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Post by andydecker on Jan 8, 2020 21:11:07 GMT
Pretty much agree with your views. McDowell's character sure is cringy. But he fits into the context. I really like the movie. It has the best of 1980s atmosphere. And the vampire is just great, one of the best, and his accomplice is perfect. But of course, it's nothing like the masterpiece Salem's Lot (1979), from which it is a spin-off; much less serious, more tongue-in-cheek and humorous. It is easy to forget that Fright Night is more of a horror comedy than a straight vampire movie. The Renfield of the movie is indeed quite good. It's ages that I saw the first Salem's Lot. I re-watched the first version of It recently, which I used to like, but thought rather blah today. But then I couldn't understand the hype about the movie version either. Maybe this is cinema for young people without baggage. This coming-of-age things bore me to tears nowadays. r The remake of Salem's Lot didn't work for me. Thought the re-wrote ending idiotic. Surprisingly the novel hold up, when I heard it as an audio book recently. While I am absolutly indifferent to King's work today and don't read it any longer, his early work I can still enjoy.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 8, 2020 22:30:04 GMT
Aspern Papers is based on a somewhat obscure novella by Henry James. I found the adaptation stylish and offbeat... I think a couple of new characters were added, into addition to the titillating gay stuff I already mentioned. It's so long since I read the novella (around 1977 I think?) that I wasn't really bothered by the changes and additions. I don't think the character played by Rhys Meyers was all that sexy in the book but JRM captures somebody who is an "operator" and in many ways, a fake.
Vanessa and Richardson really own the movie--both are brilliant in their scenes, and Richardson is in many ways the star.
I'd love to see Horror of Fang Rock again. The Lighthouse did make me think of it a couple of times...
cheers, Steve
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Post by Knygathin on Jan 9, 2020 9:01:39 GMT
... By and large modern film is a dreary, sterile landscape, all about "franchises", "product placement" (the products include certain celebrity-actors), extremely repetitive CGI and various competing agendas... Avoid at all cost, is my motto. H. Agreed. Money (maximizing profit by accommodating merely the widest common factor of the ignorant masses, counted in relation to invested production cost and further possible franchise to squeeze out of it. Artistic integrity, except if needed to sway the masses, is not included in the equation.), insidious political manipulation, and ultimately World control. All power to the independents!!!
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Post by Michael Connolly on Jan 9, 2020 13:28:00 GMT
Michael Connolly, I hope someday you will write a book. Perhaps you are and have been for decades an established and well-known author--I apologize for this flippant, ignorant remark, if so. I know we have some celebrated names on here. That final salvo about the left wing/right wing thing was the stuff of genius. cheers, H. I am an established and well-known author only I use a pseudonym. I have to wear a disguise when I make public appearances. And you all thought I was dead.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Jan 9, 2020 14:07:41 GMT
Michael Connolly, I hope someday you will write a book. Perhaps you are and have been for decades an established and well-known author--I apologize for this flippant, ignorant remark, if so. I know we have some celebrated names on here. That final salvo about the left wing/right wing thing was the stuff of genius. cheers, H. I am an established and well-known author only I use a pseudonym. I have to wear a disguise when I make public appearances. And you all thought I was dead. Impressive disguise! If you hadn't told me I would've been certain that was a dog.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 9, 2020 15:29:52 GMT
Brilliant! I'll never forget a description I read once of one of her birthday parties. Everything was that same shade of babypoo pink, including the food. It sounded like the kind of horror only the pen of a Herbert van Thal could have fully captured. Talking of capturing a likeness, I presume you've all seen this--I remember some of you discussing the difficulties of finding a portrait of Mr van Thal, but that was in an ancient thread: www.lesedwards.com/galleries/portraits/herbert-van-thal/1730cheers, H.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 9, 2020 17:33:10 GMT
She looks like an extra on American Horror Story. Brrrr.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 9, 2020 19:26:22 GMT
Some horror movies I recently watched.
Livid – France 2017
Description: Within a vast, desolate and slowly decaying mansion an aging woman lies in a coma, kept alive by a life support machine. Assigned to look after her, a young care worker named Lucy discovers that the old woman is Madam Jessel, previously a ballet teacher of some repute and rumoured to have hidden great riches inside the house. Determined to find the treasure, Lucy and two of her friends break in at night and uncover a darker secret that will throw them into a deadly labyrinth of hell.
