Little Red Wagon Repairman
MFOMBSoPGA
Dan Curtis' Dracula starring Jack Palace.
What is the latest good film you watched ?
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10. The Blake Edwards film that introduced and launched [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] to superstardom. Not too long after watching Skin Deep, I could now handle a Blake Edwards comedy. Now knowing his trademark of physical comedy, it was interesting to see what exactly this film had, because everything I've seen is of Bo. Namely, the run of her and Dudley Moore's George Webber towards each other. It's amazing how watching the movie fills in the blanks. That sequence wasn't real, it was a daydream by George. Yes the movie's about a man with a midlife crisis, but I didn't know he was in a long relationship with [NOBABE]Julie Andrews[/NOBABE]. This was also my first film of hers, and I recognize her roles in Mary Poppins and The Sound Of Music. She could sing, so it was interesting that she lent her voice for this film. I just found out she was married to Blake Edwards, and that she's been in a lot of movies with him.
An interesting fact, according to imdb, is that when Bo read for the role, Blake Edwards and Tony Adams, the co-producer crossed their fingers and prayed, "Let her be able to act - please let her be able to act!" That's hilarious, and as it turned out, at least in my opinion, [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] can act. I thought she was good in Bolero, and Tarzan, The Ape Man, despite both films being infamous, and the latter to me is just boring.
Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" is an important song in the film, used during the love scene...attempted love scene, between Webber and Bo's Jane character. Derek's stage name of Bo is connected to that song. And that very song is even more connected to the movie Bolero, which [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] stars in. It's crazy thinking about all these connections.
So the stars aligned for her casting, and it helps that she was in fact, a 10. I didn't know why the movie was called that, and being that it was released in 1979, I thought, as a kid of the 90s and 2000s, that "10" and the rating system didn't exist back then. And according to George Webber, she isn't a 10. During a scene where he sees a shrink, he said that she's an 11 or maybe even a 12. So I'll settle on her being a 12. [NOBABE]Julie Andrews[/NOBABE]? 10. [NOBABE]Annette Haven, Constance Money, Dorothy LeMay[/NOBABE]? 10s, and I mentioned those names because they appeared in a big nude party scene. I only spotted LeMay though, I couldn't spot the other two, but I saw pictures confirming their appearances. Also in that party scene, I just found out, [NOBABE]Denise Crosby[/NOBABE]! And who else was in this film? Flash Gordon! Sam Jones, I didn't even recognize him, I guess the brunette look threw me off? I never even saw Flash Gordon. I saw Flesh Gordon.
Another, somewhat surprising thing, [NOBABE]Bo Derek's[/NOBABE] not in this film for long. She's introduced early on in the drive to her wedding with Sam Jones' David Henley. Then there's the wedding that George tripped around in. After that? Mexico, the iconic corn row look, and that's not until over an hour into the film! Despite the long layoff, she becomes a very important character, and is the one that turns George Webber around.
The story is Webber, a composer, is suffering from a midlife crisis. He can't get down with his wife, who is successful and is getting work as a stage actress, where he's not doing much. When he takes a look at Bo's Jane, he becomes infatuated with her. Before they really meet, the man fumbles around, figuratively and literally, in trying to cope with his problem. He spies on his neighbor, played by Don Calfa, who supplies the most nudity in the film. He gets into many sexual adventures, and the tables can even be turned, as Calfa and whoever he's with, would spy on Webber. Typically not being satisfied with what goes on in that bedroom. Not much.
I just read some more, Jamie Gillis was in that party scene. Jesus, almost everyone there must've did porn. There's the names already mentioned, so the others except Calfa and Crosby, were probably pornstars. Haven even helped out in that scene, casting and PM work. Anyways, there's lots of physical comedy that works really well. The fumbling around, the hilarious gibberish speech that George picked up after he got his 6 teeth fixed. What happened to cause that? He fumbled and fell down the steep hill that separates his house and the neighbor.
