1977), 'Southern Comfort' (1981), 'The Thing' (1982), 'Predator' (1987), 'The Edge' (1997), 'Centurion' (2010), etc, and if you liked those movies (i.e. If you're a bloke) then you'll love this one! Liam Neeson gives one of his most commanding performances as the leader of a motley crew of Alaskan oil workers whose plane crashes in the most inhospitable wilderness on Earth and who find themselves being stalked by a savage pack of starving timber wolves, as they vainly attempt the long trek out. Excellent, gritty and harrowing entertainment in which the fun, as ever, is in trying to guess who will be next to snuff it.
KILLER ANIMAL - Adventure/Horror

'Hostel Part III' (2011) by Scott Spiegel - I've always found the theme of organised cruelty and murder for sadistic kicks to be particularly disturbing - as I have no doubt such things really do go on in the darker corners of the world (just look at Belgium) - and I've heard good reports about this final entry in the torture porn trilogy created by Eli Roth. Spiegel is an old hand at this kind of thing, going way back to the 80s, and has always been a solidly reliable director. In this one the action moves to an underground gambling den in Las Vegas where the name of the game is life or death. Here's hoping.
EVIL ORGANISATION - Horror

'The Innkeepers' (2011) by Ti West - critically acclaimed old fashioned ghost story, no doubt inspired by 'The Shining' (1980), that features a pair of amateur ghost hunters determined to find proof of the supernatural over one weekend in the notoriously haunted Yankee Pedlar Inn, and no doubt regretting it. The film continued the director's recent purple patch and is again said to be admirably restrained and genuinely frightening, following his similar success with the satanic themed 'The House Of The Devil' (2009). Although he's been turning out well regarded horror pics since the early 2000s I've yet to see any of the man's work and I'm very curious to catch up on what I've missed. All hype or a genuinely talented new horror auteur to get excited about? I'll report back when I've seen them...
GHOST - Horror

'Killer Joe' (2011) by William Friedkin - for me this was the best film of its year and the finest, most uncompromising work I've seen by Friedkin since his glory days in the 70s. Matthew McConaughey is absolutely riveting as one of the most deranged psychopaths in cinema history and the story, of his crossing swords with an insanely dysfunctional family of trailer trash low-lives, is every bit as skin crawlingly disturbing as it is sublimely unpredictable. Think 'No Country For Old Men' (2007) meets 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) by way of 'Brimstone And Treacle' (1976). A masterpiece of Southern gothic noir that is most definitely not for the squeamish or the easily upset!
PSYCHOPATHIC CRIMINAL - Crime/Horror

'Perfect Sense' (2011) by David Mackenzie - a killer plague sci-fi thriller with an ingenious difference. The human race is wiped out with painful slowness by a super virulent disease that strips each of the five senses, one by one, from its victims - just think about it... The apocalyptic scenario is played out in intimate kitchen sink drama style through the eyes of a pair of young Glaswegians just embarking on a new relationship - with impeccably bad timing. I'm a big fan of Mackenzie's work and this one sounds fascinatingly original. Fingers crossed.
KILLER PLAGUE - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Rosewood Lane' (2011) by Victor Salva - Salva's latest horror opus is another of the "unseen stalker" psychological suspense thrillers that became popular again in the last few years - see; 'The Silent House' (2010), 'Julia's Eyes' (2010), Hammer's 'The Resident' (2011), best of all, Jaume Balagueró's masterpiece, 'Sleep Tight' (2011), and 'The Pact' (2012). A troubled female psychiatrist returns to her old family home when her father is unexpectedly killed in unusual circumstances and she comes to suspect that he was hounded to his death by a local obsessive sociopath, who now turns his malignant attention to her. Say what you like about him but Salva is one bloody good, serious minded horror director so I'm hoping for an original spin on the theme. We shall see...
STALKER - Horror

'The Cabin In The Woods' (2012) by Drew Goddard - in my view this was easily the funniest and most thrilling horror comedy since 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004). The stunningly original premise, that I wouldn't dare spoil for anything, is nothing short of genius and catches the viewer out with one unexpected twist after another to quite sublime and frequently hilarious as well as damn scary effect. An instant classic horror spoof of remarkable intelligence and entertainment value!! If you have yet to see it then do yourself a favour and rent it tonight! Nuff said.
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'Dark Shadows' (2012) by Tim Burton - although I was completely unfamiliar with the disconcertingly long running 60s TV show (1966-71) I thoroughly enjoyed this gothic return to form by Burton and it has me very curious to delve into the reputed best years of the original show and the two early 70s film versions - 'House Of Dark Shadows' (1970) and 'Night Of Dark Shadows' (1971) - that inspired it. Johnny Depp is in his best form since 'Sweeney Todd' (2007) as the resurrected 200 year old vampire, Barnabas Collins, who is head of the most memorably oddball family of assorted creeps and monsters since the Addams Family or the Munsters strutted their stuff. One of the most riotously entertaining and visually sumptuous films Burton has made in years and proof positive that he should never be written off as a visionary auteur capable of true cinema magic - when he puts his mind to it and fully connects with the material! A real horror comedy gem, imo.
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'Lovely Molly' (2012) by Eduardo Sánchez - I've heard very good reports about this film and there appears to be a growing consensus that it represents the director's best work to date, following; 'The Blair Witch Project' (1999), 'Altered' (2006) and 'Seventh Moon' (2008). Apparently this is one of those carefully crafted ambiguous horror movies that takes its time to get under the viewer's skin and can be read either as a supernatural tale of demonic possession or as a character study of descent into homicidal madness, ala 'Repulsion' (1965), and boasts an impressive central performance by Gretchen Lodge as the unfortunate young woman losing her grip on reality. I like the sound of how Sánchez's career as a horror auteur has developed - from found footage "lost in the woods" chiller to alien monster movie and town with a dark supernatural secret to this intense study of mental breakdown. A nice variation of subject matter and all original spins on their respective sub-genres, it would seem. Watch this space...
DESCENT INTO MADNESS - Horror

