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Post by Dr Strange on Feb 23, 2021 19:17:59 GMT
Just caught the trailer for the TV adaptation of Dan Simmons's The Terror on the BBC. Looks pretty good, and reviews seem mostly positive. I read the book ages ago and quite enjoyed it - though I remember thinking it was maybe a bit overlong, and that the ending was a bit naff.
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Post by andydecker on Feb 26, 2021 9:24:29 GMT
And another info from The Rap Sheet:
'And it’s true: Director Tim Burton is set to shoot a live-action, young-adult series for Netflix about Wednesday Addams, the wonderfully creepy little girl familiar from small- and big-screen versions of The Addams Family. Variety describes Wednesday as “a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. She attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago—all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.” Tor.com says there is “no official word on the casting yet, but given how sadly awful the last Addams film was (the animated one from 2019, not the gems we got in the ’90s), this might be a slight improvement?”'
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Post by samdawson on Feb 26, 2021 12:35:37 GMT
Not to forget Gavin Lyall, late Geoffrey Household (although not perhaps his best period), the superb Len Deighton, plus everyone else I've forgotten.
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marcrhodestaylor
Crab On The Rampage
just received fengriffen and other gothic tales this afternoon looking forward to another great read
Posts: 14
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Post by marcrhodestaylor on Mar 4, 2021 10:11:07 GMT
I have stumbled across a rather good programme from the 80s called Tales From The Dark Side which screens once a week Saturdays on the Horror channel. It appears to have George Romero as a co-producer. The Horror channel has a habit of constantly repeating the same films again and again, but some of them are quite good. They are also good for screening classic sci-fi shows like classic Trek and are currently screening Star Trek Enterprise and Andromeda, which is now in its last season. Dark Side is very much a product of the 80s, you can tell by the clothing and by the actors. It was a pleasant surprise to see some familiar faces. The stories tend to be quite humourous in nature, violence is rare although it can happen. Two of my favourite stores so far have been Halloween Candy and The Cutty Black Sow. In Halloween Candy an old man is left alone in his flat by his son, he turns out to be quite mean towards children and receives his comeuppance when a goblin turns up one night to play trick or treat. in The Cutty Black Sow an old legend comes to life when a young boy tries to help his ailing grandmother by casting stones into a fire, hoping that her name will not come out. There were one or two other episodes which I found to be somewhat entertaining. It is all good harmless fun.
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Post by andydecker on Mar 4, 2021 16:55:26 GMT
I have stumbled across a rather good programme from the 80s called Tales From The Dark Side which screens once a week Saturdays on the Horror channel. It appears to have George Romero as a co-producer. The Horror channel has a habit of constantly repeating the same films again and again, but some of them are quite good. They are also good for screening classic sci-fi shows like classic Trek and are currently screening Star Trek Enterprise and Andromeda, which is now in its last season. Dark Side is very much a product of the 80s, you can tell by the clothing and by the actors. It was a pleasant surprise to see some familiar faces. The stories tend to be quite humourous in nature, violence is rare although it can happen. Two of my favourite stores so far have been Halloween Candy and The Cutty Black Sow. In Halloween Candy an old man is left alone in his flat by his son, he turns out to be quite mean towards children and receives his comeuppance when a goblin turns up one night to play trick or treat. in The Cutty Black Sow an old legend comes to life when a young boy tries to help his ailing grandmother by casting stones into a fire, hoping that her name will not come out. There were one or two other episodes which I found to be somewhat entertaining. It is all good harmless fun. I remember this vaguely. They adapted a few big names. McDowell adapted a King story and wrote a few episodes. there was Ellison and Bloch. It even spawned a so-so movie which was written by McDowell and George Romero. Frankly I only remember Debbie Harry being the star of the wraparound story.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 4, 2021 17:46:38 GMT
I have stumbled across a rather good programme from the 80s called Tales From The Dark Side which screens once a week Saturdays on the Horror channel. I never watched it, but I remember being creeped out by the intro when I was a kid.
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marcrhodestaylor
Crab On The Rampage
just received fengriffen and other gothic tales this afternoon looking forward to another great read
Posts: 14
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Post by marcrhodestaylor on Mar 4, 2021 18:43:30 GMT
The intro is creepy and so is the music, I have to admit that; probably the scariest part of many episodes. Many episodes are not scary at all but are just fun. Basher Malone, for example, unlike the other two episodes which I mentioned earlier, was basically just pure comedy. Debbie Harry of Blondie did turn up in one episode where I think she played a witch. I have seen actors from Star Trek in it like Brent Spiner from Next Generation. I haven't tried the movie yet but may look for it. On a different note, I watched Tales From The Unexpected The Flypaper earlier and this was really chilling.
