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Post by Iron Rich on Apr 11, 2009 21:22:59 GMT -5
I want in on an enhanced Suspiria viewing please. Next Saturday?
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Post by Miss Dee on Apr 11, 2009 21:28:58 GMT -5
I want in on an enhanced Suspiria viewing please. Next Saturday? That might work.
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Post by tenebrae99 on Apr 12, 2009 20:49:47 GMT -5
Got a couple brief write-ups:
Phantasm II
Still pretty good. This is where Reggie becomes more involved in, um, whatever's going on, and we get introduced to the idea of tracking The Tall Man through small towns across the US (which is a really ingenious world-domination plot if you think about it). New souped-up spheres and a cool subplot involving a priest throwing a wrench into the big spooky guy's plans. On the downside, there's a couple moments where The Tall Man begins to veer into later-series Freddy wisecracks, but they're far and few between.
Prison Renny Harlin's debut, early Viggo Mortensen role, and one of the last (if not the last) movies before Empire became Full Moon. Felons are shepherded into a rundown prison to renovate it and eventually stay in it. In the course of remodelling, they unleash a vengeful spirit. Fun 'n frolic follows.
Actually, this is a pretty good ghost story that mixes '80s gore moments and style with atmosphere. Great acting, and for the most of the movie, it's really engaging stuff. Towards the end, though, things slide a bit. The ghost apparently leaves the prison to get the lone female cast member involved, a reincarnation subplot disappears, and the ending feels more like money ran out than a satisfying conclusion. Still, track this one down (for now, you'll have to go with a bootleg). Definitely worth it.
Last House on the Left (original) Still haven't seen the remake, so no, this won't be a comparison thing. It's still a great movie, but man, this time around I can see the creaks. The stuff with the cops is just painful and takes up wayyyy too much of the movie. Still, the brutality is effective, and the fact that the killers are sometimes as likeable as the innocents adds to the punch. Oh, and "Road Leads to Nowhere" still kicks ass. The print at the Oaks was quite nice, although the closing credits were missing text (making the freeze on the cast members kinda odd at the end).
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Post by Miss Dee on Apr 13, 2009 19:26:23 GMT -5
28 Days Later - 7/10
I'm kind of meh about this one. Maybe I'm just zombied out.
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Post by Iron Rich on Apr 13, 2009 19:31:47 GMT -5
28 Days Later - 7/10 I'm kind of meh about this one. Maybe I'm just zombied out. Lots of people are meh about this movie. 28 weeks later is a lot different.
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Post by Akasha on Apr 14, 2009 8:15:04 GMT -5
28 Days Later - 7/10 I'm kind of meh about this one. Maybe I'm just zombied out. No, it's that this movie is a piece of crap. Quiet boring crap.
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Post by Miss Dee on Apr 14, 2009 21:35:31 GMT -5
Should I bother with 28 Weeks Later?
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Post by tenebrae99 on Apr 14, 2009 21:48:27 GMT -5
Should I bother with 28 Weeks Later? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Trust me, just don't. For every clever, brilliant moment, there's one that is mindbendingly stupid. You will end up pulling your hair out.
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Post by Iron Rich on Apr 14, 2009 22:10:22 GMT -5
Should I bother with 28 Weeks Later? Yes. Don't listen to Tenebrae. You need to watch this to continue developing your Zombie movie opinions. You are a zombie newbie and need to watch the good and bad.
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Post by Akasha on Apr 15, 2009 8:13:26 GMT -5
Should I bother with 28 Weeks Later? Yes it isn't nearly as boring. I think it is better than the first one. It isn't good but better.
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Post by tenebrae99 on Apr 15, 2009 15:30:52 GMT -5
Don't Go in the Woods...Alone!
I think that's the title. It's what's on the Netflix sleeve. But the credits don't have a title card. The cast and crew are listed, but unless I blinked and missed it, they don't even show the title.