'Outpost II : Black Sun' (2012) by Steve Barker - I've heard great things about Scottish director Barker's Nazi zombie trilogy and it sounds like it could very well represent the best of the entire sub-genre. The 2008 original, which I picked up a while ago, was hailed as a modern Brit horror classic of great style and verve, and, by all accounts, the two sequels are unusually excellent expansions of the mythos, stretching from the horrors of World War II to the terrible reminder of the Serb-Croat war in the 90s. I look forward to watching them and making my own mind up once I've acquired 'Outpost III : Rise Of The Spetsnaz' (2013). Again, fingers very much crossed...
ZOMBIE - Horror/Sci-Fi

'Thale' (2012) by Aleksander L. Nordaas - intriguing sounding Norwegian horror based on the folk legend of the "huldra", a siren-like female entity haunting the dark northern woods who lures men to their doom with her hypnotic singing. It's from the people responsible for the excellent 'Troll Hunter' (2010) so should have first rate production values and it was well received around the world as an original and haunting dark supernatural fantasy. There've been quite a few great genre pictures from Scandinavia in recent years, including; 'Cold Prey' (2006), 'Let The Right One In' (2008), 'Dead Snow' (2009), and 'Rare Exports' (2010), so my hopes are high of another quality chiller.
MYTHICAL MONSTER - Horror

'VHS' (2012) by David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg, Ti West & Adam Wingard - six director portmanteau horror involving the search for a mysteriously valuable old video cassette and those that have to be watched before the right one is found - each of which tells an increasingly horrific story. Sounds similar to the likes of Ramsey's 'Ancient Images' (1989), Polanski's 'The Ninth Gate' (1999) or Carpenter's 'Cigarette Burns' (2005) and I've heard nothing but good things about it. The film was successful enough to spawn two sequels already - 'VHS2' (2013) and 'VHS : Viral' (2014) - and "man of the moment" Ti West's involvement would seem to bode well too.
PORTMANTEAU - Horror

'Oculus' (2013) by Mike Flanagan - this sounds an excellent old fashioned occult shocker involving an ancient demonic entity residing within an antique mirror that sets about possessing and destroying whoever has the misfortune to purchase it. The action concentrates on the latest victims, an innocent family of four, as seen through the eyes of the two terrified children. The reviews, from people who know what they're talking about, have been consistently strong and the director's first film, 'Absentia' (2011), was equally critically acclaimed, so I decided to take a chance on this when I saw the DVD going for buttons. Always nice, if all too rare, to see someone new on the block in American cinema who has the talent and bravery - and, let's face it, the luck - to write and direct an original horror movie rather than some crass remake of an acclaimed foreign film! Keep it up, Mike!
SUPERNATURAL ENTITY - Horror

'The Sacrament' (2013) by Ti West - this was the director's third critically acclaimed horror movie in a row and again he tackled a completely different classical sub-genre, after the 70s satanic horror throwback of 'The House Of The Devil' (2009) and the straight haunted hotel story 'The Innkeepers' (2011). In this one the horror is all too convincingly human having been inspired by the Jonestown Massacre of 1978. It's another in the long line of found footage films of recent years and tells of a documentary film crew's undercover investigation of the remote "happy clappy" commune of Eden Parish... that, naturally, hides a dark secret they can't be allowed to bring to the public knowledge. I've always loved that theme and look forward to catching up with this guy's work and judging his worth for myself.
KILLER CULT - Horror

'Scary Movie V' (2013) by Malcolm D. Lee - a truly awful and painfully unfunny swan song for the franchise that I only added to the collection for completeness sake and because they were all going for peanuts. It makes the four earlier films look like masterpieces of Wildean wit by comparison!
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'The Quiet Ones' (2014) by John Pogue - this latest offering from the revamped Hammer Studios is loosely based on the famous parapsychological "Philip experiment" from 1972, that I've long suspected may have influenced Ramsey Campbell's masterpiece, 'Incarnate' (1983). It's an intriguing concept - the physical manifestation of a fictional "ghost" from the psychic energies of those that dreamt it up (in Buddhism this would be known as a "tulpa") - that could make for a scary and original supernatural horror movie. Here's hoping...
POLTERGEIST - Horror
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 81.137.244.250
Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - 03:25 pm:   

Update time! Picked up these DVDs in the last few months:

'The Ghost And Mrs Muir' (1947) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz - the 1940s was the absolute golden era of these kind of warmly sentimental, timelessly poignant supernatural fantasies, for an adult audience desperately seeking respite from the horrors of the Great Depression and World War. And this is one of the best of the lot of them! It works as a traditional haunted house ghost story, a charming "battle of the sexes" character comedy, a real "ten box of hankies" romantic tearjerker and a glorious feelgood fantasy all rolled into one, while the sublime cast - Rex Harrison, Gene Tierney and George Saunders - have all rarely been better, which really is saying something! A feisty female writer, who has sworn off men, moves into an old cliff top house by the sea to work on her new book, despite local warnings that it is haunted by the ghost of a malevolent old sea captain. Of course things proceed to go bump in the night... but not entirely in the way one might expect, as the cleverly unpredictable story unfolds. Wonderful spellbinding entertainment with the real touch of Hollywood magic about it. I can only think of 'It's A Wonderful Life' (1946), 'A Matter Of Life And Death' (1946) or 'Portrait Of Jennie' (1948) as films that arguably top it in the genre and I truly envy anyone who has never seen it before. Escapist fantasy cinema doesn't get any better!!!!
GHOST - Fantasy/Horror

