Horror DVDs... finds, bargains, etc. Log Out | Topics | Search
Moderators | Edit Profile

RAMSEY CAMPBELL » Discussion » Horror DVDs... finds, bargains, etc. « Previous Next »

Author Message
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, December 03, 2010 - 12:47 pm:   

I thought this would be a useful thread for posting all kind of Horror DVD related stuff. Like what shock finds for £1 in Poundland are available, Amazon or HMV deals, etc. - and spontaneous thoughts on the films themselves.

Last night I picked up 2 HMV bargains:

'Torso' (1973) by Sergio Martino for a fiver - never seen it (so no spoilers please) but I know the film's reputation and I just love Italian giallos of the period. This is the "fully uncut" Shameless edition in the gaudy yellow packaging. I see it stars Suzy Kendall! I've seen two Martino films; the fantastic spaghetti western 'Mannaja' & the rip-roaring jungle adventure 'Mountain Of The Cannibal God' - so he has a good pedigree in my book.

'The Ninth Gate' (1999) by Roman Polanski for £3 - I was very impressed with this when I saw it in the cinema and have been craving a rewatch ever since, to see if I read it right. An excellently mounted and pleasingly subtle satanic horror-mystery that was the first sign (imo) of Polanski's late period revival. I reckon it must have been a big influence on John Carpenter's marvellous return to form with 'Cigarette Burns'.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.141.30.22
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 08:20 pm:   

'Dead Snow' -£5 and 'The Orphanage' -£3 in HMV.

The Orphanage was a wonderful little story which brought a tear to my eye. Whilst Dead Snow was a clever variation on the 'cabin in the wilderness' theme which started off as straight horror and ended up firmly in 'Evil Dead 2' comedy horror territory. It would have worked as a 100% serious horror too imo if the obvious slaptick gore and comedy script had been kept to a minimum. I still loved it and was laughing my head off in parts.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 01:06 pm:   

I made it back from Leeds (eventually) after seeing another magnificent home win at Elland Road. That man Becchio is a star! I've watched him play twice and seen him score 5 goals, every one a corker.

But sadly didn't get to see 'Machete' as the only showing in the city was at 11.30, by which stage we had lost the ability to focus and needed to head home.

Not much time for shopping but did find these, in a 3-for-£5 deal:

'Frankenstein Created Woman' (1967) by Terence Fisher - another entertaining, and quite original, entry in Hammer's Frankenstein series that has echoes of 'Dr Jekyll And Sister Hyde' with the theme of an executed man's mind transplanted into the body of a beautiful young woman and using her feminine charms to seduce and kill those responsible for his death.

'The Uncanny' (1978) by Denis Héroux - Canadian late entry in the portmanteau cycle with a killer cast; Cushing, Pleasance, Milland, Culver, etc. I haven't seen this in maybe 30 years and remember very little about it, apart from the "evil cats" theme.

'Planet Terror' (2007) by Robert Rodriguez - which kind of made up for not seeing his latest. An inspired and ridiculously funny all-star spoof of low budget, guts 'n' sex, video nasty horror that belongs more in the "flesh-eating infected mutants" category than another zombie piss-take. 'C.H.U.D.' (1984) is the cult classic it most reminded me of.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.55
Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 01:57 pm:   

Just picked upp (in the three for two in waterstones) Hungry hearts by some geezer called Gary MacMahon, Stronghold by Paul Finch and Flu by some guy whose name I can't remember. three pretty good sounding zombie novels.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.55
Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 01:59 pm:   

Zed's was the cheapest so it was the free one.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 02:09 pm:   

That's me: cheap as chips.

Hope you enjoy it, fella. Wayne Simmons wrote FLU; he's a mate of mine. Good bloke, and his book's meant to be good, too (I have it, but haven't yet read it).

Btw, did that DVD arrive? The Exterminator? Have you watched it yet?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.55
Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 03:16 pm:   

Yes it did, on me birthday. I did post here to say thanx.

No I've not got round to watching it yet though...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.17.252.126
Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 - 06:20 am:   

Three recent Brit horrors for £3 each in Oxfam:

'Doomsday' (2008) by Neil Marshall - I loved this and couldn't believe the slating it got from the critics. Seriously demented, full-on, blood 'n' guts, post-apocalyptic, cannibal & killer virus mayhem at its very best! The man is a wonder and the nearest thing we have to a modern day John Carpenter.

'Eden Lake' (2008) by James Watkins - haven't seen it but the reviews make it sound like a quality Brit vesion of 'Them', so I've high hopes...

