Seen and not seen's, recommendations and queries on top films in general.

Started by GEWALTMONOPOL, December 29, 2009, 06:31:05 PM

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ConcreteMascara

Quote from: moozz on August 03, 2021, 01:38:13 AM
Robowar (1988)
Bruno Mattei's ripoff borrowing HEAVILY from Predator (characters, plot, scenery) with kind of a futuristic helmet guy Robocop as the bad guy. Not cinematic art (felt kind of clumsy most of the time, some really bad acting) but if you love Predator and can appreciate bad movies I see no reason why you would not enjoy this. Lots of bullets flying around, nice gory effects.

Will have to check this out
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ConcreteMascara

The Sect - [dir. Michele Soavi, 1991] - second viewing. didn't get to enjoy this as much as the first time since my friends wouldn't shut the fuck up. in my mind this is a good movie, so no live riff track is needed. pearls before swine.

Wishmaster - [dir. Robert Kurtzman, 1997] - we watched this immediately after and this needed all the riffing we could give it. honestly way better than I thought it'd be, but those CGI effects we're truly terrible. however, that 90s style is now old enough to have a certain nostalgia, even if its shit. the lighting and cinematography is powerfully flat and dull for the most part too. the female protagonist looked like a knock-off Sarah Connor but I was into it. the villain in human form reminds me of someone but I can't pin it down... it's been driving me crazy for weeks. overall i enjoyed this way more than i thought i would. it's a nice balance of mean-spirited fun and gore that felt like a '90s attempt to start an '80s slasher franchise, which turned out to be a successful attempt. best watched with friends.

Dead & Buried - [dir. Gary Sherman, 1981] - i fucking love this movie. i put it on after i got back home from a tooth extraction since i'd seen it so many times it wouldn't matter if i slept during parts. luckily i woke from my drug induced stupor to see the classic needle in the eye scene and those absolutely awesome last 15 minutes, but mostly just lay there bleeding from my mouth.

Tuesday night
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday - [dir. Adam Marcus, 1993] - i don't have the same affection for Ft13th as I do for Halloween so when the series jumps the shark here I did not feel personally attacked like some people. my first watch, I was constantly impressed by how extremely stupid the movie was, but how it made up for that with a sense of fun and very rapid pace. there's real quality tits early on but not much after say the 30-40 minute mark, which was disappointing. the gore also peaks around the same time, except for an exception and totally unexpected melt scene, but in general the gore is pretty constant. i can't stress enough how dumb the movie but there were a few times the wildly underwritten characters did act surprisingly realistically to their predicaments. there's also some meta-horror movie stuff put in there that's really on the nose but didn't offend me. and there's even an early scummy news satire segment that had me laughing out loud. i've gotta say this was so much fun to watch i'd probably watch it sooner than a few of the earlier Ft13th films.
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ConcreteMascara

White Rose Campus: Then... Everybody Gets Raped - [dir. Koyu Ohara, 1982]
First off, I'm not quite sure everyone gets raped. I did my best to keep track and it seems like some of the ugly girls may have been spared this fate [for plot and maybe aesthetic reason]. I don't like being lied to, especially when it comes to my roman pornos. However since I can't conclusively prove or disprove the amount of rape I'm gonna have to give the movie a pass. In general this isn't nearly as awful as the title might suggest. Youu might even call it a romp, just with a significant amount of sexual assault. Granted that's coming from a total degenerate but I feel like I've seen a lot of Takashi Miike movies that were more extreme or repugnant than this. Special mention of Yuichi Minato who plays an extremely believable older pervert. Everything he did gave me reason to chortle. There's also a few twists that I called well in advance, but were still entertaining when they came to fruition. All in all, you could do better or worse in this genre, but for such a provocative title I felt a little dismayed at the lack of real misery.
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ConcreteMascara

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies - [dir. Jack Sholder, 1999]
This movie makes just about every mistake a sequel can make. It's dumber, it's more boring, there's less of everything good and more of everything bad, specifically very little gore. While the original teetered on silliness the whole time, this is just laughable. Mr. Wishmaster is trying so hard to be sinister but between his facial expression, delivery and dialogue.... well I'm just not buying it. Which is a shame because his performance was so much better, relatively speaking, in the first film. The one plus side, our leading lady is an absolute q-t-pi with fat titties, but naturally we don't see them. What this movie is more than anything, more than being dumb as hell, is boring. It's so fucking boring. Painfully boring. Do not recommend.
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A-Z