There's comedy throughout, but I think in the second hour, when George goes to Mexico to convalesce, that's when things turned into something more lovely. Compared to Skin Deep, the romance in that is pretty small. It's great, it's built up well, but the comedy to drama ratio is very large. Here, it's almost half and half. Things get serious in these Mexico scenes. Brian Dennehy pops up as a bartender that has some sage advice. The conversations he and Webber had were really nice. Dennehy makes an impression right away. Then Derek pops up, and it's focused on her, and another woman. [NOBABE]Dee Wallace [/NOBABE] as Mary is a fan of George Webber, they knew each other from the past, and she's the first woman George fancies to have sex with. This is where the film's interesting, George doesn't sleep around. He couldn't, but this being the first attempt as sleeping around, one thinks solely on Mary's problems. She thinks she's a lousy lay, and talks in great length about her flaccid stories with other men. That's weird to me because she looked hot.
Anyways, Mexico and the resort area, the beach, plays a great role in the film. It takes it into a peaceful territory, with room to absorb and get deeper into the story. The first hour was more like a comedy, with lots of nudity, rope in the viewer, then the next house is trying to get the viewer to think, to get the overall message. Bo is the object of desire for George, and they get connected when he saves Flash Gordon's life. The guy was sleeping on his surfboard, while the sea carried him far. That was a stupid mistake by Flash Gordon, but ah well. Bo's appreciative of this, and while Gordon's in the hospital, she's open for the kill.
The scene where they make love, is incredible. The lighting and camera work, the Bolero music playing, really shows movie nudity at its most tasteful. Not overbearing and pretentious, not too much and cheesy. It's just right, it helps in making Bo a sensual and lovely woman, when in hindsight, she's a bit of a horndog for older men. A pothead too, her room was 420. That second attempt at sleeping around, fails when neither individual could connect in that level. The beads got in George's face, Bo would rather ride, George would rather ride, it's funny and awkward. He realizes the error of his ways, and he tries to snap the horny blonde out of it. Not sure if it worked, but he tried. No more Bo after that. George realizes [NOBABE]Julie Andrews[/NOBABE] is important. He gets his urge to sing and play piano again, he does a great number, settles stuff with Mary, and finds out there's no place like home. Throughout the whole movie, communication between Samantha and George, is a joke. When they're not together, they simply can't talk to each other. Whether it's Samantha being busy, George's calls to her while he was healing from the dental work, falling down the hill and not making it to the phone on time, even him blowing off calls when he's toasting with Brian Dennehy after he saved Flash Gordon's life. Communication messed up their relationship, and communication pieced it back together in the end. With a lovely duet, and a tease of a stripping to sex scene, the film ends, and the neighbor is mad that George and Samantha supplied PG shit, when he supplied that X-rated stuff. That's what he said.
Fantastic movie, really funny, well paced, the 2 hours just flew by. Blake Edwards scores again for me. The nudity is fantastic, [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] was stunning, the acting all around is great. It's a classic, not just because of Bo in that swimsuit and wearing corn rows.
That was a few days ago I saw that. Yesterday though, I started my month of horror films. At least one famous horror film a day, as I try to stretch my horror movie fandom. The first film, The Exorcist. Probably starting with the best, because I've seen it top many best of horror lists, even "scariest." I wasn't scared, surprisingly. Startling, yes, some of the images just don't let up. I was a bit surprised how well I got on with [NOBABE]Linda Blair's[/NOBABE] character, because before this, I've seen her take her clothes off, and not really being a sympathetic character. This poor innocent girl suffers, and it's all thanks to that damn Ouija board! Father Karras, played by Jason Miller, his role was surprisingly major. I thought he just popped up in some scenes, and the older priest, would have a bigger role. It's the opposite for both. Before he gets involved with Reagan, Linda's character, he has some issues of his own. His mom's sanity dwindling, and then her death. That plays a big part when the Devil uses that loss against Karras later in the film.