'Triangle' (2009) by Christopher Smith - I was underwhlemed by this in the cinema, finding it noisy and confusing, but will give it another go as the surreal premise certainly warrants a rewatch and parts of it did stick in my mind. Perhaps a grower?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 24, 2011 - 04:27 pm:   

It wasn't a dream, Caroline, and it's available on DVD:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004OQJSHM/ref=s9_newr_gw_ir05?pf_rd_m=A3P5RO KL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=16QGWYZ23GR4EAZYWK69&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=46712 8533&pf_rd_i=468294
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 24, 2011 - 04:29 pm:   

I've just realised I haven't bought a horror DVD since those last 3 back in December!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.182.17.186
Posted on Friday, June 24, 2011 - 08:28 pm:   

Hammer's 'Taste of Fear' and 'Village/Children of the Damned' double box set all for a tenner in local 'Head' store.
Had to put back the 'Vampire Lovers'/'Lust for a Vampire' double pack lest i went over budget. It was a struggle...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2011 - 11:52 am:   

Due some backpay on Tue and off the first two weeks in July, Sean. So a DVD blitz is in the offing!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.199.129
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 01:25 am:   

>>It wasn't a dream, Caroline, and it's available on DVD:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004OQJSHM/ref=s9_newr_gw_ir05?pf_rd_m=A3P5RO KL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=16QGWYZ23GR4EAZYWK69&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=46712 8533&pf_rd_i=468294 <<

Oh wow, thanks Stevie - I might just treat myself ...

I can't believe that, when you look at that on Amazon - the bit where they say "other customers bought this alongside this one" - that no-one seems to have bought it along with "Dead of Night". Seems like the perfect pairing to me!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 02:53 am:   

I see 'The Clairvoyant' is now also available on DVD! That's one of those old supernatural chillers I've always heard praised and long wanted to see. One of Claude Rains' greatest roles by all accounts.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.28.176.14
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 09:31 am:   

Got three dvds for a fiver from 'That's Entertainment' the other day with the three dvds in question being 'B.T.K.', 'The Host' and 'The Stendahl Syndrome'. To be honest 'B.T.K.' is worthless dreck, badly acted and directed to the nth degree whereas 'The Host' is a Korean horror film which barely engaged me at any point and possesses that weird kind of humour that occasionally pervades asian cinema. Have yet to see 'The Stendahl Syndrome' yet but I have a feeling it'll prove to be the best of the three. Not Argento's best if the reviews are to be believed but theres usually something of genius to be seen in all his works.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 11:48 am:   

'The Stendahl Syndrome' is one of Argento's most punishing and undervalued works, imo, and, yes, the pick of the three. He really goes for the jugular with this one. Its visceral portrayal of a sex killer - and the psychological damage he causes to those set to catch him - marked a step away from the relative subtleties of his giallo fare. Asia Argento is stunning in it!

But 'The Host' isn't far behind and, for me, is a gloriously entertaining mixture of old fashioned "giant monster" horror, dysfunctional family drama and biting satire (har har). One of the finest genre pictures to come out of Asia during the recent boom years imho.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 02:07 pm:   

I watched 'The Stendahl Syndrome' a few weks ago and thought it was terrible.

'The Host' is briliant, though - I've seen it a few times now, and enjoy it more with each viewing.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.25.107.101
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 03:27 pm:   

Finished watching 'Stendahl' about an hour ago and I think the critics have got it right on this occasion. A good idea at heart that somehow failed to gel into a watchable whole, I couldn't wait for it to end. And the less said about the crappy CGI and the animatronic fish (I think thats what it was) the better. I do find it sad how much Dario Argento's career seems to have continued stumbling after 'Tenebrae'; aside from 'Opera' and 'Sleepless' ( although the former has an awful ending and the latter can and should only be watched with english subtitles) I find pretty much everything else after he's made '82 pretty crap. I do find it funny too how Argento's career in part mimics John Carpenters; both started on a high in the '70's, both continued to have near continuous hits one after the other and then after '82 (when both Argento's 'Tenebrae' and Carpenter's 'The Thing' were released), both their careers become patchy to say the least.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.153.144.61
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 03:43 pm:   

I have Stendhal syndrome for real - a dread of big scary paintings. It's awful - I have to be dragged quivering through some galleries.
After recently watching The Thing and The Fog and being disappointed by them this time I feel Carpenter's career has for me grown even more patchy. :-(
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 04:35 pm:   

Some of those gigantic canvases in the National Gallery terrify me rigid, Tony. I can't stand in front of them without an attack of vertigo. It feels like the painting is going to fall on top of me. They are truly monstrous artefacts imo.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 04:37 pm:   

I haven't seen 'The Stendahl Syndrome' in about 10 years but remember being seriously impressed and disturbed by it. Must get the DVD if it's that cheap these days.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 157.203.255.1
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 - 05:57 pm:   

You can have mine if you want, I don't see myself watching it again anytime soon.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - 03:24 pm:   

My brother-in-law drives a train, CJ, and thankfully has yet to go through that particular rite of passage. He has had training in what to be prepared for though...