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Post by bluetomb on Mar 4, 2021 22:40:00 GMT
I have stumbled across a rather good programme from the 80s called Tales From The Dark Side which screens once a week Saturdays on the Horror channel. It appears to have George Romero as a co-producer. The Horror channel has a habit of constantly repeating the same films again and again, but some of them are quite good. They are also good for screening classic sci-fi shows like classic Trek and are currently screening Star Trek Enterprise and Andromeda, which is now in its last season. Dark Side is very much a product of the 80s, you can tell by the clothing and by the actors. It was a pleasant surprise to see some familiar faces. The stories tend to be quite humourous in nature, violence is rare although it can happen. Two of my favourite stores so far have been Halloween Candy and The Cutty Black Sow. In Halloween Candy an old man is left alone in his flat by his son, he turns out to be quite mean towards children and receives his comeuppance when a goblin turns up one night to play trick or treat. in The Cutty Black Sow an old legend comes to life when a young boy tries to help his ailing grandmother by casting stones into a fire, hoping that her name will not come out. There were one or two other episodes which I found to be somewhat entertaining. It is all good harmless fun. I remember this vaguely. They adapted a few big names. McDowell adapted a King story and wrote a few episodes. there was Ellison and Bloch. It even spawned a so-so movie which was written by McDowell and George Romero. Frankly I only remember Debbie Harry being the star of the wraparound story. I remember the film being quite good fun. One of the stories had Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore and Christian Slater. No classic, but a solid early evening warm up sort of a film.
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 4, 2021 22:43:45 GMT
Watched the first couple of episodes of The Terror on the Beeb last night - visually, it is absolutely amazing (I was especially taken with the underwater stuff - see clip below), but it is very slow moving (deliberately so, I suppose, given the setting). I will probably stick with it, though I do have a tendency to lose interest pretty quickly with TV serials.
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Post by bluetomb on Mar 4, 2021 23:16:20 GMT
The Hitch-Hiker (1953) Two fishing buddies have an extended run in with a psychopathic escaped con. This gets described as the first film noir directed by a woman but it didn't really feel like noir so much as a simple suspense thriller to me. Not a criticism in the least though, it's fast, tight and mean, and virtually indistinguishable from modern fare except for the lack of bloodshed or rude words. Quality stuff.
We Summon The Darkness (2019) Three girls and three guys have a party after a metal show and it all gets out of hand. Bloody comedy of errors that isn't bloody or funny enough and loses points for no actual darkness summoning and an outboard motor being wielded as a weapon without churning through any heads or bellies, but does score on spirited performances, pacy, twisted sense of fun and beginning with characters going to a metal show but having a cover of Heaven is a Place on Earth in the final block. Ok time filler.
Dark Encounter (2019) A year after their daughter went missing, a grieving family face an onslaught of extraterrestrial activity. This has some decent performances, cool effects and stylish direction, but after a short warm up it pelts shenanigans at the screen until they turn to unexciting mush, then after taking too short a break starts up again before twisting into the sort of film that I wouldn't have watched at all if I had known. There's talent here but it needs a lot of tightening and polishing. Mileage may vary but not much of a recommendation from me.
The Thing From Another World (1951) Researchers at an Arctic base uncover and then battle for their lives against a deadly alien plant being. First time view for me so I was surprised at how different it was from The Thing, and in truth I would have liked it a bit schlockier, but it's still good suspenseful and serious, even credible stuff. I suspect I will appreciate this more on repeat viewings.
An Ideal Host (2020) Happy Aussie hipster dinner party goes wrong, first with an embittered boozehound uninvited guest and then a bit more outlandishly. Cheap, scrappy fun, with plenty of reasonably smart skewering of its characters and a turn into genre fare that also offers lots of fun, even if it could have been a bit weirder for my tastes. Marks down for use of CGI blood and some not great night shooting, but also marks up for one very ouch inducing bit of practical gore and generally inspired climax. Fine times for schlocky indie fans
The Last Thanksgiving (2020) Diner staff who aren't happy about working on Thanksgiving face a family of maniacs who like to kill anyone who isn't spending Thanksgiving with their families. Semi splatter comedy that could have been splatterier and funnier but has a good set up, a lot of heart and enough in the way of grisly/wacky shenanigans to generally please. Also ultimately a nice message. Quite fun times for schlocky indie fans
The Furies / Las Furias (2020) Whirlwind love of young indigenous man and daughter of local landowner/abusive monster and its violent consequences in this slightly surreal Argentine western of sorts. Often contemplative, sometimes brutally bloody, almost always stylish, with an interesting score made up mostly of scratching guitar and some striking moments including the calling of a curse intercut with a lovemaking scene. But its a bit too straightforward and the style ends up being a bit detaching from what should be more hotly involving. Interesting and worthwhile, but I couldn't help feeling there was a stronger film in there not quite making it out.
