|
Post by helrunar on Oct 30, 2020 20:29:16 GMT
Beautiful new music video by Wardruna, featuring leading band artists Einar Selvik and Lindy-Fay Hella. The photography and locations are spectacular. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhiUacGzIg8H.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 31, 2020 21:26:52 GMT
My Hallowe'en evening has got off to a fine start with a livestreamed performance from the Nottingham Playhouse of a selection of ghost stories chosen by Mark Gatiss, who commenced proceedings with a reading of The Red Room by H.G. Wells. He then introduced Adrian Scarborough who read Harry by Rosemary Timperley. Then Mark read Nigel Kneale's The Patter of Tiny Feet. Adrian then read Long Distance Call by Richard Matheson, and Mark signed off with the poem Antigonish ('The little man who was not there...') by William Hughes Mearns. When I say 'read', they performed the stories, and brilliantly so, shifting beautifully from humour to despair to dread and horror. It was nice to be 'at the theatre', even while sitting at home. If only it was this entertaining every time I had to use Zoom...
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 1, 2020 16:58:28 GMT
A Halloween triple feature:
Goosebumps (2015) Jack Black is entertaining as R. L. Stine and the voice of Slappy, but the rest of the film is hokey. To anyone searching for a children's horror film starring Black, I would recommend The House with the Clock in its Walls instead. I've never read any of Stine's books, so I can't say how the film version compares to them.
Ghostbusters (1984) One of my favorite movies growing up, along with Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. A potentially contrarian opinion: I think the world-building (proton packs, ghost traps, Gozer, Ivo Shandor, Tobin's Spirit Guide) has aged better than the comedy. I hope the upcoming entry in the franchise, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, proves to be a worthy successor.
Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made (2019) Here's a strange one. It begins with a faux documentary preamble about Antrum, a (fictional) lost 1979 film purported to bring death to anyone who watches it. After a lengthy warning, the viewer is treated to the "rediscovered" Antrum in full. It tells the story of a young woman and a boy who enter a cursed forest and starting digging a hole to Hell to rescue the soul of their dog. This film-within-a-film features surreal and sometimes inexplicable events along with an oh-so-70s aesthetic, an ambient soundtrack, skips, backward dialogue, brief bits of spliced footage, and flashing symbols on the screen. It's more of a sensory experience than a coherent story, and it's definitely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Nov 6, 2020 19:22:09 GMT
I've been rewatching a lot of old favourites from Hammer and Amicus, and particularly enjoying revisiting the Amicus anthologies. I love a good anthology film. Last night, rather than an old favourite, I watched The Mortuary Collection, a Shudder original film, and it's become an instant new favourite.
An anthology of stories shared by the mortician, Montgomery Dark (Clancy Brown), and Sam (Caitlin Custer), the young woman who turns up in answer to the 'help wanted' sign outside, revealing the histories of some of Raven's End Mortuary's... clientele. I found it stylish, darkly funny, surprisingly nasty, witty, and with some affectionate tips of the top hat to the past without being nudging and winkingly referential.
In one section it felt like something from Inside No.9 (even down to the presence of a silver hare), but thanks to the varied stories, it's a lively mix of styles and moods, and excellently acted, too - if they ever revisit Phantasm, they've got the ideal new Tall Man in Clancy Brown.
Trailer:
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 7, 2020 16:53:35 GMT
If they ever revisit Phantasm, they've got the ideal new Tall Man in Clancy Brown. Brown has had an amazing career, though to me he'll always be the Kurgan from Highlander. Along with all the live-action roles, he's done voice acting for some of my favorite animated television programs (including Samurai Jack, Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Adventure Time, and The Venture Bros.).
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Nov 13, 2020 21:20:59 GMT
I've been rewatching a lot of old favourites from Hammer and Amicus, and particularly enjoying revisiting the Amicus anthologies. I love a good anthology film. Last night, rather than an old favourite, I watched The Mortuary Collection, a Shudder original film, and it's become an instant new favourite. An anthology of stories shared by the mortician, Montgomery Dark (Clancy Brown), and Sam (Caitlin Custer), the young woman who turns up in answer to the 'help wanted' sign outside, revealing the histories of some of Raven's End Mortuary's... clientele. I found it stylish, darkly funny, surprisingly nasty, witty, and with some affectionate tips of the top hat to the past without being nudging and winkingly referential. In one section it felt like something from Inside No.9 (even down to the presence of a silver hare), but thanks to the varied stories, it's a lively mix of styles and moods, and excellently acted, too - if they ever revisit Phantasm, they've got the ideal new Tall Man in Clancy Brown. Trailer: Have you seen House of the Dead? It's an anthology film from 1978 and has a man getting lost in a rain storm while looking for his hotel. He seeks refuge in a building only to find it is a funeral home and is told 4 creepy tales by the resident mortician. It struck me that it had a set-up similar to the film you mentioned. It is also known as Alien Zone for some odd reason.
|
|
|
Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Nov 13, 2020 22:33:23 GMT
Have you seen House of the Dead? It's an anthology film from 1978 and has a man getting lost in a rain storm while looking for his hotel. He seeks refuge in a building only to find it is a funeral home and is told 4 creepy tales by the resident mortician. It struck me that it had a set-up similar to the film you mentioned. It is also known as Alien Zone for some odd reason. I haven't seen it, no, so thanks for bringing it to my notice. And as I see it's on YouTube, I may give it a look over the weekend.