I have always considered suicide by chucking oneself in front of a vehicle, driven by another human being, to be the most selfish of all the inevitably selfish methods of doing away with oneself.

You have my deepest sympathy.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 157.203.255.1
Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - 06:58 pm:   

Yeah, and you should see what a mess it makes of the lineside equipment too. I think the worst example I've seen so far was at South Kirby junction, someway north of Doncaster, around ten years ago. The forensic photographers on site let us look at the separate pieces of the individual, starting with a totally severed hand (reminded of 'Thing' out of 'The Addams family) and working upto a torso completely bereft of legs, arms or even innards. I do recall the chest looked rather like a spine the way that it was smashed along the middle and then pushed up against the flesh in a perfectly straight line. However the most disturbing part of the whole experience was the head which, miracuously, was still attached somehow. The eyes were gone, the teeth too but yet all three vacated orifices stared back up at me from an upside-down position as though it were still in the midst of a cry long since smashed out of it. Of course much later there was the time I actually went and found a dead body at Castleford Station but thats quite another story.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 12:55 am:   

That's dreadful, man. Nightmate material or what.

Tommy, my bro-in-law, has hit a number of cows on the line and described how they explode showering the cab in innards. I was once almost hit by a train while stupidly playing on the tracks as a young kid - actually I was being chased by a local bully at the time - and only the blast of the horn behind me saved my life. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I've never forgotten it and I'm sure must have given the driver the fright of his life.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.25.110.191
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 09:18 am:   

Its funny you should mention cows as I do remember an incident that involved a horse being struck on the line and soon after, various rail workers coming on the scene to remove the various body parts. In the process, one of them decided it would be a good idea and a great wheeze in general to walk alongside the full length of a train stood at a signal nearby with the horses head stuck under his arm. How many children had their fragile little minds warped for good on that particular day I wonder? ( I have to be honest though, I did find it more than a bit funny at the time!). In reference to what you said in an earlier post Stevie, whilst I would agree that suicide in this particular manner is selfish, I feel that the very act of throwing oneself in front of a train is a terrifying prospect in itself, and takes some level of nerve to do. Of course, overpowering depression would be (and usually is) a much stronger incentive in its doing but even so, speaking personally, I'd have to be pretty super mega depressed myself to even contemplate planning such an demise. Sure it might be quick but that awful moment and knowledge of whats about to happen is too terrible to even contemplate.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 09:50 am:   

*HORRIBLE DESCRIPTIONS OF REAL THINGS WARNING*
Anyone see that film The Bridge, about the suicides off the Golden Gate bridge? What horrified me was the fact that there had been some survivors who'd said they'd changed their minds about dying halfway down. It's just imaginable that more changed their minds and never got the second chance. I dunno - maybe they should make a suicide simulation machine, something that makes people see what it would be like to fall off a building or something, make them think.
I remember walking one evening with some friends at college. It was getting dark and we walked down some tracks to a graveyard. Suddenly we saw a train coming along the track, right near us - we got out of the way just in time too. We had not even heard it.
A few years ago I went sort of nuts and started trawling the net for real horror images. Murdered women at crimes scenes, one with her guts pulled out in a string and fed into her vagina (a dull old polaroid); a suicide sitting in a sunny car, his head gone above the jaw, a pretty blonde girl frozen in a grimace under a truck wheel, her head half popped. Once I even found a bunch of pictures of this naked woman playing with her dead husband's body, his head and dick resting on a seat (he boyfriend took the pics). She and her boyfriend had just killed him (he was violent apparently) and had taken the pictures to celebrate. I don't know how thorough the net has been in cleaning these pictures up but I've not seen them since, these pictures. I walked round in a grubby mental fog for months after these, and had to stop in the end - they were making me snappy and miserable.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 02:12 pm:   

Ulf - just went looking. You can still find some of these horrible things on 'LiveLeaks'.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.25.123.220
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 02:39 pm:   

I went through a rather weird phase of looking at the 'Twilight Zone' movie footage of Vic Morrow's death where he and two young children were decapitated by a helicopter rotor blade. At the time I couldn't honestly have told you why I did this but later on, I realised that everytime I watched the footage, I was foolishly hoping that the rotor blade would miss them and they'd all be spared. If only the power of hope worked that way.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 02:52 pm:   

