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Post by lemming13 on Oct 29, 2011 13:48:35 GMT
Bum. I was really holding my breath on that one, Doc, hoping for it to be judged a classic so I could rush out and buy it. I might anyway, but you make me sad... Still, I have my Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories to comfort me, and Ramsey's Dark Companions, so I'll survive.
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Post by lemming13 on Oct 29, 2011 13:46:20 GMT
I actually liked Haunted Hill, 13 Ghosts and Ghost Ship, but then I'm a sucker for ingeniously nasty deaths (Saw, on the other hand, bores me silly because it's not ingenious, it's just Heath-Robinson with sadism). And Return to Haunted Hill on blu ray has an amusing feature where you can change the outcome by selecting different options, which as I got it for £4 makes it reasonable value for entertainment. Personally I think they do all right, especially given that the originals are in fact (let's be honest here) trash. Though I do love the dialogue between the loving Lorens in the original of Haunted Hill. I think Castle would have been well pleased with the remakes of his stuff. The remake of Wizard of Gore seriously outshines Herschel Gordon Lewis' original, too. On the other hand I just endured an 'original' piece called Altitude which demonstrates exactly what you can do with lots of cgi and a writer without an ounce of talent.
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Post by lemming13 on Oct 29, 2011 13:32:12 GMT
I am well pleased this weekend - just picked up several Mammoth collections for the Kindle at a bargain price. Haining's Modern Ghost Stories, Ian Watson's Alternate Histories, lots of Stephen Jones' Best New Horror collections and some tasty smut as well. Thank you Mammoth Books!
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Post by lemming13 on Oct 19, 2011 12:02:03 GMT
Well, I finally got my Quatermass blu-ray (I only went blu because I had a PS3 and it came with the turf, but there is a distinct improvement - with the good transfers, anyway). And it was a bit of a hit and miss. The restoration is fantastic, vibrant colour and crisp sound that gives those eerie Martian noises real bite. On the down side, the strings are now clearly visible, and the Martian devil's eyes look like a googly-eye toy. Plus the model work now shows up poorly. On the extras, the World of Hammer episode was a huge letdown because you could barely hear the narration, and it was completely drowned by music from the clips at several points. On the up side, the interviews with Mark Gatiss, Joe Dante, Julian Glover (the only surviving leading player, I do believe), Kneale's widow Judith Kerr, Marcus Hearn and Kim Newman are all lengthy and interesting - even if the captioning on the Glover one calls his character Col Green, not Breen. And down again whenever I look at the abysmal cover art, and up with the menu, which uses the Hammer film quad and the end title music. Leaving me somewhat confused, but still delighted to see the thing in really glorious technicolour at last. Shame about the strings...
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Post by lemming13 on Oct 12, 2011 11:47:19 GMT
I always like to share classic art when I come across it, dem; or indeed gratuitous rudeness and gore.
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Post by lemming13 on Oct 10, 2011 14:06:09 GMT
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Post by lemming13 on Oct 10, 2011 14:02:26 GMT
Actually I loved Micmacs, maybe it's a chick thing (even if I would describe myself as more of an owlet than a chick - or vulture, perhaps). Had lots of fun with the Mannequin Mania set myself, too, HP - you know, if we lived in the same town we could save a fortune swapping movies and books. Are you waiting for the Quatermass and the Pit blu ray set, too? Anyway, in the last four days I've gone throught The Devil's Rock (which I rather enjoyed, buckets of guts are my cup of tea ); Darkness, again (garbled but entertaining and creepy); and revelled in the blu rayness of For a Few Dollars More, The Ipcress File and Beat Takeshi's Zatoichi. Rather more viewing than reading, since (and this is a blatant play for sympathy) the damp weather made my arthritis so bad I couldn't even hold my bloody kindle to read.
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Post by lemming13 on Oct 10, 2011 13:50:08 GMT
Magnificent! Surely you'll be touring with this - please? If not, can we have another for Christmas, and may I suggest your talents would be ideally suited to The Skull, or (perhaps better since it offers more scope for the truly lovely and talented Lady P) And Now the Screaming Starts?
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Post by lemming13 on Sept 21, 2011 10:13:03 GMT
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Post by lemming13 on Sept 13, 2011 14:08:30 GMT
should persistently 'hilarious' titles be reasonable grounds for shooting an author? Only in the kneecaps, dem, if they can also come up with classy stuff like this.
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Post by lemming13 on Sept 12, 2011 11:01:27 GMT
On the official side of things, we had King Lear (Gloucester's eyes and all), HG Wells' Country of the Blind, The Chrysalids and The Midwich Cuckoos (my English teacher adored Wyndham), Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The Signalman, Lord of the Flies, Pincher Martin, and a few tales by Hoffman and leFanu. Unofficially I was considered the horror guru of the school from day 1, since all the other parents seemed to be paranoid about horror stories warping the minds of their darlings. So it was to me the others came to share my Pan and Fontana paperbacks, my Dracula Lives comics, and all the other glorious pulp.
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Post by lemming13 on Sept 12, 2011 10:50:26 GMT
Over the holidays I've managed to fit in a few horrors, but sadly a lot have been disappointing. Wasting Away could have been a stand-out zombie comedy but couldn't really keep it together (not unlike a decaying zombie, in fact). Thai film Omen had an interesting concept but didn't do anything with it and fell apart completely by the end. Heartless had a lot going for it, and I shall watch it again, but did get a bit lost as well. On the other hand I was extremely satisfied by Takashi Miike's MPD-Pyscho series, which was extraordinarily confusing but also bizarrely enjoyable. And the blu ray release of Psychoville 2 kept me going happily for some time, though I didn't think it quite as good as the first. What I am really looking forward to is the blu ray release of Quatermass and the Pit, featuring interviews with Julian Glover, Mark Gatiss and Kim Newman as well as an episode of World of Hammer. The only thing that annoys me is the boasted of exclusive cover art on the set - ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rqjfdGRwL._SL500_AA300_.jpg [/img] Personally I think it sucks and has sod all to do with the film. Somebody must have told the artist 'it's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, only British, okay?'
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Post by lemming13 on Sept 12, 2011 10:34:53 GMT
Finished 1910 and 1969, of which I much preferred 1910 - 1969 was again rather too heavy on the sex and references, though it was still entertaining enough. Much delightful news - apparently Moore's new publisher Top Shelf are going to release the Bojeffries Saga at some point this year, including a British edition. No exact date, but I'm hoping it can be one of my Christmas presents to myself. www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/the-bojeffries-saga/717
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Post by lemming13 on Sept 12, 2011 10:26:42 GMT
Now this is a lovely welcome back to the Vault after the horror that is the long summer break (when the incessant hanging about of not only bored spawn but bored friends of spawn make Vault visits impossible); some juicy smut academically fascinating material to broaden our minds. My thanks added to the others, Lord P, for enduring this on our behalf.
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Post by lemming13 on Aug 10, 2011 18:21:09 GMT
Finally finished after sudden outbreak of school holidays, and it was good to the last drop. Definitely on my favourites list, Ramsey, great stuff.
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