Possession by Andrzej Żuławski
Saw this one about 15 years and liked it quite a lot. Decided to revisit today... and wow. Just wow. This is not a just good movie, as I remembered it before. This is a GREAT movie.
Middle class white woman is unsatisfied with the current system, starts flirting with Marxism, but it's not enough either, so she comes up with a faith of her own, sacrifces everyone from establishement spooks and former commie friends to LGBT and fellow women, eventually creates a system that looks just like the one she rebelled against in the first place, only utterly inhumane on the inside, and thus brings about the end of the western civilization. Also, this interpretation is most likely entirely wrong and so are dozens of others you can find around the internet, and that's the beauty of it.

absurdexposition

Cannibal Holocaust (Ruggero Deodato, 1980)

The problematic favourite - and perhaps peak exploitation cinema?

I genuinely think this is a good film and for me the only unforgivable moments are the acts of actual animal killings. Any racial or cultural insensitivities towards the indigenous peoples are dealt with by way of the inter-film commentary about Western sensationalism sanctioned and sought-out by corporate entertainment ("news") media looking to make a buck and/or gain some clout.

The ill-fated American Idiot "documentary" film crew was known to stage events for this exact purpose and they ultimately reaped what they were sowing as seen in the castrating, beheading, skinning and gutting of team member Jack Anders, which directly parallels the earlier fate of the tortoise by his hands, before the rest of them are all brutally karma'd, too. Then, in a perhaps too-on-the-nose ending, Professor Monroe walks out onto the streets of New York and "wonder who the real cannibals are" as the camera pans down the Avenue of the Americas.

I don't know how much Deodato was purposely pushing the commentary angle as opposed to just making shock cinema, but to me the film is the film - an exploitative infinity loop: Who cannibalizes the cannibals? (Who exploits the exploited? And who exploits the exploiters?)

For this outing I watched the 2011 Shameless blu-ray - the transfer is not the best (it also omits the muskrat killing, for what it's worth) and reminded me how much of a treat this was to see at the cinema a few years back. Plus, Riz Ortolani's sentimental main theme is perfect.

"Guys like me are mad for turtle meat." - Leonard Cohen


Sub note: It's impossible to see New York of this vintage without spotting some of Fulci's locations for films like Zombi 2 and The New York Ripper.
Primitive Isolation Tactics
Scream & Writhe distro and Absurd Exposition label
Montreal, QC
https://www.screamandwrithe.com

cantle

Re: Canninbal Holocaust- I worked under the assumption it was a artistic reply to the mondo films of Jacopetti and Prosperi especially 'Africa Addio' at least that is the impression I got from reading 'Sweet and Savage'

ConcreteMascara

last Friday I received my absurd order from the Severin mid-summer sale. I really must have been off my rocker because I bought way too much shit. Watched three of the films so far.

Aenigma - [dir. Lucio Fulci, 1987] - So last year I bought the 88 Films blu-ray of this which was just fine only to find out Severin was doing a US edition the next month and that edition would have a better commentary track. Like a true fucking nerd I had to get this one to hear Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson talk about this movie. It was a good commentary and the movie looks a little better than the 88 Films version so I guess I'll take it as a win...

Demonia - [dir. Lucio Fulci, 1990] - My friend and I have been looking forward to this one for quite some time, but while I was hoping for something ok with flashes of very good, he mistakenly thought it'd be actually good. Well I'd say we were both disappointed. I know the context of where this fell in Fulci's life and the budget constraints and all that, but damn if this just wasn't mostly boring as hell for the first half. It feels so padded which is not something you normally see in a Fulci film. lot's of cut backs to the same shots, lots of stupid optical/lens effects for the sake of nothing and such terrible pacing. There's a few moments of almost wild gore here and there but they're used so ineffectually and they're so rushed it's more of a tease than a reward. Still, somehow, I was able to enjoy some of the atmosphere and feel only partially cheated by the poor execution of what could have been a more entertaining story. I will say some of the scenes reminded me of Tombs of the Blind Dead, so bonus points for that.