Yes - I visited these sites for uplift (I am still alive/stop complaining!), and oddly to mourn that people died. It's odd but it never dawned on me properly until I saw all these ordinary dead people, their faces gone or whatever but wearing cheerful sweaters, that people died. And knowing death might be painful sort of makes you brace yourself, take care in life.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 04:43 pm:   

Sorry, you guys, but I could not make the conscious choice to go searching for real life images of that nature. Why invite any more horror into one's life than is already faced day-to-day. The only dead bodies I have seen in my life were all laid out in coffins and the most traumatic event I ever witnessed was the flattening of a cat caught running across the road (which depressed me for days).

Strangely, though, I have found myself to be good in emergencies and have no trouble with the sight of blood or ghastly wounds. My concern for the person/animal suffering takes over any feelings of queasiness. Only afteward the shock sets in. Having said that if I come across a crowd, ambulance and police around a traffic accident I make a conscious choice not to look and walk quickly on by - someone else is already dealing with it and I don't want to see anything awful that I don't have to see.

Maybe I'm the weird one?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 05:00 pm:   

No - you're right. At odds with my having trawled these sites in life I'm the most squeamish person you could meet. And I HATE medical dramas. BTW I don't go looking for gore anymore - it was just a phase.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 05:02 pm:   

And I hate the idea of any animal dying, and hate pigeons or cats or dogs getting even near any cars or whatever.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.145.193
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 06:36 pm:   

"I have always considered suicide by chucking oneself in front of a vehicle, driven by another human being, to be the most selfish of all the inevitably selfish methods of doing away with oneself."

But Stephen, you said a couple of days ago that people shouldn't be held accountable for the harm they cause to others actions when reacting and not in a rational state of mind. I agree. I think being so tortured and that one is driven to suicide counts as a protracted version of that mental state. Really, I think that calling someone in such a state "selfish" is unfair.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.145.193
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 06:38 pm:   

Don't watch ROMANCING THE STONE, Tony. A chicken clearly gets run over when a jeep enters a village. It's a horrible accident preserved in a family film.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.182.20.25
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 06:46 pm:   

Stevie, would you recommend the 'Harsh Realm' box set? Seen it in HMV for £4 !
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.199.129
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 07:00 pm:   

Jeeze, guys - can we change topic back to horror in FICTION please? If I'd wanted to read graphic descriptions of death I'd be on the Shaun Hutson Message Board, not the Ramsey Campbell one!

Perhaps a new thread for Horror DVDs would be a good idea? I'm afraid I'm too sensitive/squeamish to come back to this one.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.173.188
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 07:04 pm:   

Yes, I should have put a warning on my paragraph about the chicken.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.118.73.217
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 07:09 pm:   

An old schoolmate jumped in front of a train and survived, probably because he did it in a railway station and the train wasn't going full throttle. I believe he lost a small bit of one of his feet, but that is all. This happened like thirty years ago and he's still unhinged by the experience - terribly so: when one crosses his path he desperately tries to hide behind the trees or whatever. His sister once told me her brother accidentally overheard some fellow pupils talking about him in the most vile and denigrating way, a shattering experience that did him in.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 157.203.255.2
Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 10:37 pm:   

With regards to Carolinecs response, this thread shifted organically onto this particular subject matter and will, I should imagine, peter out in its own good time. No reason not to talk about it until then though. And whats wrong with talking about a bit of blood and gore every so often? I can't say it really bothers me personally but then I have seen Carpenter's 'The Thing' more times than I care to remember.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 02:32 am:   

That's not real blood and gore, man. That's not real lives destroyed. For all my love of explicit "make believe" horror, I'm with Caroline.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 03:04 am:   

Proto, no harm, but how can one possibly equate the selfishness of survival with the the selfishness of "fuck the rest, cos I'm not here to mop up the pieces" destruction?

Yes, these people are sick at heart and in their souls. But they also blame the rest of the world for their "misfortune" and that's the real reason why, when faced with leaping in front of that bus or that train or that car, they give not one second's thought to the poor innocent schmuck who happens to be driving it!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 09:32 am:   

Caroline - I'm sorry - I forgot you were there. :-(
As explanation I was sort of trying to get across some of my feelings about some of the things that existed out there; it just felt like 'You won't believe what I saw' might not have been enough.
(btw you won't believe what I saw with a quick search yesterday (actually, that probably DOES have the same effect!))

