What are you watching?

[f.ramses Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close f.ramses]

Rapiña - This really isn't a horror movie despite being in a set more or less sold as a horror set, it's barely a thriller and seems like more of a drama than anything to me but I found it really enjoyable despite my expectations. A plane crashes in a remote location and the one person who sees it happen doesn't report it so he can go and loot the wreckage but trying to hide what they have done once the plane is discovered proves a lot harder than they thought. It's not a very eventful movie and the characters in this are pretty stupid, often this is a recipe for disaster for me as far as movies go but this managed to keep me interested and not bore me. Lately I've been thinking about revisiting A Simple Plan and in some ways this is a similar movie.

Darker than Night - From the same set as Rapiña and an actual horror movie! ...too bad it's so boring. A young woman inherits a house but must care for the cat that lives there, she moves in with her friends, the cat dies, and the girls start getting killed off. The main problem with this one is that it takes so long for things to start happening but there's also the fact that this thing barely has an ending, it basically just ends.

Dr. Giggles - Every time I put this in it seems more stupid than I remembered it being but fortunately it's always fun. It's striking how silly some of the kills are, like the big band aid one, while some are pretty brutal, like the stomach pump one. A winner since the VHS days!

Smile - This movie definitely has some creepy moments that stay with you long after you see it, the movie definitely does that well and stands out in that regard, but sadly the movie is too damn long and boring for this to really matter; the ending was pretty meh too. I think this would have been a lot better if it was 20 or so minutes shorter.

The Rejuvenator - The cover of the old VHS used to always grab my attention at the video store but I always had a suspicion that the movie would be pretty underwhelming, decades later I was finally able to confirm this suspicion! It wasn't terrible and I didn't hate it but there also wasn't really anything I liked much about it.

[Cody Layne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cody Layne]

Day of the Dead Ultimate Edition: Spent the last couple of days going through this set, which has to be the best edition of this movie ever. It has the two commentaries from the Anchor Bay release and, having listened to the one with George Romero, Tom Savini, and such many, many years ago, this time I listened to the one with the effects guys, including Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, Everett Burrell, and Mike Deak, which was pretty fun. It also had that awesome documentary from the Scream Factory release, as well as an interview with Romero at the BIFF, a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff, the documentary from the Anchor Bay release (which I missed, since I no longer have that set), an hour-long interview with Joe Pilato, a 78-minute documentary on Night of the Living Dead (no mention of Day of the Dead, which was strange for this release), and a travelogue with Pilato going to conventions across Scotland and Ireland. The only thing it's missing is that audio interview with the late Richard Liberty that was on the Anchor Bay DVD; otherwise, it is basically complete.

[s.chivers Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close s.chivers]

Case of the Bloody Iris

Few things bring me as much joy on a Saturday night as a giallo from the golden era, and while this is certainly not of the top tier, it’s solid genre fare and endlessly re-watchable. It’s stylish, as evidenced by the famous artwork, has a memorable score from Bruno Nicolai and, of course, it has Edwige. Its shortcomings . . . I’m not sure how much sense it makes but don’t really care. I think the relative lack of flair around the murders hurts it more.

I actually had an Italian language VHS of this back in the nineties - it’s possible I still do. We watched the Celluloid Dreams 4k last night though, which looks great. There is quite a bit of hiss on the English soundtrack, which I don’t remember from previous digital incarnations . . . but I probably wouldn’t.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Case Of The Bloody Iris is absolutely top tier for me. Maybe my favourite. The pacingis not perfect and the comedy cops are a bit trying but it's so definitively giallo for me. And the photography is just gorgeous.

[s.chivers Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close s.chivers]

Case Of The Bloody Iris is absolutely top tier for me. Maybe my favourite. The pacingis not perfect and the comedy cops are a bit trying but it's so definitively giallo for me. And the photography is just gorgeous.

I had a great time with it and will doubtless dig out more gialli in the coming weeks. I upgraded some Martino gialli to blu ray a few years back but never got around to watching them, so maybe now is the time.

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

I also enjoyed The Case of the Bloody Iris although I saw it during a giallo binge and is a bit blurry in my memory.

Martino's gialli are terrific fun.

[s.chivers Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close s.chivers]

Twin Peaks

Following his death I was asked to name my favourite David Lynch film and responded that I would take the first season of Twin Peaks over any of them. Watching the pilot again last night reaffirmed that - it’s dreamy, seductive and captivating from the very first moments. I was also struck by how well acted it is, particularly by some of the younger members of the cast.

Full disclosure, I’m old enough to have watched this when it was first broadcast and revisiting it now - I think for the fourth time - was like stepping into the past. More broadly, it occurred to me that it’s a cornerstone of Gen X culture - if that makes any sense - as evocative of that time and sensibility as the early novels of Bret Easton Ellis, the early films of Tarantino and the alt rock of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and a handful of others.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

Twin Peaks

Following his death I was asked to name my favourite David Lynch film and responded that I would take the first season of Twin Peaks over any of them. Watching the pilot again last night reaffirmed that - it’s dreamy, seductive and captivating from the very first moments. I was also struck by how well acted it is, particularly by some of the younger members of the cast.