'The Ghost Of Dr Hitchcock' (1963) by Riccardo Freda - Freda was the man responsible for kick starting the tremendous boom in Italian horror cinema of the 60s-80s and this film was critically and commercially hailed at the time as his fourth gothic horror masterpiece in a row, following; 'I Vampiri' (1956), 'Caltiki, The Immortal Monster' (1959) and 'The Horrible Dr Hitchcock' (1962)! Made as a sequel to his enormously successful previous film - that many rank as his best - it again starred Barbara Steele, in one of her most iconic roles, as Margareta, the persecuted and possibly undead wife of the monstrously evil title character, with his ghoulish interest in beautiful female corpses, who was this time played by Leonard Elliott, taking over from Robert Flemyng. Visually inspired by the sumptuous colours and period sets of the Hammer Horrors both films are also notable for their adoring set piece references to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, at a time when he was only beginning to be taken seriously by the cinematic intelligentsia, and many years before Argento or De Palma came on the scene and built their careers on the same ploy. I have yet to see any of this director's works and he was the man Mario Bava called his "great mentor", so you can imagine my excitement when I picked this one up cheap out of the blue! Must track down all the rest of his horror films now, including the later; 'Double Face' (1969), 'The Iguana With The Tongue Of Fire' (1971), 'Tragic Ceremony' (1972) and 'Murder Obsession' (1981). The life's work of another great Italian auteur awaits me!!!!
EVIL GENIUS - Horror

'Planet Of The Apes' (1968) by Franklin J. Schaffner - the 1960s was an astonishing decade for groundbreaking science fiction and this timeless masterpiece was one of the most impressive feats of the imagination of the lot of them - in cinema terms it was second only to the same year's '2001 : A Space Odyssey' (1968) and was only topped in its cultural impact by 'Star Trek' and 'Doctor Who'!! Everything about the film is well nigh perfect. From the still completely convincing make-up effects (fuck CGI!), to the searing commitment of the performances, Schaffner's mastery of pacing and iconic imagery and the ingenious script by Rod Serling & Michael Wilson, that successfully expands upon the human drama of Pierre Boulle's great 1963 satiric horror novel. The raw impact of the film still resonates down the decades. Every time I sit down to watch it I find myself captivated all over again by the excitement, horror and unpredictability of Taylor's predicament; stranded on an alien planet, exploring the unknown and having his psyche and survival instincts continually pummelled by one shocking discovery after another. If ever there was a film I wish I could wipe from my memory in order to experience it for the first time, with no knowledge of what is to come, then it is this one! The famous twist ending, that has Serling's imagination stamped all over it, is surely the greatest in the history of genre cinema. You know it's coming but that final scene, the culmination of all the terrible revelations that have preceded it, still packs a devastating punch every single time. What more can I say? Two of my favourite actors reached the peak of their careers here. Charlton Heston was never more heroically charismatic nor Roddy McDowall more charmingly loveable - to think this was his most famous role and all we know him by are his eyes and that unmistakeable voice. The film spawned a ridiculously entertaining five picture franchise, a great TV series and, so far, three redundant remakes (Tim Burton's really sucked), and every one of them pales beside this original masterwork. One of the most thrilling, fiercely intelligent and endlessly thought provoking motion pictures of all time!!!!
MANBEAST - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Beneath The Planet Of The Apes' (1970) by Ted Post - okay, it never should have been made but thank God it was! This rather contrived sequel, that sees another hapless crew of astronauts sent as a rescue mission and going through the same experience as in the first film, can't hold a candle to Schaffner's masterpiece but it is so damn enjoyable to find ourselves back in that world, still looking as good, and to discover what became of Taylor that any form of meaningful criticism would seem churlish nit-picking. James Franciscus makes a winningly charismatic stand-in for Heston and the journey he takes has enough new revelations about the strange planet's awful history to keep us gripped and entertained right through to the indescribably bleak and harrowing finale. It amazes me every time that such an ending was ever green lighted by the studio and I can only congratulate the filmmakers, and particularly the scriptwriters, Paul Dehn & Mort Abrahams, for their bravery and integrity. It was also a great touch to have Heston return in person rather than just be referred to. Every time he appears I feel like cheering! Way better and more emotionally resonant than any of the recent remakes I'd rank it the third best of the original series.
MANBEAST - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Escape From The Planet Of The Apes' (1971) by Don Taylor - and this one, imho, is easily the second best and the one that comes closest to the genius of the original. I'll never forget seeing this for the first time as a goggle eyed child and being moved to tears by the ultimate fate of Roddy McDowall's Cornelius and Kim Hunter's Zira. I've been hopelessly in love with the movie ever since. Once again the script, by Paul Dehn, is sheer brilliance and bravely takes no prisoners with the expectations of the audience. Heston's disorienting experiences in the first film are ingeniously turned on their head and given real satirical bite by having two of the dominant apes from the future travel back to our present and, to their chagrin, be treated as "nine day wonder" freaks and curiosities before the authorities come to realise just what a threat they pose to our continued dominance of the planet. Then we're into exciting chase thriller mode and things begin to turn very grim indeed. The ending of this film is emotionally devastating and had a profound positive effect on my moral reasoning as an impressionable child. It should still be shown in schools to the very young as one of the most irresistibly entertaining and ultimately shattering anti-bigotry moral fables of our time. I'm choking up again just thinking about it here...
MANBEAST - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes' (1972) by J. Lee Thompson - the series tailed off into entertaining soap opera dramatics for fans only (like me) with the last two of the original five films. There isn't much to choose between Thompson's two typically solid directorial efforts but this one slightly shades it, imo. There's a particularly satisfying logical neatness to the plot as we follow the life of Caesar (Roddy McDowall), Cornelius and Zira's orphaned son, from carnival freak to charismatic leader of a worldwide rebellion as the intelligent apes launch a takeover bid for dominance over their human persecutors. The quality production values, commitment of the acting and rigorous continuity of the script make this a superior sci-fi entertainment that, again, is miles better than any of the recent remakes.
MANBEAST - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Straight On Till Morning' (1972) by Peter Collinson - I saw this unusual Hammer psycho thriller once before, many years ago, and remember absolutely hating it as a pseudo-arthouse load of flashily directed pretentious rubbish. To this day it remains the worst edited film I have seen and surely the most inept thing the studio ever released! But as it was going cheap I picked it up for an eventual rewatch and reevaluation. Can it really have been that bad given the talent involved?! The fairly familiar plot involves a naive young woman (Rita Tushingham) from up north moving to the bright lights of London and falling under the spell of a handsome psychopathic killer (Shane Briant). I recall the story, and the actors best efforts, being overwhelmed by presumably trendy psychedelic flourishes that grow tiring very, very quickly.
SERIAL KILLER - Horror