Stevie; depression makes you think everyone will be glad to see the back of you. A train driver won't be bothered about you're dying. I've been in that frame of mind a couple of times and believe me, you feel you'd be doing the world a favour. Sometimes you just feel like you're a such bad, worthless person it's the only option for you and everyone else.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 09:35 am:   

Proto - that chicken scene stopped me quite enjoying that film.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.25.143.153
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 10:30 am:   

Stevie I'm aware that 'The Thing' isn't real blood and gore; its merely the end results of the excellent make-up of make-up artist Rob Bottin. Having seen the end results of real death on the line, I am fully cognizant of the difference. However in the interests of this thread I shall put any further conversation on the matter to bed now.
Back to the original thrust of the thread then I picked up a dvd copy of Kubrick's 'The Shining' the other day from Oxfam for about three quid expecting great things of it. Boy was I ever wrong. Two plus hours of mind-numbing tedium watching an already evil-looking Nicholson just switch to being evil without any prolonged build-up to it and Shelley Duvall acting an annoying wet fish right from the start. To be fair, the whole thing looks gorgeous but this kind of film needs to be more than that. I never felt creeped out in any way like a 'Blair Witch' or a 'Grudge' might nor did I really feel any kind of underlying tension to it. In my eyes it is a glossy looking failure with totally miscast lead actors and merely reinforces my own believe that Kubrick is a wildly over-rated directer.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 10:56 am:   

CJ - me and my lads watched this on our projector (MASSIVE, the size of our wall, crystal clear) the other month and we all decided it was one of the best projected things we've watched. It shouldn't make any difference seeing it so big but, boy, it does. Having that sinister world eat you up, going outside your eye's periphery (and in surround sound), is just amazing.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.92.119
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 11:19 am:   

Steve,

"Yes, these people are sick at heart and in their souls. But they also blame the rest of the world for their misfortune"

Suicides blame the rest of the world for their misfortune? That's an extraordinary statement.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 11:30 am:   

Suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness. The ultimate "fuck you" to what is perceived as an uncaring world.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 11:41 am:   

Stevie, your lack of empathy or understanding is staggering. The couple of people I knew who ended their own lives weren't doing it as a fuck-you or to be selfish. To them, it was simply an act of utter desperation.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.25.124.64
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 12:35 pm:   

Nice one Tony that sounds the way that all films should be watched! We'll just have to agree to disagree on 'The Shining' though. To be honest, it isn't the first such renowned horror film thats underwhelmed me. Many others spring to mind; 'The Devil's Backbone', 'The Orphanage', 'The Others', 'The Haunting'( the Robert wise original) et cetera. Far too dull for my liking and just not scary or unsettling. It must just be the way I'm made I suppose. The kind of horror that gets me needs to be a little more visceral; not overly so particularly, but just enough to convey the threat of physical harm. To paraphrase the Doctor Who writer Eric Saward 'I don't think violence should be dwelled, or should be gratuitous but when you're shown it, you should see that it hurts'.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.199.129
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 12:49 pm:   

>>Caroline - I'm sorry - I forgot you were there. :-( <<

Don't worry, Tony - I forget I'm here some days too.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 12:49 pm:   

Same back at ya. We'll have to agree to disagree, Zed. I've been to the brink myself - I'm sure most of us have at some stage - and the hardest thing is putting other people's feelings before your own and not taking the easy way out. Let's not talk about this anymore...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.25.124.64
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 12:57 pm:   

Ahem one of the bits in that latter sentence of mine should have read as 'dwelled upon' not 'dwelled'( I really ought to stop typing messages while doing full leg stretches at the same time)
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.204.184
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 03:18 pm:   

Steve, your experience is not everyone's experience. To assume it is might be considered... selfish?

But anyway... films and stuff. Remember that scary film that was scary?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 03:33 pm:   

cj - you just listed several of my all time favourites in your list of underwhelming films.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 157.203.255.1
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 06:43 pm:   

Sorry mate no offence intended. I think when it comes to those films I'm very much in the minority when it comes to disliking them. 'The Haunting's reputation totally baffles me though, particularly when it comes to the lead actress in it (I think her real name is Claire something or other) who just seems to flounce through the entire thing with this pitifully insecure air about her that just made want to slap her and say 'Oh, pull yourself together woman!'. I think the film is technically well-made and all as indeed all the rest of my 'underwhelming list' were, but sorry I just didn't like it. Still, it wouldn't be worth having conversations on such matters if we all liked the same thing now, would it? Personally, the most interesting threads on here are those that involve a little conflict of opinion (though not too much, of course, we don't want any blood spilt!)
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.150.142.70
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 07:44 pm:   

