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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jul 31, 2010 17:30:52 GMT
Wife's away and for once no gigs. As a recluse that gives me the chance to eat Pizza, drink Guinness and watch either 'Zombie' or 'Starship Trooper 2'. Naturally faced with such a choice its got to be both.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 31, 2010 18:51:08 GMT
Don't think I've seen "Zombie", but "Starship Troopers 2" was a huge disappointment (and "Starship Troopers 3" isn't any better). I am a big fan of the first one though - and I had actually read the original Heinlein story many, many years before when I went through a (very short) SF phase.
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Post by andydecker on Jul 31, 2010 19:27:55 GMT
Starship Trooper 2 was fairly awful. Still, you did the better thing  I started the evening with Vampyres - Daughters of Dracula, , one of those eurotrash lesbian vampire things, which - surprise! - was not very good ;D Still it was more interesting than NCIS L.A. which lacks everything that the original made fun. What a bore. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jul 31, 2010 22:27:10 GMT
Ever wished you'd asked the nice people at the Vault? I am huge fan of Starship Troopers but number 2 is mildly dull apart from one pair of delightful breasts (sorry, not very pc).
I put the commentary on to see what the plan was after I'd enjoyed my peanuts more than the film and found that the directors basically had no plan and no respect for what they were doing. Sad.
Right, witching hour and time for Zombies,
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Aug 1, 2010 0:47:41 GMT
SPOLIERS
'Wicked Little Things'
The curse of living in Germany where films are retitled:
'Zombies' is actually 'Wicked Little Things' directed by J. S. Cardone. The film stars Lori Heuring, Scout Taylor-Compton and Chloe Moretz but the only person remotely resembling a star is the English actor Ben Cross who plays Caleb the guy who mouths old testament prayers, kills pigs and puts blood on your door to stop the kids from eating you.
If you haven't seen it I wouldn't rush.
Basic plot. A miners village, little immigrant kids used in the mine long ago. They die and some time later end up eating everyone unless they're related. Fortunately, our heroine, a single mum, has two kids who are.
The film is well shot with a slight 'Shining' feel to it and has an adequate script but probably an inadequate budget. If the budget had been a coupe of million lower it might have been a good B movie. The kids aren't scary but there are one or two effective moments because of good camera work. I like Ben cross in it - an effective Lovecraftian/Howard anti hero a bit like Solomon Kane with less morals.
Unfortunately after a fairly good start the film refuses to allow you any suspension of disbelief. I don't like the modern energetic Zombie and would have far preferred to see a lot of lumbering about. I also like that 'outnumbered and desperate' feel to a zombie movie and the only people under threat were a few folks you didn't much like.
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Aug 1, 2010 6:16:31 GMT
Oh, Zombies, when you wrote Zombie in the first post, I thought you meant the Fulci film (one of my favourites & certainly recommended, where else would you get an underwater zombie vs shark ;D ).
I have seen Zombies, but wasn't that impressed with it - apparently Tobe Hooper was set to direct, but the director was changed beforefilming started I think (read it somewhere, I could be wildly inaccurate here). Have you seen Cardone's The Slayer? not a bad film even if it does drag in places.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Aug 1, 2010 10:37:00 GMT
Oh, Zombies, when you wrote Zombie in the first post, I thought you meant the Fulci film (one of my favourites & certainly recommended, where else would you get an underwater zombie vs shark ;D ). I have seen Zombies, but wasn't that impressed with it - apparently Tobe Hooper was set to direct, but the director was changed before filming started I think (read it somewhere, I could be wildly inaccurate here). Have you seen Cardone's The Slayer? not a bad film even if it does drag in places. That's what fooled me and I'm really annoyed because the title was not really summative of the film. Sure the kids are Zombies - of a sort - but it felt more like a ghost story than a Zombie story. I've seen Fulci's film. That underwater zombie scared the shit out of my son when he was tiny as, in a spate of bad parenting, I left the dvd in the machine overnight and he wasn't watching Mickey Mouse when I came downstairs. Great film. You're right the director was changed. There were some classic film shots and moments of good direction but there was a slipshod feel to a number of elements. All of that doesn't matter to me as long the film remotely resembles Night of the Living Dead. Not seen Slayer. Is is apocalyptic? |
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Aug 2, 2010 16:30:53 GMT
The Slayer is not an apocolyptic film, but it was on the video nasties list. I know that's not saying much, as many of the films on it don't live up to the rep. I think the bbfc objected to the pitchfork murder in this one (though James Ferman seemed to object to most things), it's uncut now, but no widescreen dvd, only fullscreen from vipco. It's not a bad film, but has something of a disappointing Nel novel to it - it all seems great on the surface & certainly has some good set pieces, but it just doesn't quite become what it should have - but despite this, you still end up liking (I think dem is better at describing the effect than me). More info here: www.imdb.com/title/tt0084694/ |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Aug 2, 2010 17:01:29 GMT
Slayer sounds good.
I made the mistake of looking at the bank account but gained when I realised I can't cope with too many modern films. Courtesy of advice from the good people of the vault tonight its
City of the Dead/Horror Hotel (1960) and a choice between the apparently underrated Messiah of Evil (1973) and any B/W movie that looks like absolute tosh. Second film depends on the Guinness consumption.
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Post by andydecker on Aug 2, 2010 18:24:45 GMT
I liked City of the Dead. The story seems to be a little obvious - back then it was fresh, I guess -, and for the budget you can´t get a decent meal today, but it is a nice little occult thriller with an effective ending.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Aug 2, 2010 22:31:59 GMT
Messiah of Evil 1971 by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, Absolute beauty. Reminded me of a cross between Night of the Living of Dead and Carnival of Souls. Genuinely disturbing film with a fair mix of classic scenes, fantastic aesthetics and a bonus of some poor editing.
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I started the evening with Vampyres - Daughters of Dracula, , one of those eurotrash lesbian vampire things, which - surprise! - was not very good ;D Still it was more interesting than NCIS L.A. which lacks everything that the original made fun. What a bore.