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marcrhodestaylor
Crab On The Rampage
just received fengriffen and other gothic tales this afternoon looking forward to another great read
Posts: 14
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Post by marcrhodestaylor on Mar 5, 2021 14:26:57 GMT
I watched Tales From The Darkside The Movie last night, not bad, a lot gorier than the TV series still with a sense of fun but more violent than fun. The actors were quite good. The story with the cat was probably the best, and the goriest as well, especially when the cat crawls in and out of a man's body, this was a really good fx scene. I tried watching some Thriller but have not really gotten into this yet, from what I saw that series could be a bit slow in terms of pacing but maybe I just need to be more patient. Supernatural 1977 was fairly good, I was electrified by the theme and intrigued by the story, although it was set in history which took a bit of getting used to; the conclusion was unexpected, which was nice. Tales From The Unexpected is turning out to be really, really good, I like this series a lot and it is really creepy. Episodes watched so far include Royal Jelly, fantastic premise killer ending, they did this one so well. The Flypaper, absolutely chilling and so subtle yet so nasty. Georgy Porgy, very good and quite frightening. I am now looking forward to seeing the rest of them. The Day The Earth Caught Fire is a really good film, I caught this on YouTube, good storytelling and a great premise which still stands up today and feels ever more topical.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 8, 2021 12:00:02 GMT
I am sad to hear of the passing away of Louis Jourdan. A suave man, who was well able to bring his suavity to his acting. As well as the memorable BBC version of Dracula, where he was very good indeed, he starred in a pair of US made-for-TV movies, Fear no Evil (1969) and Ritual of Evil (1970), in which he played a psychologist coming up against cults and devil worshipers in modern-day America. I've known about Fear no Evil and Ritual of Evil for years but have never known them to be shown on TV here. They are now available on a dvd double-set. There's a blurry copy of Ritual of Evil online. And a clear copy too. Note that the DVD cover of Fear no Evil/Ritual of Evil gives Louis Jourdan a square chin to make him look like he's an American.
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Post by andydecker on Mar 8, 2021 18:30:20 GMT
Sadly never saw this. I would guess this is a family friendly version of Jory Sherman or Frank Lauria.
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Post by andydecker on Mar 13, 2021 13:09:29 GMT
I happened to catch the 2019 remake of Pet Sematary on tv. I only had a dim recollection of the first movie, and I never liked the novel much back when I still read King. On the whole this merited a thorough "meh". The usual changes in the story didn't bother me much this time, even if the reason was painfully obvious. With the older child in the role of the zombie you can do more convincing action scenes.
The discussion of the "tightening up" of Wheatley's books is rather interesting in this regard. The massive re-writing of the ending of this movie isn't done to make the story better or more relevant, but to deliver some fights at the end. The audience needs "action".
I have to say that I didn't like the altered ending much, but mostly because of other reasons. A lot of the motivation goes out of the window if you have your evil zombies starting to kill people to resurrect them themselves. It is just a different tale and makes the movie even more banal.
Aside from this it wasn't a total train-wreck like The Dark Tower or the boring 1408, but it wasn't great either. According to Wikipedia there are 17 new King adaptions in production as movies, some new ones, some remakes, which is as sad as mind-blowing. Salem's Lot for the third time? The Tommyknockers? In a word: why?
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Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 18, 2021 14:15:21 GMT
The Ghoul (1933) with Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke and Ralph Richardson. Not seen this one before. Apparently, Karloff turned down the title role in The Invisible Man as the pay cheque was too small and opted for this film instead. Well, I thought it was a bit of a mixed bag. Karloff was, as you would expect, good, though he had no dialogue after his character's supposed death. I wondered if he also turned down Invisible Man as it was basically a voice part, but this is almost the opposite. Karloff plays an old man who is obsessed with returning to eternal life with the aid of a jewel as an offering to an Egyptian god. Others are after the jewel as well. It rapidly becomes an old dark house type film. The two actors who play the cousins inheriting Karloff's estate after his supposed death were rather bland. The female cousin brings along a friend, played by the wonderful Kathleen harrison, and she gets lots of good lines as comedy relief. Cedric Hardwicke and a young Ralph Richardson are okay, but not really any more than that. Ernest Thesiger plays Karloff's butler and is really rather good. There's a nice scene when Karloff offers the jewel to a statue of the god by placing it in its open palm and the hand slowly closes, but all is not as it appears. As I said, a mixed bag. It was okay but I was expecting more from this film. I watched The Ghoul online two nights ago. I thought it was quite good as it's not as stiff and starchy as most British films of its time are. However, when butler Ernest Thesiger talks about his master's "queer fancies", they're not quite what you might think!
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