We do. It's a horror board after all...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.25.143.251
Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 08:04 pm:   

You know something mate you're right. However I'll have to work up to the more full-blooded stuff; in the meantime though - I'm gonna give you a paper cut!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.80.223
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 12:15 am:   

I agree with your list, CJ. The high-esteem in which THE HAUNTING is held baffles me too. THE ORPHANAGE is very conventional. THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE had an ending which was worse than the one I'd come up with while watching it - and I'm terrible at predicting endings. On the other hand, something like THE INNOCENTS is a masterpiece. Same bloodless sub-genre, but an entirely different result.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 12:51 pm:   

A sad thing happened to me last two times I watched The Haunting; I was bored, too.
The first time I saw it was the best and it must be judged that way; as a kid with my mum late on a Friday night, with adverts, with full-screen not wide. Intimate, new, terrifying and strange.
We hardly ever experience that sense of newness and unpredictability these days. It just isn't allowed.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.35.248.2
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 12:52 pm:   

Orphanage and Backbone bugged me too. But i like The Others very much.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Jonathan (Jonathan)
Username: Jonathan

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 91.143.178.131
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 01:20 pm:   

I bloody love The Haunting (the original that is); that and Psycho are the two horror films I can watch again and again.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 01:25 pm:   

Yep, The Haunting is brilliant. The Innocents is even better.

I also think The Shining is one of the best horror films ever made. The sense of another realm breaking through into our world is palpable in that film. I find it breathtaking.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Jonathan (Jonathan)
Username: Jonathan

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 91.143.178.131
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 02:00 pm:   

Haven't seen The Shining for years and years. Must re-watch. Wasn't King upset with it because they made the black character so marginal?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 02:11 pm:   

I rewatch it from time to time - it's unique. Cold and eerie and...spacious.

I read that King didn't like it because it basically removed the pulp horror elements (the topiary hedge, etc) from his story. I think you're right, though; Kubrick made the whole thing with Scatman Cruthers character a bit of a subplot and King didn't like that either.

Did you ever see the King-scripted TV remake? It was terrible, really bad.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.28.176.184
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 02:12 pm:   

Interesting thoughts all round I must say. Every so often I have to admit I'll read an opinion of a film that, although directly opposed to my own, nevertheless intrigues me enough to go back and try it again with a fresh perspective. Sadly though, having watched 'The Shining' again last night, I found it still does nothing whatever for me so any attempt at a third viewing would need some real convincing indeed. Simply beautiful to look at of course, like a moving shifting canvas, but for me at least nothing more than that. However, I'm always tickled by the fact that the chap Jack Nicholson meets in the washroom is an actor hailing from Kirkstall in Leeds, the late Philip Stone (I did, however, prefer him in 'A Clockwork Orange')
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 02:13 pm:   

I could be wrong - I've never seen anyone else mention this - but to me, Bergman's incredible film The Silence influenced Kubrick's The Shining in a big, big way. I personally like to think that Kubrick was attempting to fuse elements of King and Bergman, and he ended up creating something amazing.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 02:14 pm:   

Horses for courses, CJ. The Shining chimes with my tastes, but not with yours. Be boring if we all liked the same stuff.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

C_j_fenwick (C_j_fenwick)
Username: C_j_fenwick

Registered: 06-2011
Posted From: 2.28.176.184
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 02:35 pm:   

Exactly mate. For what its worth, I've just this minute ordered both 'Non Ho Sonno' and 'Tenebrae' off of Amazon for a good price. 'Non Ho Sonno' was a good film when I saw it last but was frustratinglyy compromised by some godawful dubbing so this time I've gone for the version with English subtitles. Although I already have 'Tenebrae', the new version released this year has a cartload of new extras I just have to have. 'Tenebrae' is easily one of my favourite Argentos (right up there with 'Profondo Rosso') and proves that back in the day, he really was an innovative filmmaker who had his finger right on the jugular of Giallo (or sometimes even in it). Makes me want to bang a bit of Goblin on now.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.26.95
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 02:43 pm:   

Zed, I've always thought the major cinematic influence on Kubrick's The Shining was Last Year in Marienbad. Never considered The Silence before, but I certainly see what you mean.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 02:51 pm:   

Ramsey, I only got to see Last Year in Marienbad about 3 years ago - long after I first saw Kubrick's film - but yes, I can definitely see the influence.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 193.113.57.163
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 05:17 pm:   

I Love Kubrick's 'The Shining'. It's the film version of this story as i imagine Ramsey would have written it.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 05:31 pm:   