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Nov 14, 2020 10:41:36 GMT
Have you seen House of the Dead? It's an anthology film from 1978 and has a man getting lost in a rain storm while looking for his hotel. He seeks refuge in a building only to find it is a funeral home and is told 4 creepy tales by the resident mortician. It struck me that it had a set-up similar to the film you mentioned. It is also known as Alien Zone for some odd reason. I haven't seen it, no, so thanks for bringing it to my notice. And as I see it's on YouTube, I may give it a look over the weekend. I found it on one of those 50 movie packs from Mill Creek Entertainment. If you don't mind less than pristine DVD transfers and no extras the packs are worth a look as there are usually some movies that have slipped through the cracks of other distributors.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Nov 15, 2020 13:55:09 GMT
Have you seen House of the Dead? It's an anthology film from 1978 and has a man getting lost in a rain storm while looking for his hotel. He seeks refuge in a building only to find it is a funeral home and is told 4 creepy tales by the resident mortician. It struck me that it had a set-up similar to the film you mentioned. It is also known as Alien Zone for some odd reason. I haven't seen it, no, so thanks for bringing it to my notice. And as I see it's on YouTube, I may give it a look over the weekend. I looked it up yesterday. Many interesting actors. Some of the stories were a bit underdeveloped and could have used another re-write. Maybe a bit unspectacular, but was well done for its budget.
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Nov 15, 2020 16:17:05 GMT
I haven't seen it, no, so thanks for bringing it to my notice. And as I see it's on YouTube, I may give it a look over the weekend. I looked it up yesterday. Many interesting actors. Some of the stories were a bit underdeveloped and could have used another re-write. Maybe a bit unspectacular, but was well done for its budget. Yes, nothing to make it stand out from the crowd, but I thought it was okay for what it was.
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Nov 21, 2020 12:06:10 GMT
Over the past few days I re-watched the Universal Frankenstein films:
Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Ghost of Frankenstein (1940), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) and House of Frankenstein (1944).
I believe the Frankenstein monster also appears in House of Dracula but I don't have that film. There's also Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein but so far I haven't watched it in this re-watching of the series.
The best imo is the original Frankenstein with Karloff at his best and those wonderful gothic sets. The worst, for me it is Frankenstein Meets the Wolf man, mostly Wolf Man and hardly any Frankenstein monster. The film also irks me as I believe it is maybe the first to give rise to the confusion that the monster is named Frankenstein, rather than the scientist who brought the monster to life.
It is evident that starting with Ghost of Frankenstein, the Universal series was aiming firmly for the bottom half of a double-bill, both in terms of running time and content. This was not unique to the Frankenstein series, the four-film Mummy series of the 1940s was also strictly B-movie fodder.
I enjoyed Son of Frankenstein the most, although it is not the best in the series imo. One thing about the series was that it had good actors for its entire run. I wonder of Lugosi regretted turning down the role of the monster in Frankenstein. It was Karloff's portrayal that made him a star and Lugosi's greatest rival, so if Lugosi had accepted the role, Karloff may not have become so famous as he did.
I have fond memories of watching these films when young when they would be shown after News at Ten on fridays in the ATV area in the 70s.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Dec 20, 2020 14:15:42 GMT
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 28, 2020 16:23:17 GMT
The Sacrament (2013) was director Ti West's follow-up to House of the Devil (2009) and The Innkeepers (2011). It's a faux documentary in which three journalists from VICE magazine visit a utopian cult in an isolated rain forest location. Anyone who is of a certain age and/or even modestly familiar with the topic of cults will probably figure out where the story is going even before "Father," the paternal, sunglass-wearing cult leader makes his first appearance, and certainly long before... {Spoiler} the cultists drink their cyanide-laced Kool-aid. West's films tend to polarize critics, and this one was no exception, but my wife and I both found it interesting and sometimes harrowing.
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 28, 2020 16:31:20 GMT
The Sacrament (2013) was director Ti West's follow-up to House of the Devil (2009) and The Innkeepers (2011). It's a faux documentary in which three journalists from VICE magazine visit a utopian cult in an isolated rain forest location. Anyone who is of a certain age and/or even modestly familiar with the topic of cults will probably figure out where the story is going even before "Father," the paternal, sunglass-wearing cult leader makes his first appearance, and certainly long before... {Spoiler} the cultists drink their cyanide-laced Kool-aid. West's films tend to polarize critics, and this one was no exception, but my wife and I both found it interesting and sometimes harrowing. This rang a bell. It turns out I have seen this film, but I had forgotten all about it. I bet you will, too.
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on Jan 16, 2021 20:27:26 GMT
Tonight, to mark the passing of Peter Wyngarde, I'll be watching The Night of the Eagle, the cracking film version of Fritz Leiber's Conjure Wife, and the ideal other half of a double bill with Night of the Demon. Last night I realized that the villainess in Night of the Eagle faces her end (so to speak) just as Karswell did in "Casting the Runes".
|
|