What are you watching?

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Chernobyl Diaries - Not perfect by any stretch but I thought that this was reasonably well done. The locations make it more than the characters and I like the concept enough that maybe I was a bit predisposed to liking it before hand. Cool idea, well executed, worth seeing.

I drew the line at the bear. A creepy moment here and there but overall it didn't work for me. Good location though, as you say.

THREE SECRETS - 3 women wait to see if the the lone survivor of a plane crash is the baby one of them put up for adaption 5 years before. Very well done, surprisingly emotional drama with terrific leads from Patricia Neal, Ruth Roman, and Eleanor Parker; capably directed by Robert Wise. Neal in particular stands out as a career woman in an era dominated by men.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

A couple I've seen in the last week or so.

Night of the Demons 2: Saw it back in the day -not a huge fan of the first film though- and it's still meh. Biggest issue I have with it is that it starts in a great location, a highschool/church. Great, I can't wait to see the demons go after the students and faculty and raise some hell. But no. As soon as the mayhem starts they transition to the old house in the first film... Real smart. I would guess that whoever wrote the script or directed was a choir boy and didn't want to offend his Catholic beliefs. Either that or the location they were shooting at caught wind of what they were doing pretty quickly and they couldn't film gory shit there. Other than that it's just meh and no one is likable.

Night of the Demons 3: Again, just meh. And why did all three films have to take place at the same house? Be creative here, come on!

(The) Incubus: Really liked this one despite it slowing down a little too much in the 3rd act. But it's very well shot and well acted. Well edited and almost surreal in it's violence. It reminds me of Joe's widow being melted by acid in The Beyond, all the murders in incubus are shot like that. Very intentionally disorienting.

The Thing prequel: Again, meh. No one was likable. No one had any kind of personality. The lead was weak and not engaging -not comparing her to Kurt Russel, but even competent female action heroes like Ripley or Barbara in NOTLD 90- and it was basically a remake of the original. It followed the same beats and everything but did it worse.

Baron Blood: Well shot but it's Bava's most uninteresting film. Too bad.

The Red Monks: Part of the Lucio Fulci presents films and I believe there's four in total. Opens well and again it's well shot but it soon devolves to nothingness and cliche drama. Too bad, coulda' been a fun horror flick.

[bgart13 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bgart13]

CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN - still one of my favorite Hammers. The bd is just so frustrating - so close, yet so far from being a good release. A real shame, I hope WB sinks some cash into it for a US disc.

[Barry M Super Fiend Find all posts View Profile Close Barry M]

The Thing prequel: Again, meh. No one was likable. No one had any kind of personality. The lead was weak and not engaging -not comparing her to Ken Russel, but even competent female action heroes like Ripley or Barbara in NOTLD 90- and it was basically a remake of the original. It followed the same beats and everything but did it worse.

Yeah.

Ken Russell's THING woulda been something to see. Scored by Liszt-on-synth and The Who, set in the long frozen night of an inexplicably, unexplained glacial London, from the moment Glenda Jackson wakes up in that Soho doorway through the thematic transformations as the bodycount funereal dances spiral into the penultimate Bagatelle sans tonalité, Russell keeps the changes (and the tension) coming. Russell's directorial veronica as the glimpsed intellectual carrot was a last-minute necessity after Nacho Vidal stormed off the set, but he's great, bringing a real signature physicality to it, even if it is just a tossed-off bit part. At the end, when Jackson and Twiggy sit exhausted, staring and wondering as a Prophet-5 Mephisto Polka dances us into the night, the audience is left drained, limp, and shaken.

[Barry M Super Fiend Find all posts View Profile Close Barry M]

I've been cherrypicking THRILLER episodes:

Pigeons from Hell
The Grim Reaper
The Hungry Glass

Double-shot of Shatner. Can't believe I let this sit around unwatched. Probably going to regret the cherry-picking & cream-skimming, but these are so good I'm looking forward to even the average episodes.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

(The) Incubus: Really liked this one despite it slowing down a little too much in the 3rd act. But it's very well shot and well acted. Well edited and almost surreal in it's violence. It reminds me of Joe's widow being melted by acid in The Beyond, all the murders in incubus are shot like that. Very intentionally disorienting.

I dug out my old Elite disc and plan to watch this again in the next few days (after revisiting SUPERSTITION the other night, that still kicks ass). THE INCUBUS is amazingly sleazy and I love the ending. Actually pretty disturbing.

THE KILLER WORE GLOVES - Got a better copy of this a while back, it's still a very mediocre giallo. Totally wastes the great Bruno Corazzari (the Italian Klaus Kinski), he's in it for maybe 10 minutes at the begining and end. Convoluted story and a poor Giombini score though there are some decent murder sequences.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

I see what you did there Barry.

[Barry M Super Fiend Find all posts View Profile Close Barry M]

STOP EDITING THINGZ!!!

The original was more original.

[Apronikoff Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Apronikoff]

Been watching tons of stuff lately but haven't been posting about them. Watched the Buster Keaton shorts collection, a couple of Hammers, One-Armed Swordsman, Godzilla Returns, Image of a Bound Girl (a nice Nikkatsu title I'd love to see get an official release). But the movie I really want to talk about is:

THE BLOB (1988) - I don't understand why this doesn't have a bigger cult following. It's funny, fast-paced and has just ridiculously awesome practical effects. I never see this listed as one of the essential horrors of the 80's and it really should be, IMO.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Latest South Park was awesome skewering Blockbuster video!

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

THE BLOB (1988) - I don't understand why this doesn't have a bigger cult following. It's funny, fast-paced and has just ridiculously awesome practical effects. I never see this listed as one of the essential horrors of the 80's and it really should be, IMO.

Totally agree! I've loved this ever since I rented the vhs back in the late 80s. It's definitely among the best of the decade. I'd snatch up a BD in a heartbeat.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

I always dug The Blob remake. Nice nihilistic ending too.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Necropolis - A witch travels through time to 80s era NYC where she kills some people. An English chick and an Italian cop who has soft lips hook up. He tries to catch the witch before she kills more people but he's not very good at it. A big black dude is a priest and some guy who looks like a skinny Danzig dumps his poofy haired girlfriend to be with the witch lady. I dunno what the fuck was going on in this movie. It was kinda rad though.

[Horace Cordier Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Horace Cordier]

What are you watching?

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS Blu.

Looks damn good and is a lot of fun. Wish Dalton had done more - he's a first rate Bond. And the opening and closing stunt sequences are excellent.

[47lab Guest Find all posts View Profile Close 47lab]

THE RED SILK GAMBLER aka SCARLET CAMELLIA GAMBLER (Hichirimen Bakuto - Dir. Teruo Ishii, 1972)

Finally got around to re-watching this again on a clean looking remaster after having watched it a couple years ago on a poorly transferred fan subbed DVD. An utter shame that this film didn't do well at the box office and was scrapped after one movie instead of becoming a series like the Red Peony Gambler as was initially intended. It is very similar in tone to the aforementioned Red Peony movies but of course with Ishii at the helm; the exploitative elements are ramped up quite a bit. Sex + violence is at the heart of any 'pinky violence' flick and there is plenty of violent bloodletting swordplay as well as bondage scenes of nubile young women to satiate fans of the genre. Special mention must be made of Reiko Ike who appears in various states of undress in her supporting role as Bunta Sugawara's unrequited love interest. I was also captivated by the actress who plays the blind swordswoman, Omon -- I can't recall her name off hand but she is absolutely stunning & not only in terms of her physical appearance but her fight scene with the yakuza henchmen during a night time thunder storm is my personal favorite highlight of the entire movie. Very highly recommended!