Byleth: The Demon of Incest – [dir. Leopoldo Savona, 1972] – Now this was a lot more fun than Demonia. Going to go into spoilers for this 29 year old movie, fyi. So the main character and his redhead sister, both aristocrats, used to fuck, but she comes back from a year of travel with a new swarthy Italian husband and no longer wants to put out for brother. He's dismayed and takes it out on all the redheads in town, killing them while "possessed" by Byleth. The murders are weak and the gore almost non-existent, but to make up for that there's a shitload of nudity and a lot of voyeurism centered around it. Pretty spicy for 1972. Plus the whole demon possession subplot is a nice little extra, especially with the backroom discussions of the pantheon of demons. Felt like I was listening to an Inquisition song at times. These elements come together to create a film that lies somewhere between erotic thriller, supernatural horror and pseudo-slasher. It's fast moving and fun and even has some decent costuming and location shooting. Reminded me a bit of The Slasher is the Sex Maniac, although not quite as miserable. Would definitely recommend it as a spot of fun unless you're only in it for the gore.
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TS

Quote from: A-Z on August 21, 2021, 04:44:21 AM
Possession by Andrzej Żuławski
Saw this one about 15 years and liked it quite a lot. Decided to revisit today... and wow. Just wow. This is not a just good movie, as I remembered it before. This is a GREAT movie.
Middle class white woman is unsatisfied with the current system, starts flirting with Marxism, but it's not enough either, so she comes up with a faith of her own, sacrifces everyone from establishement spooks and former commie friends to LGBT and fellow women, eventually creates a system that looks just like the one she rebelled against in the first place, only utterly inhumane on the inside, and thus brings about the end of the western civilization. Also, this interpretation is most likely entirely wrong and so are dozens of others you can find around the internet, and that's the beauty of it.

Whatever it means, it's fucking cool.
Kropper uten Mellomrom

aububs

Quote from: aububs on March 24, 2021, 09:50:59 PM
speaking of folk horror, this is incoming at some stage. 3hr documentary by kier-la janisse. apologies for the huge image



^^^this was incredible

absurdexposition

Primitive Isolation Tactics
Scream & Writhe distro and Absurd Exposition label
Montreal, QC
https://www.screamandwrithe.com

aububs

yeah that set is bananas

and expensive, i will not be buying it

Bruitiste

I really wanted to see the documentary and just took the plunge and ordered the whole box.  Too many intriguing things in there to pass up.

ConcreteMascara

Camp Blood VII @ The Mahoning Drive-In - the below films were all presented projected from original 35mm reels. They did not all age gracefully but it hardly mattered. My friends and I were able to make it two of the 4 days and it was a hell of a time.

9/4/21
The Slumber Party Massacre - [dir. Amy Holden Jones, 1982] - My second viewing, I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. I knew insane gore wouldn't be part of it, so I was disappointed. Instead you get a level of fun and silliness that reminds me of Pieces at times, although never that bizarre and baffling. But the killer and his weapon are still pretty silly. I also appreciate that the female characters have that feel of real characters, instead of insubstantial sketches. Or at least more than many slashers. A movie better suited to watching with friends than alone. The print we saw was pretty damaged, with the image being almost entirely amber in color.

Scream for Help - [dir. Michael Winner, 1984] - Easily the most baffling film of the weekend and maybe my favorite. This falls between after-school special, Last House on the Left and erotic murder mystery. Almost like a trash version of a Twin Peaks subplot The acting is all over the top, especially the lead teen character whose obsession with uncovering the misdeeds of her step-father gets all sorts of people killed and maimed. Her suspicions are correct but the collateral damage, whooo boy. Early highlight is when her friend gets hit and killed by a speeding car. Also there's a lot of pretty hardcore sex including full muff shots. And then there's the music composed by John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin which is some of the most overblown shit I've ever heard. I was laughing my ass off throughout this thing. I'd highly recommend this little obscure gym  

9/5/21
Silent Rage – [dir. Michael Miller, 1982] – A sorta-kinda slasher with Chuck Norris as the lead. Never been a big Chuck Norris fan but he was surprisingly fun and charming in this. There's a fun and very superfluous scene about halfway through where he kicks the ass of an entire biker gang in a bar that's very entertaining with really competent action stunts. The weirdo sci-fi, surgeons playing god plot that creates the main bad guy is weird and dumb but kinda fun, but their un-killable experiment does do a lot of rampaging. The biggest issue with this movie is the pacing and run time. It is a 103 minutes when it could have easily been edited into a tight 90 minutes. Also there's a major missed opportunity for a one-liner at the end. Chuck Norris throws the badguy down a well. He then slowly walks up to the well to peer down into it to confirm the badguy is there. He should have said either "Well...." Or "Well, well, well..." . It's a tragic waste.