The overall acting is amazing, [NOBABE]Ellen Burstyn[/NOBABE] as Chris stood out the most. She's just as important and Linda in the film, because she suffers a lot, and you see it in the face. She looks perfectly fine in the beginning, but as the film went on, her face looked more and more weathered. She was suffering, it showed, Reagan was suffering, and it showed, though more obviously. Also of course, Jason Miller was great as a priest/psychiatrist that was having doubts about his faith.
He does play skeptic when Chris tries to seek him out for an exorcism. Things turn around when Reagan acts up, and especially when he works with the older priest in doing the exorcism. That guy had serious patience, to do the exorcism while Satan used curse word after curse word. Some of that language in 1973, had to be shocking. It even used a word I never heard before. "Cunting." If I heard that right. I have seen Scary Movie 2 so many times, and since the film parodied The Exorcist, it was funny to look at the original scenes. When Reagan pees, a shorter scene than the big puddle the girl in Scary Movie 2 did. James Woods in that movie really looked like the older priest in this, it's kind of surprising.
I saw the 132 minute version by the way, so I guess I saw it all. Again, it wasn't scary for me, but awesome. The makeup, the effects, how some of those scenes came to play. The moving dresser, the chaotic room of floating objects, graphic stuff like Satan piercing Reagan's vagina with a crucifix. Just saying that sounds disgusting.
I've only seen William Friedkin's work in another movie, Killer Joe with Matthew McConaughey, and that film had a disgusting sense to it. But that is unique, modern too. This is different, and takes things to a supernatural level. The religious aspects of this film aren't shoved down the viewer's throat, the act of exorcism is for the child, not as a service to God. Anyways, the pacing is great, the music is awesome, some location images were really nice. The car stopping by Chris' house at night, very memorable, also spoofed in Scary Movie 2. Even when it ends, there's something lingering inside, it might look like a happy ending, but it's more of a relief kind. The final 20 minutes dominated by the priests and Reagan, was mentally draining. Like some other films, I came out feeling relieved, because it's a very hard hitting movie. That's why it's awesome, no letting up, uncompromising, that's what all movies should be.
And just today, continuing the month of horror, Night Of The Living Dead. I think the movie is timeless as far as the social commentary, that's very subtle. Some images, like that of the zombies, are legendary. However, I think some things in it, are obsolete. To be specific, aspects of the film through age, don't look as hard hitting as they probably were. For the most part, it falls on the acting. Everyone pretty much spoke loudly, and that's the case of a boom mic rearing its head. In very small parts, the zombies are comical.
There are just small little things to the film, overall, it's not too hurt by it. The big flaw, it hasn't aged perfectly. That doesn't make it a bad film at all. Even without comparing this to other zombie movies, there's something about it that's not overly menacing.
It's definitely a horror film, but I think there's a great deal of science fiction and drama to make this interesting. It's an indie film through and through, it looks like something made passionately. The biggest plus to the film is the atmosphere. I think that's what contributes the most to the horror. Some of the images are disturbing, but the music and parts with minimal sound, push the content further. It's like a soundtrack to Halloween really. It's spooky music, not gory horror, something to make you jump. It's something to play in a graveyard, and make the scenery grim. So yeah, music was damn good.
Some of the acting was really good. Duane Jones was awesome. I guess in 1968, a black man leading in a film is outrageous. He stands apart as a strong character, where everyone else have cracks. One of them, a middle aged guy, is just an ass. The other white guy is kind of dumb, [NOBABE]Judith O'Dea's[/NOBABE] Barbra becomes petrified, so she stands out too. The other blonde Judy doesn't stand out, and the asshole's wife doesn't either. They have a daughter that becomes the first to show the infected turning into zombies.
It's a short movie that doesn't drag. It really is a b-film, the budget didn't seem big, there's only a handful of locations, small cast, minimal makeup and effects. So as a b-film, it's awesome, it has replay quality. There are some aspects that are a bit dated. I'm interested in the remake by Tom Savini because that seems to refresh the plot, and I think switch the roles around, where a woman takes control this time. Of course there's the other zombie movies by George Romero. Dawn of the Dead, I can't wait to see that for the first time.