Which might sound like a sign of what to expect...but it's not, because the ineptitude on display here is so huge that it's amazing. Cast members are brought in only to be bumped off two seconds later. There's a bumbling sheriff/deputy duo that makes the Last House guys look like William Petersen. And plot? Fuggedaboutit! They don't even bother.
It is a masterpiece of crap.
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Post by tenebrae99 on Apr 20, 2009 20:46:05 GMT -5
Cat in the Brain
Lucio Fulci gets in front of the camera as himself. Except this version of himself is going mad with hallucinations of violence from his movies (and, according to the liner notes in the DVD, other people's movies too). Oh, and at the same time, people are dying in insanely gory ways around ol' Lucio. Has the director finally snapped? Or is there another force at work? Unfortunately, if you've ever seen the trailer, you know the answer.
Basically, it's a grindhouse 8 1/2. Fulci gets a lot of fun out of both self-references -- the nod to The Beyond is awesome -- and even self-ridicule. Ever gotten a chuckle over his zooming into his actors' eyes? So does Lucio. And of course, there's buckets of splatter left and right so as to avoid getting all high-falutin' and stuff.
The ending's a bit of a letdown, only because after some of the craziness that takes place, you just hope that the conclusion is gonna be bugshit lunacy...and it's not. But that aside, it's clever, interesting, and a whole lotta sick fun.
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Post by Miss Dee on Apr 25, 2009 9:53:35 GMT -5
Mother of Tears - 6/10
As much as I love Argento, I have to say meh about this. An ancient urn is opened, setting up the return of Mater Lacrimarum to power and the new age of witches. Most of the movie is Asia Argento running away from some punk chicks who are supposed to be witches without a lot of explanation about how they are being called to Rome, who is doing the killing, etc. Lots of boobs, lots of gore, some pretty gross stuff, actually. Also much darker than most Argento films so it was hard to make out what was happening onscreen sometimes. Meh.
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Post by saucefox on Apr 25, 2009 9:58:44 GMT -5
the funhouse. (1981) i totally saw this as a kid and i was transfixed again. it's all creepy darkride goodness with none of the ohfuckgetmeoutofhere. two couples decide they'll spend the night in a funhouse, witness a killing by a fucked up dude who works the funhouse and then spend the rest of the movie getting killed by the fucked up dude and his dad. some of the dialogue was total TCM between leatherface & his dad. interesting. but i was in it for the automata.
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Post by tenebrae99 on Apr 26, 2009 11:44:19 GMT -5
Bad Dreams
Okay, stop me if you've heard this one: a long-dead burned killer stalks a group of people in psychotherapy...
Yeah, on the surface, Bad Dreams is an Elm Street ripoff. It even has Jennifer Rubin, aka Taryn from Elm St 3 (the "Let's get high" victim who don't keep track of character names). And there is the rubber-reality thing going on, too. But calling Bad Dreams a Freddy clone is like saying Goodfellas ripped off The Godfather.
In this case, our heroine is the former member of a cult who refuses to take part in a final mass suicide via burning. She ends up in a coma and wakes up 13 years later in a mental hospital. And in the midst of having to deal with group therapy, she keeps seeing cult leader Harris (Richard Lynch), who promises to take one of her new friends at a time until she kills herself.
This is one of those movies that just impressed the hell outta me. I rented it from Netflix as part of my ongoing mission to catch up with every bad '80s slasher and was surprised to find a clever and pretty gory little thriller. The group are not portrayed the way the mentally insane usually are; they're not just eccentrics but people with genuine ticks and outbursts. Thankfully, the cast nails this, especially Dean Cameron as a cutter and Susan Ruttan (yeah, from LA Law) as an ex-reporter recovering from a breakdown.
There's also a nifty twist to the whole thing, but just make sure that you pay close attention early on or you'll miss the main explanation. I actually had to go back to an early scene and rewatch it. The explanation's still a bit fuzzy, but it works.
The DVD also has an alternate ending that's much better except for the very cheesy final shot.
Give this one a look.
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