'Battle For The Planet Of The Apes' (1973) by J. Lee Thompson - it may be the weakest of the original series but there is still something supremely satisfying about this film's completion of the time loop that brings us right back to where we came in with Taylor's misadventures in 'Planet Of The Apes' (1968). The narrative this time is a bit of a contrived mess, as it tries to tie things in with the subterranean revelations of 'Beneath The Planet Of The Apes' (1970), and there is a notable ramshackleness about the production that seems to indicate it was thrown together in a hurry. But it's still entertaining and as well performed as ever with a killer ending/beginning that remains one of the most resonant in science fiction cinema. Taken together the five films represent one of the most successful and uncompromisingly intelligent cinema franchises ever produced. Their appeal is timeless and I have no doubt the original films will still be watched and debated generations after the technically efficient but emotionally cold remakes have all been forgotten.
MANBEAST - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind' (1977) by Steven Spielberg - the director has turned his hand to epic science fiction many times, with wildly variable results, but this immensely influential paranormal thriller remains his great masterpiece in the genre! I still rank it as his second best film, after 'Jaws' (1975) and ahead of 'Munich' (2005), 'Schindler's List' (1993) and 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998). It is also far and away his creepiest film, playing as much like a slow build ghost story as an "alien invasion" movie for most of its length. The always charismatic Richard Dreyfuss gave the best performance of his career as ordinary joe, Roy Neary, who is relentlessly haunted and driven to the edge of insanity by frightening manifestations of an apparently extraterrestrial origin. This all comes to a head during the most terrifying sequence Spielberg ever directed, with the night time invasion of the man's home and abduction of his young son, cranking up the threat level and sense of helplessness of this innocent family to levels of bewildered desperation that pack a real emotional punch. Add to that brilliantly integrated scenes of top secret scientific investigation and government cover-up at the highest level and we have a masterclass in 70s paranoia that sees the little man at the centre of the story assailed from all sides by the terror of the unknown. If aliens really were visiting us this film remains the most convincing portrayal of how the human race would react to them, imo. With a mixture of fear, awe, excitement and overwhelming curiosity - complicated by official secrecy. We are still feeling the immense sociological ramifications of Spielberg's great 20th Century fairytale to this day and the film can be seen as the ultimate popular culmination of the themes of inscrutable intervention from beyond and the difficulties of communication with unknowably higher intelligences that began with Kubrick's '2001 : A Space Odyssey' (1968). The final scenes are rightly famous for the spectacular sense of cosmic awe and hope, tempered with nervousness, that they instil in the mesmerised characters and audience alike and it was wise of Spielberg to show us only so much of what might be to come... leaving the rest to our fevered imaginations. Another towering masterpiece of 70s cinema that saw the writer/director at the very peak of his young visionary powers and that I very much doubt he will ever equal, nevermind better. After this the rot set in with 'ET' (1982) - for all its charms.
ALIEN INTERFERENCE - Sci-Fi/Horror

'Sudden Impact' (1983) by Clint Eastwood - this fourth outing for Dirty Harry Callahan, and the only one directed by Eastwood himself, has him dodging Mafia hitmen out for his head while also investigating a string of out of town murders that are being committed by a gun-toting female vigilante as revenge on the men who gang raped her, thus inviting obvious comparisons with the cult horrors 'I Spit On Your Grave' (1978) and 'Ms 45' (1981). While not quite being up to the standard of the 70s films it is still another irresistibly entertaining thriller that balances gritty action, violence, social comment and un-PC black humour to delirious effect and presents Harry with the greatest moral dilemma of his career. "Go ahead, punk. Make my day."
VIGILANTE KILLER - Crime/Horror

'Friday The 13th Part IV : The Final Chapter' (1984) by Joseph Zito - in Stevie World this really was the final chapter of the original series! A New Beginning my arse!! When Jason is comprehensively killed off at the end of this actually quite good slasher movie that was him dead, dead, dead... until his resurrection from Hell as an unstoppable zombie by Freddy Krueger, but that's another story! I'd rank this as almost on a par with the first two films and much superior to the watchable but rather average Part III (the only one I've still to get). And who'd have thought Jason's nemesis would turn out to be Corey Feldman?!
SLASHER - Horror

'Cat's Eye' (1985) by Lewis Teague - although a long way behind its obvious inspiration, 'Creepshow' (1982), this horror portmanteau, again scripted by Stephen King and based on his own short stories; 'Quitters, Inc.' (1978), 'The Ledge' (1976) and the new tale 'General' (1985), is a decent enough watch and one of the better lesser King adaptations, even if it is somewhat lacking in the gore and scares department. Linked by the meanderings of a stray cat, that acts as silent witness to each of the instalments, the best one is the first, with James Woods going to desperate measures in an attempt to give up smoking - and wishing he hadn't. Then we have a Hitchcockian suspense tale of cruel revenge by a cuckolded husband (Kenneth McMillan) and the film ends with an unexpected segue into dark children's fantasy, with Drew Barrymore being menaced in her bedroom at night by a miniature troll coming out of the walls. It passes the time pleasantly enough without ever being anything to write home about.
PORTMANTEAU - Horror