This movie comes off to me as gateway horror. Also a classic example of atmosphere in horror films. It's only the beginning, shit gets real in the 70s and 80s, and for the rest of time. Overall, great film, deserves the praise, for sure a classic. Easy to watch really. The social commentary, I should go back to that, is very subtle. Basically, who are the real monsters? Humans or zombies? There's the monologue by Duane Jones' character where he talked about escaping from, peaceful zombies? He mowed them down with his car. Such an awesome monologue, seriously, he's the best actor in that film. The ending is less subtle in the social commentary, but it's more jarring and actually shocked me. Duane Jones' character meets a sad ending, and it wasn't by zombies. It's fucked up, and I was thinking a racist tone to it from the people doing the killing, especially when they literally get their hooks on him. Not a pleasant film, not a pleasant ending, but it's very powerful and worth watching.
Really quick here, I just saw Commando Squad. Fred Olen Ray film, standard cheap 80s action film. I think the film stands out though because of two things. First, Brian Thompson is a lead in this. Now, coming off of Mortal Kombat Annihilation, where he was horribly miscast, his face looking weird, his left eye slanting big time, and overall not looking like a hulking fuck-off man that Shao Kahn is, I was curious how Thompson would fare here. Younger, with hair, and dialogue that isn't laughably bad or just plain bad. He basically succeeds at being a second rate version of 80s action stars. I think closer to John McClane, because he's not indestructible, but he can't die. And physique wise, he wasn't too big. In fact, not too different from Shao Kahn's build. Only younger and looking better. Better, in the sense of his character. He's a special agent, from some unnamed agency, that gets into trouble in Mexico. Someone is sent to help him out, after no communication with him for a long time. This brings me to the second thing, [NOBABE]Kathy Shower[/NOBABE] as Cat. This has to be her strongest character role. She doesn't get nude, she doesn't fuck around, she's basically a badass. I say this affectionately, a second rate [NOBABE]Sybil Danning[/NOBABE] with a black wig. I'm not sure why she wears the wig. If it's for disguise, it's not that strong. Someone can just pull it off, the long blonde hair discovered, nothing would change really. Anyways, she kicks ass, as much as Thompson. I think even more, because most of the time he gets stopped in his momentum, while Shower's character got more play. She opened the film even, so really, she's kind of the lead. She's second billed though, and once her mission is agreed upon, it does move into Thompson's part in the story. So at least 50/50. Definitely by badassery, it's not so split in the middle, [NOBABE]Kathy Shower[/NOBABE] wins. The only nudity in the film is from Anita, a liaison for the agency that has to help Thompson's character, but she ends up getting killed.
Some explosions, gun battles, even fights. Cat's fight with [NOBABE]Dawn Wildsmith[/NOBABE] who put on a hilarious and dodgy Spanish accent (she's pure white by the way) was great. Funny and entertaining. The villains are decent too. So, just a super solid action B-film, but where a woman kicks a lot of ass. Something that can only happen in the 80s through B-movies. I love it, without this angle, the movie would just be pretty by the numbers, but probably stand out a bit because of Thompson. He gets down and dirty in his own right.
Warning though, if you search for the movie. The quality is bad. The video I found wasn't sharp, not loud enough, needing to use a volume booster, and the coloring is dark. This begs for a remaster basically. Can you believe this movie on Amazon, in the new section, on VHS, goes for $226?! That's ridiculous, used versions are pocket change, but jeez. What's so special about a probably bad quality VHS? I should also add that my video had hardcoded subtitles. I guess Swedish, and thankfully there was only 1 bit of nudity, because the subtitles would've gotten in the way of boobs, butt, and bush. Anyways, nice movie. I'd watch it again.