10 to Midnight – [dir. J. Lee Thompson, 1983] – This one was a blast! The level of Dirty Harry right-wing maximum force cop bullshit, coupled with awesome performance from the serial killer and goofy dating sub-plot made for a hell of a romp. I guess this movie has a bit of reputation and I'd say it's earned. Again, a few minutes could've been shaved to keep the narrative tighter but I really have no major complaint. One I'd watch again and soon.

Jason X – [dir. James Isaac, 2001] – the only Jason film I have not seen, but I can't say I've really seen it now either. Right before the movie started a fog settled in at the drive-in which didn't lift even after the movie was over. So it was incredibly difficult to discern what was happening, made worse by the films aversion to any kind of normal lighting. I thought this was the sillies Friday the 13th film, even more so than Jason Goes to Hell, which I liked a lot more than I should have.

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ConcreteMascara

9/18
Malignant - [dir. James Wan, 2021] - I originally had no interest in this movie but after watching the "Half in the Bag" episode on it I knew I had to see it in the theaters. Truly it's one of the dumbest and most outrageous "horror" films ever put out by a big name director for a big studio. The script is painfully bad, the acting at least as bad. The set design is absurd and nonsensical. The lighting is ridiculously dark. The plot itself makes no fucking sense. And all of this coalesces into one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Everyone in the group I saw it with was howling with laughter. I was brought to literal tears. It's a top-tier good-bad movie. The best unintentional comedy of the year. And seeing it in theater with a bunch of people who felt the same way was the icing on the cake.

9/26
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master - [dir. Renny Harlin, 1988] - Didn't have high hopes for this one but damn if it isn't nearly as good as Dream Warriors. It's too bad they couldn't get Patricia Arquette back, but the replacement wasn't the worse ever. One the movie switches leads 1/3rd of the way in I was nervous it'd totally fall apart, and while the new girl isn't as good it stays on the rails. We're happily treated to a lot of dead teens and some fucking gruesome gore effects, and also a bitchin score. I don't really understand how the lead defeated Freddy but that's really the last important part. Definitely recommend this one, especially if you're a fan of Dream Warriors.

Skinner - [dir. Ivan Nagy, 1993] - Picked this up during the Severin mid-summer sale, and wow, this is some weird shit. Like a derivative love child of Silence of the Lambs and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Ted Raimi as a serial killer who skins prostitutes is a lot of fun. Whenever he really gets to ham it up the movie shines. Even more fun/absurd/hilarious is Traci Lords as the former victim "hunting" down Skinner, but so fucked up on heroin she's rendered almost completely ineffectual. While she manages to follow Skinner around the forgotten corners of LA, she inexplicably never follows him all the way home. I guess if she did the movie would be over in 10 minutes. Instead she stumbles around in a haze for 95% of the film. I don't know if Traci Lords had cleaned herself up at this point, or if the just filmed her during drug binges. Either way her performance is great/terrible. And then there's Ricki Lake who is just adorable as the put upon spouse. Most of the gore effects in this look a little too silly for my taste but there's a fair amount. It's a weird fragment of '90s psycho-sexual horror that's worth watching but won't set your world on fire.

Strip Nude For Your Killer - [dir. Andrea Bianchi, 1975] - Haven't seen this in over a decade but I remembered it as an exceptionally sleazy giallo and damn if it didn't live up to the memory. Edwige Fenech is a fucking peach in this film, but her boyfriend Carlo is such an incredible asshole. He has his moments of charm but mostly he's forcing himself on women, choking and slapping them and doing it all with a smile. Like something out of Jamie Gillis porno. The kills are fairly violent and gory, there's tits a plenty and the score is the right kind of swinging. Certainly no masterpiece, but definitely eazy-sleazy fun to enjoy.
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