'Silver Bullet' (1985) by Daniel Attias - Corey Haim stars in this inoffensively entertaining werewolf movie aimed at "young adults" and based on one of Stephen King's more throwaway efforts of the period, the illustrated novella 'Cycle Of The Werewolf' (1983). King wrote the script himself and did as good a job here as he did in 'Creepshow' (1982). The story of a pair of plucky all-American kids coming to suspect their neighbour of lycanthropy isn't particularly original, scary or gruesome but it is winningly acted and rattles along at a fine pace, while Carlo Rambaldi's werewolf effects are well done and again demonstrate the superiority of make-up and animatronics over the CGI we have to suffer nowadays. Compare the transformation effects here to Wes Craven's abominable 'Cursed' (2004) and you'll see what I mean. Overall a decent and ultimately rather charming little "safe" horror film that would be just right for introducing nervous children to the genre. Again, this is one of the better lesser King adaptations, imo.
WEREWOLF - Horror

'Big Trouble In Little China' (1986) by John Carpenter - for his final frustrating brush with big budget Hollywood filmmaking Carpenter came up with this absurdly entertaining all action comedy thriller that sought to revive the spirit of those old Fu Manchu pulp adventures and wisely presented itself as a thoroughly OTT tongue-in-cheek spoof of their cheesily macho and casually un-PC "have at 'em" heroics and despicable slant-eyed villainy. Kurt Russell was again perfectly cast as the wisecracking Howardian action hero, with post-modern flaws, Jack Burton, and found his perfect foil in James Hong's ancient sorcerer, Lo Pan, who relishes every pantomime villain moment of the role, while Kim Cattrall provided the breathless blonde eye candy, as ever. The "plot" is the very essence of contrived scene setting and exists only to propel our hero on an underground odyssey through one hair-raising close shave with death after another as he seeks to rescue the helpless damsel in distress - making for irresistibly old fashioned thrills, seasoned with just enough knowing humour to avoid outright corn. The result is a veritable masterclass in having one's cake and eating it. Although a resounding success artistically the film suffered from mismarketing and did poorly in cinemas, as well as critically, forcing the director to abandon the Hollywood system and return to back-to-basics independent filmmaking with such reenergising mid-period classics as 'Prince Of Darkness' (1987) and 'They Live' (1988). Looked back on 'Big Trouble' can be seen as one of Carpenter's most entertaining films, being almost as loveably daft a genre comedy as 'Dark Star' (1974), imho. Too often pigeon-holed as a horror director the man proved with genre benders like this that he could turn his hand to anything.
SORCERER - Fantasy/Horror/Comedy

'Maximum Overdrive' (1986) by Stephen King - maximum shite, more like!!!! It only now resides in my collection because it was part of a box set of Stephen King adaptations from the 1980s. It was the temerity with which King foisted this cackhanded load of old bollocks of a "directorial debut" on us that went a big part of the way toward my falling out of adoration with the guy. This was proof positive that not only could he not walk on water but, worse, he was seemingly unaware of his limitations and convinced the public would accept just about any substandard crud if his name was attached to the project!! His career since, for all its occasional high points, has proved that fact over and over again. For all his industry and great storytelling skill King really needs to look up the meaning of "self-indulgence" and maybe learn a lesson in humility, imho. This truly abysmal, diabolically bad, indescribably atrocious excuse for a horror film was based on his entertaining short story "Trucks" (1973) - why the bloody awful title change ffs?! - about machines turning against man, and was written for the screen and "directed" (it says here) by Stephen King, himself. He even appears in it, in a frankly embarrassing cameo, that, I think, was intended to provide comic relief. Poor Emilio Estevez... they really didn't pay him enough to star in this car crash of jaw-dropping ineptitude. Completely without merit of any kind it remains a very strong contender for the title of "worst worst film ever made". It isn't even enjoyably bad. It just sucks!! Thank fuck he hasn't directed again since! Has he?! Shudder...
KILLER VEHICLE - Horror/Sci-Fi

'RoboCop' (1987) by Paul Verhoeven - I can never quite make up my mind which film is Verhoeven's masterpiece, between this one and 'Starship Troopers' (1997), but both are well nigh flawless and supremely entertaining science fiction adventure movies with stunningly well mounted special effects and action sequences married to cleverly subversive storylines, that are way more intelligent and thought provoking than is apparent on a first "surface layer" viewing. Peter Weller is unforgettable here as the veteran cop taking on the low-life criminal scum of a near future Detroit who is literally blasted to pieces in a fierce gun battle and brought back to a semblance of life by faceless corporate scientists as the ruthlessly efficient cyborg super cop of the title. A kind of cross between the Frankenstein monster, Dirty Harry Callahan and the Tin Man from Oz! Of course his creators hadn't reckoned on the man within the machine recovering memories of his former life that threaten to derail his rigid programming, designed to erase all human emotions, with potentially disastrous results - for them... Beneath the pulse pounding action movie thrills - and, make no mistake, this is one damn exciting movie - there is also a genuinely funny and devastatingly cynical satirical comedy that takes bold swipes at the soulless corporatism and culture of greed of the 1980s and makes outlandishly disturbing predictions about the kind of future it could usher in, as well as, most impressively, a deeply affecting human tragedy that really makes one feel for the lead character and gives a poignant emotional root to the film that stops it becoming too coldly clever for its own good. Yep, it's one of the top 3 or 4 sci-fi movies of its decade and one of the best ever made, imho, that, not surprisingly, led to two enjoyable sequels and a TV series and gave the genre one of its most memorable "superheroes". Verhoeven is a sometimes inspired director, capable of real works of genius (as here), but he isn't half self-indulgent and prone to staggering errors of judgement, that have resulted in some truly naff movies. In that respect his career reminds me of other frustratingly unpredictable super-ego auteurs, such as; Ken Russell, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, The Coen Brothers, Luc Besson, David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, etc. etc... The kind of directors it never pays to write off or to get too excited about when any new project is announced. I still hold out hope of another genre masterpiece from the man.
MAN-MADE MONSTER - Sci-Fi/Horror