An interesting fact, according to imdb, is that when Bo read for the role, Blake Edwards and Tony Adams, the co-producer crossed their fingers and prayed, "Let her be able to act - please let her be able to act!" That's hilarious, and as it turned out, at least in my opinion, [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] can act. I thought she was good in Bolero, and Tarzan, The Ape Man, despite both films being infamous, and the latter to me is just boring.
Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" is an important song in the film, used during the love scene...attempted love scene, between Webber and Bo's Jane character. Derek's stage name of Bo is connected to that song. And that very song is even more connected to the movie Bolero, which [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] stars in. It's crazy thinking about all these connections.
So the stars aligned for her casting, and it helps that she was in fact, a 10. I didn't know why the movie was called that, and being that it was released in 1979, I thought, as a kid of the 90s and 2000s, that "10" and the rating system didn't exist back then. And according to George Webber, she isn't a 10. During a scene where he sees a shrink, he said that she's an 11 or maybe even a 12. So I'll settle on her being a 12. [NOBABE]Julie Andrews[/NOBABE]? 10. [NOBABE]Annette Haven, Constance Money, Dorothy LeMay[/NOBABE]? 10s, and I mentioned those names because they appeared in a big nude party scene. I only spotted LeMay though, I couldn't spot the other two, but I saw pictures confirming their appearances. Also in that party scene, I just found out, [NOBABE]Denise Crosby[/NOBABE]! And who else was in this film? Flash Gordon! Sam Jones, I didn't even recognize him, I guess the brunette look threw me off? I never even saw Flash Gordon. I saw Flesh Gordon.
Another, somewhat surprising thing, [NOBABE]Bo Derek's[/NOBABE] not in this film for long. She's introduced early on in the drive to her wedding with Sam Jones' David Henley. Then there's the wedding that George tripped around in. After that? Mexico, the iconic corn row look, and that's not until over an hour into the film! Despite the long layoff, she becomes a very important character, and is the one that turns George Webber around.
The story is Webber, a composer, is suffering from a midlife crisis. He can't get down with his wife, who is successful and is getting work as a stage actress, where he's not doing much. When he takes a look at Bo's Jane, he becomes infatuated with her. Before they really meet, the man fumbles around, figuratively and literally, in trying to cope with his problem. He spies on his neighbor, played by Don Calfa, who supplies the most nudity in the film. He gets into many sexual adventures, and the tables can even be turned, as Calfa and whoever he's with, would spy on Webber. Typically not being satisfied with what goes on in that bedroom. Not much.
I just read some more, Jamie Gillis was in that party scene. Jesus, almost everyone there must've did porn. There's the names already mentioned, so the others except Calfa and Crosby, were probably pornstars. Haven even helped out in that scene, casting and PM work. Anyways, there's lots of physical comedy that works really well. The fumbling around, the hilarious gibberish speech that George picked up after he got his 6 teeth fixed. What happened to cause that? He fumbled and fell down the steep hill that separates his house and the neighbor.
There's comedy throughout, but I think in the second hour, when George goes to Mexico to convalesce, that's when things turned into something more lovely. Compared to Skin Deep, the romance in that is pretty small. It's great, it's built up well, but the comedy to drama ratio is very large. Here, it's almost half and half. Things get serious in these Mexico scenes. Brian Dennehy pops up as a bartender that has some sage advice. The conversations he and Webber had were really nice. Dennehy makes an impression right away. Then Derek pops up, and it's focused on her, and another woman. [NOBABE]Dee Wallace [/NOBABE] as Mary is a fan of George Webber, they knew each other from the past, and she's the first woman George fancies to have sex with. This is where the film's interesting, George doesn't sleep around. He couldn't, but this being the first attempt as sleeping around, one thinks solely on Mary's problems. She thinks she's a lousy lay, and talks in great length about her flaccid stories with other men. That's weird to me because she looked hot.