Full disclosure, I’m old enough to have watched this when it was first broadcast and revisiting it now - I think for the fourth time - was like stepping into the past. More broadly, it occurred to me that it’s a cornerstone of Gen X culture - if that makes any sense - as evocative of that time and sensibility as the early novels of Bret Easton Ellis, the early films of Tarantino and the alt rock of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and a handful of others.

Ha, yes I'm an ageing fart too. Watched the European version of the pilot the other night as well, just need to schedule in the other 40-odd hours! Fond memories of living in and around London in the nineties and watching Lynch films at the Prince Charles.

[s.chivers Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close s.chivers]

Ha, yes I'm an ageing fart too. Watched the European version of the pilot the other night as well, just need to schedule in the other 40-odd hours! Fond memories of living in and around London in the nineties and watching Lynch films at the Prince Charles.

We probably attended some of the same screenings, film fairs and the like.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

We probably attended some of the same screenings, film fairs and the like.

Used to do Camden a lot. Did you ever buy films from Trevor Barley? I used to go to his fortnightly Videotheques where he opened up his warehouse.

The Prince Charles is under threat now, bloody landlords. There isn't another cinema that comes close to it programming-wise.

[s.chivers Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close s.chivers]

Used to do Camden a lot. Did you ever buy films from Trevor Barley? I used to go to his fortnightly Videotheques where he opened up his warehouse.

The Prince Charles is under threat now, bloody landlords. There isn't another cinema that comes close to it programming-wise.

I did indeed, and I attended a couple of his Videotechques. I also remember film fairs in . . . Kings Cross? It’s a long time ago now, obviously.

[f.ramses Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close f.ramses]

The King of the Kongo – A CIA agent is sent to investigate lost gold, caravan robberies, and the now missing agent previously sent to do this. It says it’s a sound production but is really half sound and half silent, sometimes you can hear people and other times there are intertitles. The main draw was a younger Boris Karloff in a lead but also the restoration itself since it seems like an impressive effort. There is a decently long explanation of the flaws at the beginning that set expectations low and while you can notice some of what was done the presentation is pretty nice. Haven’t seen a serial since I was like 10 and it was about what I remember with it’s cliffhanger endings that change slightly at the beginning of the next episode, just like the Annie Wilkes character in Misery or that Hulu series rants about.

The Shining – Got some snow yesterday so I put this on as I often do. This time I did some scan of a well worn 35mm open matte print and while in some shots you can see how it was definitely not intended to be seen this way I overall really liked seeing it this way. The amount of times you saw things like equipment was shockingly low and the extra space really seemed to add to the atmosphere of an already great movie.

La Polizia Sta a Guardare – I found this to be pretty meh like these movies usually are, there just isn’t much action and they feel so long, but I had to get it to finally see because I like the soundtrack a lot. The new guy at the police station starts investigating a kidnapping ring and it all ends predictably, car chase and all.

[s.chivers Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close s.chivers]

Torso, selected from a shortlist with the aid of a web-based, random number generator.

I’ve always loved Martino’s gialli, albeit I would take Signora Wardh, All the Colours of the Dark and The Case of the Scorpion’s Tale over this one. That’s just personal preference though.

Watching it last night for the first time in a number of years, it really is a superbly executed thriller, largely devoid of the pacing problems and awkward comedy we often see in gialli from this period. In some respects it feels more like a slasher than a giallo, though it absolutely is the latter. Perhaps one does not exclude the other.

Highlights . . . the cinematography is great, the kill scene in the woods is among the best in the giallo canon and I like the conceit by which our final girl finds herself trapped in an isolated villla. The beautiful locations - I think this was shot in and around Perugia - also contribute greatly to the whole.

We watched the Italian ‘Carnal Violence’ cut courtesy of the Blue Underground disk. It looked pretty good to my eyes, with the exception of the aforementioned scene in the woods. I realise there is a 4k release and might pick that up somewhere down the line

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

I didn't know there were other cuts of Torso. I've only seen the version on the very old Anchor Bay DVD do I need to hunt down another or is that one enough?

[s.chivers Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close s.chivers]

I didn't know there were other cuts of Torso. I've only seen the version on the very old Anchor Bay DVD do I need to hunt down another or is that one enough?

There are definitely two versions on the Blue Underground blu ray but I think the differences are primarily to the credit sequence. I did notice some very obvious and pretty ropey gore inserts at the weekend but it’s been a hundred years since I watched the Anchor Bay disk, so perhaps they were there all along, I really don’t know. Whatever the differences may be, I think they’re minimal. The only reason I upgraded was for the improved picture quality. There are probably more extras on the later releases but obviously people attribute different value to that sort of thing.