'The Dead Pool' (1988) by Buddy Van Horn - the fifth and final outing for Dirty Harry Callahan is easily the weakest of the series, with Clint beginning to show his age in the role, but still makes for great entertainment, with the trademark black humour even more to the fore this time. Harry has become a celebrity, as the most decorated officer in the San Francisco police force (a terrifying thought!!), but this new found fame rests uneasily on his shoulders, particularly when a serial killer begins targeting celebrities with dangerous lifestyles who appear on a "dead pool" list used by illegal gamblers to make bets on who will be the next to die! You guessed it... Harry is one of the favourites on the list and, with the enemies he's made over the years, someone looks set to make a killing when his number finally comes up. Far fetched nonsense, sure, and a long way behind the classic 70s films, but impossible not to warm to for all that, and featuring notable pre-fame roles for Jim Carrey and Liam Neeson, the film marked an enjoyably OTT swan song for one of cinema's greatest characters and the end of an era of such gloriously un-PC genre thrillers.
DEADLY GAME - Crime/Horror

'Scrooged' (1988) by Richard Donner - this was one of four supernatural comedy star vehicles for Bill Murray made at the time, along with 'Ghostbusters' (1984), 'Ghostbusters II' (1989), and his best film, 'Groundhog Day' (1993). I caught it again over Christmas, for the first time since it was released, and it really has stood the test of time well as a very funny, surreal, poignant and original spin on Dickens' too-oft filmed old chestnut, 'A Christmas Carol' (1843). I would now rank it as one of Murray's best films and the only truly worthwhile adaptation of the story since the iconic Alastair Sim version, 'Scrooge' (1951), nailed it forevermore, when done straight. This is a textbook example of how to successfully update and breathe new life into an overly familiar if always irresistible old classic!
SUPERNATURAL ENTITY - Fantasy/Horror/Comedy

'RoboCop II' (1990) by Irvin Kershner - an entertaining, fast moving and well mounted sequel to Verhoeven's masterpiece that works purely as an all action thriller, dispensing with much of the satirical humour and tragic elements that made the original such a great film, though still paying lip service to the grander themes by clever touches in the script and the intensity of Peter Weller's performance, while director Kershner does almost as good a job at broadening this franchise as he did with 'The Empire Strikes Back' (1980). Looking back now these films can be seen as clever post modern homages/mickey takes of the un-PC cop thrillers of the 70s, such as the Dirty Harry series and all those gritty Charles Bronson/Michael Winner and blaxploitation flicks, that now appear so refreshingly shocking in their innocent offensiveness (especially when compared to their awesomely "incorrect" Italian counterparts).
MAN-MADE MONSTER - Sci-Fi/Horror

'RoboCop III' (1993) by Fred Dekker - Weller left the franchise after 'RoboCop II' (1990), and his absence is felt, resulting in this solid but perfunctory second sequel. His replacement, Robert John Burke, does as good a job as could have been expected, but the overall lapsing of quality from the multi-layered brilliance of the original vision to just a straight unremarkable cop thriller with science fiction/superhero trappings can't help but leave a bad taste in the mouth. The touching attempts at character continuity and quality production values, along with the exciting action set pieces, still carry the film as rollicking entertainment but it was no surprise that this one marked the end of the film series.
MAN-MADE MONSTER - Sci-Fi/Horror

'A New Nightmare' (1994) by Wes Craven - Craven returned to his most famous creation with this entertaining piece of post-modern self parody that effectively rescued Freddy Krueger, as a movie monster to be reckoned with, from the string of abysmal cartoon-like comedy sequels that followed his original appearance in 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984) - remember, back when he was actually scary?! The original star, Heather Langenkamp, plays herself, ten years on from her most famous role and being plagued by nightmares of a more demonic Freddy, and strange occurrences that seem to signal his breaking through into the real world. She goes to her old director, Wes Craven, also playing himself, begging for help and then all hell breaks loose as fact and Hollywood fiction merge and the stripy jumpered one begins killing again... for "real" this time!! The director and cast clearly had a ball with the idea and their enthusiasm makes this a fun to watch meta-fictional sequel that wipes the floor with any of the other Parts of the series, jokily referred to throughout and for which Krueger is seeking understandable revenge. In the end the film is not quite as clever or successful as it thinks it is but is still one of Craven's better, more entertaining later efforts. After this Freddy was to have one last hurrah, another ten years on, in the surprisingly effective monster mash-up 'Freddy Versus Jason' (2003). They're the only three films he appeared in that are worth watching, imho.
DEMONIC ENTITY - Horror

'The Prophecy' (1995) by Gregory Widen - one of a slew of biblically inflected high concept dark fantasy horrors, made around the turn of the millennium, in which Earth becomes a battleground for supremacy between angels and demons in human form. This one spawned a five film franchise (1995-2005) but, by all accounts, the first is the only one worth bothering about. The cast is stellar, including; Christopher Walken, in reputedly brilliant form, as the Angel Gabriel, Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer, Elias Koteas, Eric Stolz, Virginia Madsen, and the film gets consistently strong reviews and may have been a major influence on Chris Carter's criminally underrated X-Files off-shoot, 'Millennium' (1996-99). Sounds pretty impressive to me and I missed it at the time so fingers crossed! One to lump alongside the likes of; 'The Seventh Sign' (1988) - overblown nonsense, the excellent 'Blade' series (1998-2004), the abysmal 'End Of Days' (1999), the Wachowski's iconic 'The Matrix' series (1999-2003), 'Dracula 2000' (2000) - nice idea, terrible film, the Russian epics 'Night Watch' (2004) & 'Day Watch' (2006), etc, etc...
SUPERNATURAL ENTITY - Sci-Fi/Horror

