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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 15, 2011 5:48:04 GMT
Kirosawa again. 'Redbeard', great film about a young doctor at a charity hospital,. Bit of a tear jerker and the basis for many pale imitations.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jun 15, 2011 7:22:09 GMT
Straight To Hell (1987)I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I was going to. It had all the right elements to be great, but it just didn't gel. The tone is deliberately camp/bad, but here it unfortunately comes off as cringe-inducing. You can see Alex Cox loves the Spaghetti Western genre & he certainly knows his stuff. There were scenes I enjoyed & it wasn't a complete loss, but just not enough to really engage me. It's a shame, as it was looking to be a good one, how you can go wrong with a cast consisting of The Pogues, Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer & others I don't know. The less said about Courtney Love, the better. I can see why she went into music, she was fairly useless here - other than to shout & scream at the nearest man. It's a fun ride in places, but a bit of a misfire. I do like Straight To Hell. HP, have you ever seen Cox's Walker?
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Post by lemming13 on Jun 15, 2011 11:24:18 GMT
I felt the same about Straight To Hell; Courtney Love was bleeding diabolical. Mind you, I feel the same about her music. I've been in the summer sale at Amazon and just acquired a few jollies - David Attenborough's The Tribal Eye, Boy Eats Girl, the Lee/Cushing Hound of the Baskervilles, Plague of the Zombies, and The Gorgon. When I'll find time to watch them is now the question, as I just got a huge box of fabulous books from nosferatu. I love that man, and I want to host his mutant parasites.
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Jun 15, 2011 16:50:17 GMT
I do like Straight To Hell. HP, have you ever seen Cox's Walker? No, I haven't seen it, I'm afraid. I think I've only seen Repo Man & only bits of that I think (though I remember liking what I did see). I've still got Sid & Nancy to watch. Anyway, I'm back on the trash. Last night it was: Ape (1976)A US/South Korea co-production & a shameless cash in on the King Kong remake of the time. We have a man in a bad gorilla suit destroying unconvincing model sets & acting straight off an autocue. Oh, & the Kong wannabe wears shoes at one point & gives the one fingered salute after destroying a helicopter. Very entertaining & I can't help wondering if there's a novelisation of this one - if not there should be, seems right up NEL's street.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 16, 2011 12:41:58 GMT
Hatchet II: What a waste of time. I liked the first one which was more a spoof then a straight horror-movie. But it was fun in a lot of places and often witty. And when I saw that the sequel had Tony Todd in a starring role I thought great. But overall it is a boring mess with appalingly bad pacing and some of the most unbelievable splatter-scenes ever. If you think "wow, this can only be a dummy from a first-aid-test" as a viewer, something is wrong.
Lesbian Vampire Killers: This was surprisingly tame, no blood and no real nuditiy in this, which was kind of disappointing. I mean, with a title like this you have expectations. And of course it is a parody with mostly groanworthy jokes. (And yes, they would never have dared to make Gay Vampire Killers). But I liked it. It had some good jokes, some clever low budget filming and didn´t take itself seriously for a minute.
The Wolfman: The original is a classic by default, I mean all those old b/w horror movies are "classics", if they are good or not. And the Wolfman is not the most epic tale of all time. So it was clear that this could only be a remake in the loosest sense. But did it have to be so boring? As usual in the last years Hopkins phoned it barely in, the CGI was not very good and reminded me in a lot of places of Van Helsing.. (In Dr.Who the werewolf was more convincing which is saying a lot!) And when was horror replaced by relentless action? And I even watched the extended version. I don´t want to know how the original cut was. Another waste of time.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 16, 2011 13:26:19 GMT
Hatchet II:The Wolfman:The original is a classic by default, I mean all those old b/w horror movies are "classics", if they are good or not. And the Wolfman is not the most epic tale of all time. So it was clear that this could only be a remake in the loosest sense. But did it have to be so boring? As usual in the last years Hopkins phoned it barely in, the CGI was not very good and reminded me in a lot of places of Van Helsing.. (In Dr.Who the werewolf was more convincing which is saying a lot!) And when was horror replaced by relentless action? And I even watched the extended version. I don´t want to know how the original cut was. Another waste of time. Lon Chaney was irreplaceable but my favourite furry fellow has to be Oliver Reed in The Curse of the Werewolf. I have a small confession. I haven't actually seen a werewolf which has remotely frightened me. They all look like they would respond to some firm no nonsense ownership, a collar, a lead and regular walks. The Hammer Horror film scarey list goes something like Mummy - very scary Frankenstein - very pathetic Dracula - very cool Werewolf - very funny Golem - very rare
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jun 16, 2011 13:54:49 GMT
Lesbian Vampire Killers and The Wolf Man are top notch in my book. LVK is ridiculous fun. I originally watched it directly after Let The Right One In and it was a great antidote to the miserablist arty tropes (I've warmed to LTROI since). I've real downer on Lon Chaney's The Wolf Man (that's what I call boring - give me the cheery hokum of Werewolf Of London every time) The modern take was much more my cup of tea. Watched Howlings II, III and VI fairly recently. Remarkable!