There are scenes in the film that stand out as some of the creepiest moments on film IMO - the twin girls at the end of the corridor (somehow scarier when we see them alive than in the flash visions of their corpses) - the river of blood from the lift - room 216

It's a sublime film and the only Kubrick film I've ever really enjoyed watching.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Jonathan (Jonathan)
Username: Jonathan

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 91.143.178.131
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 05:55 pm:   

I'm generally a fan of Kubrick. Paths of Glory and Barry Lyndon were works of art. He also made the best of the Vietnam war films.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 07:19 pm:   

I'm with Jon - Kubrick was a master. Barry Lyndon is perhaps the single most beautifully photographed film I've ever seen.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.27.14.15
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 11:15 pm:   

I even love Eyes Wide Shut, the film of his a lot dislike.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.152.176.195
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 11:38 pm:   

"Eyes Wide Shut" is one of the very few films I like full stop. A masterpiece.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 11:46 pm:   

I even love Eyes Wide Shut, the film of his a lot dislike.

Me, too. Love it. It's an oddly creepy film - like a horror film completely lacking in horror. I'd love to have novelized it. Is there a novelization, incidentally?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.69.66
Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 - 11:54 pm:   

Of the Kubrick I've seen, I've only been disappointed by A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. How does BARRY LYNDON rate against THE DUELLISTS, I wonder?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.183.78.66
Posted on Saturday, July 02, 2011 - 12:44 am:   

I'd love to have novelized it. Is there a novelization, incidentally?

Don't think so - I believe it was based on a novel so guess it's less likely the book-of-the-film-of-the-book is out there.

Ah-ha - based on a book by Arthur Schnitzler - "Traumnovelle"...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.78.35.175
Posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2011 - 01:37 pm:   

Yes, indeed, Traumnovelle is the source. I once saw the opera "Reigen" based on a story of his about serial adultery.

Eyes Wide Shut, like several Kubrick films, gets better with age. I love the grainy film stock which gives the movie its dreamlike quality. And the wonderful lighting is remarkable as well. A subtle, adult film.
The one thing I didn't like was the end, it kind of fizzled out with Tom Cruise and Sydney Pollack discussing at a pool table. I understood that this scene took weeks to film up to Kubrick's standards. Even so I think it is not a very filmic end.

> How does BARRY LYNDON rate against THE DUELLISTS, I wonder?

Barry Lyndon is more a morality play. The photography in The Duellists was awesome, yet Barry Lyndon goes even farther in that respect. You probably know about SK using a lens designed for sattelites to be able to film with candle light. Some people think it offers form over content, I don't really agree, I like the story as well.
Interesting items (SPOILER WARNING):


- like in a book, things are sometimes foreshadowed by the narrative, as in "However, he would die poor and childless"
- a man to man boxing duel doesn't play out in Hollywood fashion, in fact more realistically one of the fighters is so much better than the other one that he beats the other one to a pulp without being hit once
- the only time that Barry shows kindness will be the downfall of him
- I thought that the last text on the screen -something like "Good or bad, now they are all the same" is quite bombastic.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2011 - 03:02 pm:   

Picked up two all-time horror classics for £2 each: 'Shivers' (1975) & 'Jeepers Creepers' (2001). That's the ball rolling again...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.78.35.175
Posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2011 - 03:56 pm:   

I thought that Jeepers Creepers started rather ok but went downhill. In contrast, while equally dumb, I thought that its sequel is quite entertaining.

Towards the future, I would prefer to only acquire dematerialised music and movies (download/streaming). All those cds and dvds take up too much space...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2011 - 04:01 pm:   

I love both films, Tom, but the first one is better constructed. The film actually improves upon a second viewing, as I remember finding the creature unconvincing the first time but terrifying second time round. The sequel builds on this brilliantly imo.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.157.19.243
Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2011 - 06:08 pm:   

Today I got Gone Baby Gone, Final Destination 2, Night Flier - a pound each (and a Tom Waits album, Rain Dogs, also a pound - odd as I'd just watched him in Dracula last night).
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.157.19.243
Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2011 - 06:10 pm:   

We projected both Jeepers Creepers this year on the projector and were absolutely blown away. Both suffer from wobbly ending syndrome but are superb until then.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2011 - 08:32 pm:   

Gone Baby Gone is fucking brilliant - but you'll probably hate it for some nebulous Tonyesque reason.

Rain Dogs is one of my favourite albums of all time - I even pinched the title.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 178.96.135.158
Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2011 - 12:47 am:   

Oi!
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.176.90.216
Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2011 - 12:53 am:   

Both endings of the 'Jeepers Creepers' films are sublime in my opinion, Tony. They set up delicious resonances that last far beyond the final credits.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.72.244
Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2011 - 02:09 am:   

GONE BABY GONE had a good sense of local colour and detail and some good performances, but the plot is preposterous. And it has to be VERY bad for me to care about a plot.