'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1998) by Dario Argento - finally picked up a copy of this much maligned version of Gaston Leroux's gothic horror classic, with Julian Sands as the masked Phantom and Asia Argento the object of his deranged obsession. The film was almost universally panned by the critics but as it's Argento, my favourite horror auteur, I had to add it to the collection and will make up my own mind about its merits or otherwise. The story was a natural for the great man to be drawn to, with its combination of operatic high melodrama and psycho killer thrills, and if it bears any comparison to his great giallo masterpiece, 'Opera' (1987), then there surely must be something to enjoy in it - he hopes. I have a theory that over time people became less forgiving of the director's always outrageously far-fetched storytelling style and the wilfully bizarre (OTT even) elements that were always a part of even his greatest films. This perceived evidence of "amateurishness" came to detract in the popular opinion from his mastery of pure cinematic technique and the meticulous perfection of his compositional sense - that really does bear comparison with Hitchcock. Argento's trademark flamboyance and dream logic inconsistency came to be seen as old fashioned hack work not worthy of being taken seriously. I look forward to catching all his later films in time and letting you all know what I think...
DEFORMED KILLER - Horror

'Blood Dolls' (1999) by Charles Band - a later entry in the B-movie director/producer's long line of evil doll/miniature monster horror comedies that began in the mid 80s in the aftermath of 'Gremlins' (1984). Some of them are good schlocky fun, e.g. 'Ghoulies' (1985), some of them are half-baked rubbish, e.g. 'Puppet Master' (1989), many of them I know only by cult reputation, e.g. 'Demonic Toys' (1992), but this one seems to get more decent write-ups than most of his efforts, it's an 18 Cert and sounds like he was at least trying to do something a bit different. Mad scientist creates a race of genetically engineered miniature mutant vampires, disguised as dolls, that avenge him after something nasty happens to the poor man. Well, maybe not that much different... Should be harmlessly daft entertainment, whatever.
EVIL DOLL - Horror/Comedy

'Summer Of Sam' (1999) by Spike Lee - I consider this to be Lee's best film, in a frustratingly erratic career, and one of the most intelligent and interesting dramatisations of a true serial killer case that I have seen. It bears favourable comparison to Richard Fleischer's great police procedural thriller 'The Boston Strangler' (1968) and surely was a major influence on David Fincher's masterpiece, 'Zodiac' (2007) - with its concentration on the emotional and social impact of the murders as much as the crimes themselves. The period recreation of late 70s New York, during the heady days of the punk and disco explosion, is exemplary, recalling the early films of Martin Scorsese with an almost uncanny accuracy, and painting a picture of the Big Apple under siege, during the Son of Sam's random reign of terror in the long hot summer of 1977, that communicates the contagious suspicion and rampant paranoia of the time to remarkable effect, while portraying David Berkowitz (Michael Badalucco) as exactly the kind of pathetic whining twerp he really is. How often our vision of the unknown boogeyman stalking the streets turns out to be the complete antithesis of what our fears had imagined when he is actually brought to book. Having said that I have been a fascinated student of this case since the 80s and remain convinced that Berkowitz did not act alone and, indeed, was merely a minor cog in a much larger and more frightening series of crimes that stretch back to the Manson murders and continue, in the underground world of cult indoctrination, deviant sex rings, drugs, snuff movies and ostensibly motiveless random murder, to this day. You may think I've bought into the myth but allow me to present the evidence and you too may just begin to wonder... and fear a boogeyman that goes way beyond the terrors of Charles Manson, Son of Sam or any lone Zodiac Killer...
SERIAL KILLER - Crime/Horror/Drama

'My Little Eye' (2002) by Marc Evans - I'm quite intrigued to see this highly regarded and original sounding low budget British horror as it sounds like an interesting mix of the deadly game and slasher genres, that sees a group of irritating cute young things volunteering to take part in a reality TV show, clearly modelled after 'Big Brother' (is that load of shite still going?), that sees them having to stay in a house under constant camera surveillance, until only one of them is left... alive! It's a great idea, and would make for pleasing real life entertainment, particularly if they did a celebrity version, so I only hope the filmmakers were able to do it justice. I've no idea about the rest of the set-up or how the contestants meet their ends - whether at each other's hands, at the programme makers or by public vote - and look forward to finding out. Fingers crossed with this one...
DEADLY GAME - Horror/Sci-Fi

'Spider' (2002) by David Cronenberg - for my money this was the last truly great and genuinely Cronenbergian film the man has made to date, though I forever hold out hope of a late period return to form. Believe me, 'Cosmopolis' (2012) wasn't it, while his recent foray into making straight crime thrillers was disappointingly routine and lacking any kind of original approach to the genre, imho. This, however, is a mesmerisingly well made and acted psychological thriller that finally gave Ralph Fiennes another role to really get his teeth into, after his incredible performance in 'Schindler's List' (1993). I would rank it as one of the most deeply unsettling portrayals of a descent into delusional madness ever put on screen, and it easily bears comparison to the director's other similarly disturbing works; 'Videodrome' (1983), 'Dead Ringers' (1988) and 'Crash' (1996). Each explores the theme of unhealthy obsession and increasing dislocation from reality as a reaction to profound emotional trauma, and each does so with the rare insight and chilly detachment of a visionary genius.
DESCENT INTO MADNESS - Horror/Drama

'Freddy Versus Jason' (2003) by Ronny Yu - that completes the only three Freddy Krueger films worth having in the collection, along with the original 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984) and 'A New Nightmare' (1994). The rest of the sequels are pure bollocks, imho. Many would lump this movie in along with them, as puerile rubbish, but I was dragged along to see it at the time and found it a ridiculously enjoyable, surprisingly well thought out and blackly humorous throwback to the old Universal multiple monster movies of the 40s. A real guilty pleasure that is far more entertaining than we had any right to expect. For the record, it's also the only Jason film I'm remotely interested in after 'Friday The 13th Part IV : The Final Chapter' (1984).
MULTIPLE MONSTER - Horror