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 16, 2011 14:48:57 GMT
Favourite werewolf film? Ginger Snaps (2000) - but stay away from the sequels. The recent Wolfman was utter drivel IMHO - and it's general rubbishness (including poor box-office takings) is rumoured to have been a factor in Universal pulling the plug on Del Toro's At The Mountains of Madness, though that doesn't make any sense to me. It makes even less sense when they are apparently going to make more Wolfmans for the direct-to-DVD market...
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 16, 2011 15:15:52 GMT
Re werewolf films, my favourites have got to be Hammer's Curse of the Werewolf, Lon Chaney's Universal series, and The Werewolf of London. Hated the new Wolfman movie. CGI nonsense and some unbelievably bad acting and a ridiculous script. I can't believe they intend to make more of the same on direct to DVD. What a waste of discs!
I haven't liked any of the recent remakes. The whole thing went off with Van Helsing and The Mummy. The rest seem copies of that kind of OTT childish concept. It's a great shame Clive Barker was taken off as director for the Mummy remake. His vision, I am sure, would have been completely different to the comedy adventure that was produced! That might have helped keep Hollywood's eyes focused on some real horror movies instead of the CGI hocum we've had instead.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 16, 2011 15:27:50 GMT
I have to confess to liking The Mummy, though not the sequels or spin-offs. I quite like the comic-book approach. Thought Van Helsing was pants (strangely, it seems, I liked The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen though). Similary, liked the first Blade but not the sequels. Back to werewolves - do you mean An American Werewolf in London? Obviously, that is a true "classic" - the original 1930s Werewolf of London, though? Definitely not. An American Werewolf in Paris was a big disappointment too.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jun 16, 2011 15:34:30 GMT
Feel the Wolf Man hate! Gosh, I must have very low standards. It seems for years people were moaning there were no Gothic horrors then all of a sudden we get Dorian Gray, Burke & Hare (both of which I actually got off my backside and went to the cinema to see) and The Wolf Man - and most found 'em shite!? I was thrilled. Talking of low standards, one of my (or rather my wife's) Poundland corkers was something called Big Bad Wolf. It's in rather poor taste, but extremely amusing if you like that sort of thing. I seem to be in a minority of liking An American Werewolf In Paris too. The BHF crowd did a Cup O' Crap in which people voted to decide the worst ever British Horror Film. I think AAWiP (yes, it had some British involvement) beat Castle Of Fu Manchu in the final. I enjoyed COFM as well! Loads better than Blood Of Fu Manchu.
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Post by killercrab on Jun 16, 2011 16:06:45 GMT
Two of my favourite werewolf flicks are the generally disdained THE BEAST MUST DIE ( or the big dog must die) and LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF - the Rintoul wolf equals CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF's Olliewolf in my book. The last modern (?) wolfer I liked was AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and of course THE HOWLING. Would like to check out IN PARIS as FM recommends it.
Last night I watched THE WOMAN EATER.
I love this sub genre of British horror where some foreign monster is hidden in a respectable english house. Films like THE GHOUL , THE REPTILE and THE BLOODBEAST TERROR are good examples. In THE WOMAN EATER a flesh eating tree idol is hidden in a basement come lab , repleat with native drummer ( reminding one of PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES). Various women are fed to the tree that secrets a serum that can bring the dead back to life. Vera Day brings some glamour to George Coularis' mad quest whilst his spurned lover/ housekeeper seethes in the background.
These films are generally seen as some catharsis for colonial guilt - but sometimes it's just a monster in a basement.
KC
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jun 16, 2011 16:13:26 GMT
Two of my favourite werewolf flicks are the generally disdained THE BEAST MUST DIE ( or the big dog must die) and LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF - the Rintoul wolf equals CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF's Olliewolf in my book. The last modern (?) wolfer I liked was AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and of course THE HOWLING. Would like to check out IN PARIS as FM recommends it. KC AAWiP isn't any good Ade, but it's so loathed I can't help liking it. I'm gradually coming round to The Beast Must Die. With you on Legend Of The Werewolf, though. The first 20 mins are awful, but once Etoile has grown up it's a riot - I don't think I've ever seen Peter Cushing enjoying himself as much as this in any other of his films.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 16, 2011 16:22:30 GMT
Nobody else seen (or maybe even liked) Ginger Snaps? Canadian... often pigeon-holed as a "teen movie", though it carries an 18 cert and is surprisingly violent (it's also very funny in places). Again, shame about the sequels though...
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Post by doomovertheworld on Jun 16, 2011 16:57:47 GMT
Favourite werewolf film? Ginger Snaps good call on GS. i saw at the cinema when it came out and loved it the last thing i saw was the remake of friday of 13th. granted my expectations going in to it weren't particularly high, but it was rather good bar a few misteps like the torture porn bits
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