French horror can be really unpleasant and often has a mean streak. In recent times I have watched a few French tv-series, mostly crime. Some were good, some didn't work well or not at all, like Netflix' Marianne, but all have at least a great atmosphere and strong pictures. Some are well scripted, have often good – or outreageous – twists.
Livid's story is nothing new at first, and the first third is, well, a bit dull. But it looks very good, takes itself seriously – which is a pleasant surprise – and has a very well realized often spectacular look. Rundown Messy Gothic. And some well done gore. It is a matter of taste if you like the unexpected detour into dark fairy tale country, and some people will not like the ambiguous story parts, but in this case it worked for me.
Devil's Nightmare – Italy/Belgium 1971
Erika Blanc – unforgettable for her role in the giallo The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave – plays a succubus luring a busload of unsympathetic tourists who visit a castle to their doom. It is the usual Italian B movie with a C budget with a lot of nudity and less gore than usual. But the supernatural story has some nice twists, the death are like a PG13 version of Seven decades before there was a Seven, everybody dies in interesting ways according to their sins. Erika Blanc is acting her heart out as a seductive demon and is quite creepy, while a lot of the other performances range from less than stellar to amateur hour. The new Blue-ray from Screenbound is quite good, the dubbing forgettable. Better watch it in its original French (yeah, this is one of those european co-productions of the decade) with english subtitles. Less painful.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 9, 2020 19:45:14 GMT
There is also one from way back in 2011. Yours sounds very similar.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 11, 2020 14:25:17 GMT
Thanks for those reviews, Andreas. A friend of mine ran into Erika Blanc last summer in an Italian train station (I think it was in Italy--might have been in France). I remember she said Erika had a beautiful dog with her. For some reason, Erika struck up a conversation with her. I think it was because my friend, who is a dog lover, complimented Erika on her pet. Erika spoke in French. She said Erika was very lively and fun and still somebody you notice in a crowd... I think Erika may be around 80 now.
Steve
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Post by andydecker on Jan 11, 2020 18:51:33 GMT
Great story, Steve. I believe at once that one would notice her. She sure has presence. It is quite sad that most of Blanc's movies either never made it to DVD or are unavaiable. You still get most of Edwige Fenech or Barbara Bouchet. I love those Italian movies.
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Post by Knygathin on Jan 16, 2020 15:31:06 GMT
The Brood (1979). I never could figure out how the film crew achieved those little devil-dwarfs, if they were played by child actors or midgets. Truly uncanny, they convinced me completely. Anyway, I saw this first time in my upper teens, and it scared the hell out of me, probably even traumatized me. It made a deep and lasting impression. It is still very scary. Those dwarfs are, partly, how I envisage Arthur Machen's Little People, especially in "Out of the Earth".
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Post by Knygathin on Jan 16, 2020 20:19:33 GMT
I tried to convince my best friend to go see The Brood at its first premiere showing, but looking at the film photos in the cinema* lobby he freaked out and blankly refused. I don't think he has seen it even to this day.
*You know, one of those wonderful old halls, with stalls of soft, red or green velvet seats that you pushed down. Where you sat cozy in the civilized social company of your fellow European countrymen and women, and a "Shhhh!" at the start of the movie was met with respect and positive enthusiasm (instead of a threat, or a knife in the stomach on the way home), and the floor under your feet was dry, free from popcorn and running soft drinks. All gone now. And where the rare buildings still stand, cleared out, and replaced by Burger Kings and cheap junk Asian outlet markets, unlawfully occupying these classic architecture grand halls with their globalist decadence.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 16, 2020 21:01:33 GMT
looking at the film photos in the cinema* lobby he freaked out That must have been a sight to see.
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Post by Knygathin on Jan 16, 2020 21:21:15 GMT
looking at the film photos in the cinema* lobby he freaked out That must have been a sight to see. Yes, well, later he had children at a pretty early age, and I guess he instinctively felt already then that this very dark film was in complete opposition to his worldview and romantic ambitions. He would have none of such a pessimistic provocation.
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