'The Messengers' (2007) by Danny & Oxide Pang - fairly decent traditional haunted house story, with the innocent young family moving into their dream home in the country that hides a dark history, from the Hong Kong horror auteurs, famous for their 'The Eye' trilogy (2002-05). The film marked their American debut, under the patronage of Sam Raimi as producer, and gave them a much bigger budget to work with than they had been used to. It suffers from over familiarity, utilising every ghost story cliche in the book and having a "twist" that's been done many times before, but the film is very well made, winningly acted and genuinely creepy, with admirable restraint shown in the special effects department and some very effective shock moments. It passes the time pleasantly enough and is a good one to watch with a non-horror fan, but, in the end, the lack of originality, that they were previously noted for, leaves it floundering in a kind of well crafted no man's land of "seen it all before" forgettability. Their least inspired film to date but far from a complete disaster, imho.
GHOST - Horror

'Troll Hunter' (2010) by André Ovredal - saw this in the cinema at the time and thoroughly enjoyed it as an inspired spoof of 'The Blair Witch Project' (1999) and the plethora of found footage horrors that came in its wake. An amateur documentary film crew surreptitiously follow a mysterious hunter into the remote Norwegian woods as he attempts to track down whatever has been killing the local livestock. It turns out to be a race of monstrous beings straight out of the Brothers Grimm. Yep, trolls exist! And by the time they find that out it's far too late to turn back... There's nothing particularly new here but the film is so well put together and irresistibly entertaining - scary, funny and exciting - that it has to be seen as a resounding success, particularly given its meagre budget and what they managed to achieve with it. One of those great little independent foreign language films that makes a mockery of modern Hollywood excess and beats them hands down at their own game. A minor classic of its kind!
FAIRYTALE MONSTER - Horror/Comedy

'Source Code' (2011) by Duncan Jones - following the resounding success of his micro-budget sci-fi debut, 'Moon' (2009), that had instant cult classic written all over it, this came as further proof that "Zowie Bowie" was more than a chip off the old block but a serious new talent in cinema to be reckoned with. Again taking its inspiration from the paranoid hi-tech manipulation of the individual of Philip K. Dick, by way of 'Groundhog Day' (1993) and numerous episodes of 'The Twilight Zone', the story ingeniously sets up a nightmarish ever-repeating time loop, created by faceless scientists, in which one man (Jake Gylenhaal) must continually relive and redie the same eight minutes on board a train doomed to destruction by a terrorist bomb, that only he is aware of and only he believes he can stop from happening. As a writer Jones has great fun exploring all the old "meddling with time" paradoxes and moral dilemmas while delivering a blistering suspense thriller that Hitchcock would have been proud of. Another modern classic of low budget, independent and fiercely intelligent science fiction filmmaking to restore one's faith in the genre. Great stuff!
TIME TRAP - Sci-Fi/Horror
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.121.67.181
Posted on Thursday, December 03, 2015 - 12:22 pm:   

"Old, Modern & Recent" themed triple bills just watched and soon to be written up. Yes, I'm still at it and collecting genre films like never before. Horror, sci-fi, fantasy, crime, suspense, mystery, gangster, westerns, easterns, etc... the more weird, grim or violent the better.

SATANIC HORROR
'The Black Cat' (1934) by Edgar G. Ulmer
'The Sentinel' (1977) by Michael Winner
'The House Of The Devil' (2009) by Ti West

AN UNFATHOMABLE CRIME
'In Cold Blood' (1967) by Richard Brooks
'The House On The Edge Of The Park' (1980) by Ruggero Deodato
'Capote' (2005) by Bennett Miller

SOLDIERS IN "WTF!" PERIL
'Zulu' (1964) by Cy Endfield
'Southern Comfort' (1981) by Walter Hill
''71' (2014) by Yann Demange

"FAR FROM BLACK AND WHITE" MORAL DILEMMA WESTERNS
'The Gunfighter' (1950) by Henry King
'Valdez Is Coming' (1971) by Edwin Sherin
'The Proposition' (2005) by John Hillcoat

Watch this space... ;-)
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 90.204.207.193
Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2016 - 02:29 pm:   

Must get back to my themed film nights! Been way too long.

The DVD collection is now well up in the thousands and, as I've collected nearly every horror film of note (so many of which I've yet to watch!), it has exponentially branched out into the realms of science fiction, fantasy, crime, war, westerns and comedy, etc. The criteria being that they pass the Stevie test of quality and/or entertainment value (frequently unintentional), darkness, oddity and that indefinable haunting quality (call it psychic resonance) that marks out the best of all works of cinema - no matter the budget or the filmmaker's original intentions. If it passes muster in Stevie world it goes in the collection.

God, this is going to be fun!!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.11.31.230
Posted on Sunday, September 12, 2021 - 12:49 am:   

Poor Stevie. He didn't so much post as wallpaper this place. But god, the age of these films now... already...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.216.18.123
Posted on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - 05:03 am:   

Poor Stevie nothing lol. You should see the white I’m talking on Facebook now. Get with the in crowd, Tony, me old mucker.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.216.18.123
Posted on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - 05:06 am:   

Shite… bloody spellchecker!

I don’t miss that one bit I can tell you.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.11.31.230
Posted on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - 07:32 am:   

No... I hate fb. No talk on there like there ever was on here. I'm actually trying to leave social media at the minute - i feel i have my life back.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.180.70.140
Posted on Saturday, September 18, 2021 - 05:09 pm:   

Hi.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.11.31.13
Posted on Monday, October 11, 2021 - 01:40 am:   

You made me scroll down for approximately FOUR MINUTES for "Hi"?!? :-(
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.180.70.140
Posted on Monday, October 11, 2021 - 02:46 am:   

Ha! You made me scroll down for four minutes, too!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.11.31.13
Posted on Monday, October 11, 2021 - 09:15 am:   

Half a second longer, surely.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.11.31.13
Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - 01:10 pm:   

One person left alive is not alive, is he?

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