How'd you find Dracula on your home cinema, Tony?

I've just finished THE WALKING DEAD, season 1. It seems to be a programme about arguing in the woods. It's about nothing.

Pet hates:
- the wife who is "acting" - all eyes and tendons.
- The pouty cop.
- my No.1 irrational hatred is the old chap in the hat who does all his acting with his giant nostrils. He looks like Wes Craven. He tries do be twinkly and wise, but I want to kill him with a giant hammer.

I may have gone off topic into the area of homicide. I saw a book in my public library today called HOW TO KILL. At least, I hope I really saw it.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.24.10.65
Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2011 - 08:43 am:   

I've seen that – it's volume 3 of the Collins English Dictionary.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.183.78.66
Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2011 - 10:40 am:   

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2011 - 11:10 am:   

Proto - I didn't think the plot of Gone Baby Gone was any more preposterous than your usual modern crime film. I really enjoyed it.

my No.1 irrational hatred is the old chap in the hat who does all his acting with his giant nostrils. He looks like Wes Craven. He tries do be twinkly and wise, but I want to kill him with a giant hammer.

Bloody hell, that made me laugh. I know exactly what you mean, though. I like to call that actor Nozza-boy. His nostrils are possible the finest nostril character actors of their generation.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 149.254.56.11
Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2011 - 11:56 am:   

Prote - Drac was mostly absolutely amazing, but Hopkins grates and it does drag and lose its sense of invention towards the end. It's at it's best when it's playful. But yes, fantastic on big screen.
Poor nostril man - think he had little ammo to work with.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.152.207.12
Posted on Friday, July 08, 2011 - 01:52 am:   

I'm not mad!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Kill-definitive-history-assassin/dp/0099502461/ref=s r_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310082680&sr=8-1

The bad news, though, is that society is.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Friday, July 08, 2011 - 01:43 pm:   

Picked up 6 quality horror DVD bargains yesterday:

'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) by Roman Polanski [at long last] - £2.50
'Sisters' (1973) by Brian De Palma - £2.00
'Cat People' (1982) by Paul Schrader - £2.50
'Living Dead Girl' (1982) by Jean Rollin - £3.00
'The Fly' (1986) by David Cronenberg - £2.50
'Haute Tension' (2003) by Alexandre Aja [I hate the title 'Switchblade Romance'] - £2.50
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.181.143.126
Posted on Saturday, July 09, 2011 - 12:38 am:   

Bought the coffin Joe box set for 12 quid last week - 9 films in there so hopefully that should be a bargain.

Also bought Benjamin Button - one of the three Finchers I haven't seen yet (the others being the social Network and The Game) - for £3.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, July 09, 2011 - 01:39 am:   

That Coffin Joe set is astonishing. I bought it a couple of years ago and watched the films over succesive evenings. My melon was well and truly twisted.

Benjamin Button has its detractors, but I loved it. The most depressing film to come out of mainstream Hollywood in decades.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Saturday, July 09, 2011 - 03:51 am:   

This is fucking weird!!!!

I'm just back from town and what did I buy but the 'Coffin Joe' box set. We'll have to use this as an excuse to integrate our reviews of the films, man! I've only seen 'At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul' before, so this is a 9 movie extravaganza to be savoured!!

I'm a wee bit pissed...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, July 09, 2011 - 12:57 pm:   

I can also highly recommend Embodiment of Evil, the new Coffin Joe film. It's a trip.
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Saturday, July 09, 2011 - 02:59 pm:   

Weber, 'The Game' is intriguing but also frustratingly lacking in tension and 'Benjamin Button' is a schmaltzy fantasy of the most irritating kind but 'The Social Network' is one of his near perfect masterpieces, all imho. Never has any director exemplified the Good-Bad-Good-Bad dichotomy more glaringly than David Fincher. I do love him though...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message

Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.181.143.126
Posted on Saturday, July 09, 2011 - 03:09 pm:   

I've not seen a Fincher film yet that I've not liked - even Alien 3 when I could forgive the glaring plot holes

Add Your Message Here
Post:
Bold text Italics Underline Create a hyperlink Insert a clipart image

Username: Posting Information:
This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here.
Password:
Options: Enable HTML code in message
Automatically activate URLs in message
Action:

Topics | Last Day | Last Week | Tree View | Search | Help/Instructions | Program Credits Administration