Anyways, Mexico and the resort area, the beach, plays a great role in the film. It takes it into a peaceful territory, with room to absorb and get deeper into the story. The first hour was more like a comedy, with lots of nudity, rope in the viewer, then the next house is trying to get the viewer to think, to get the overall message. Bo is the object of desire for George, and they get connected when he saves Flash Gordon's life. The guy was sleeping on his surfboard, while the sea carried him far. That was a stupid mistake by Flash Gordon, but ah well. Bo's appreciative of this, and while Gordon's in the hospital, she's open for the kill.
The scene where they make love, is incredible. The lighting and camera work, the Bolero music playing, really shows movie nudity at its most tasteful. Not overbearing and pretentious, not too much and cheesy. It's just right, it helps in making Bo a sensual and lovely woman, when in hindsight, she's a bit of a horndog for older men. A pothead too, her room was 420. That second attempt at sleeping around, fails when neither individual could connect in that level. The beads got in George's face, Bo would rather ride, George would rather ride, it's funny and awkward. He realizes the error of his ways, and he tries to snap the horny blonde out of it. Not sure if it worked, but he tried. No more Bo after that. George realizes [NOBABE]Julie Andrews[/NOBABE] is important. He gets his urge to sing and play piano again, he does a great number, settles stuff with Mary, and finds out there's no place like home. Throughout the whole movie, communication between Samantha and George, is a joke. When they're not together, they simply can't talk to each other. Whether it's Samantha being busy, George's calls to her while he was healing from the dental work, falling down the hill and not making it to the phone on time, even him blowing off calls when he's toasting with Brian Dennehy after he saved Flash Gordon's life. Communication messed up their relationship, and communication pieced it back together in the end. With a lovely duet, and a tease of a stripping to sex scene, the film ends, and the neighbor is mad that George and Samantha supplied PG shit, when he supplied that X-rated stuff. That's what he said.
Fantastic movie, really funny, well paced, the 2 hours just flew by. Blake Edwards scores again for me. The nudity is fantastic, [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] was stunning, the acting all around is great. It's a classic, not just because of Bo in that swimsuit and wearing corn rows.
That was a few days ago I saw that. Yesterday though, I started my month of horror films. At least one famous horror film a day, as I try to stretch my horror movie fandom. The first film, The Exorcist. Probably starting with the best, because I've seen it top many best of horror lists, even "scariest." I wasn't scared, surprisingly. Startling, yes, some of the images just don't let up. I was a bit surprised how well I got on with [NOBABE]Linda Blair's[/NOBABE] character, because before this, I've seen her take her clothes off, and not really being a sympathetic character. This poor innocent girl suffers, and it's all thanks to that damn Ouija board! Father Karras, played by Jason Miller, his role was surprisingly major. I thought he just popped up in some scenes, and the older priest, would have a bigger role. It's the opposite for both. Before he gets involved with Reagan, Linda's character, he has some issues of his own. His mom's sanity dwindling, and then her death. That plays a big part when the Devil uses that loss against Karras later in the film.
The overall acting is amazing, [NOBABE]Ellen Burstyn[/NOBABE] as Chris stood out the most. She's just as important and Linda in the film, because she suffers a lot, and you see it in the face. She looks perfectly fine in the beginning, but as the film went on, her face looked more and more weathered. She was suffering, it showed, Reagan was suffering, and it showed, though more obviously. Also of course, Jason Miller was great as a priest/psychiatrist that was having doubts about his faith.
He does play skeptic when Chris tries to seek him out for an exorcism. Things turn around when Reagan acts up, and especially when he works with the older priest in doing the exorcism. That guy had serious patience, to do the exorcism while Satan used curse word after curse word. Some of that language in 1973, had to be shocking. It even used a word I never heard before. "Cunting." If I heard that right. I have seen Scary Movie 2 so many times, and since the film parodied The Exorcist, it was funny to look at the original scenes. When Reagan pees, a shorter scene than the big puddle the girl in Scary Movie 2 did. James Woods in that movie really looked like the older priest in this, it's kind of surprising.
I saw the 132 minute version by the way, so I guess I saw it all. Again, it wasn't scary for me, but awesome. The makeup, the effects, how some of those scenes came to play. The moving dresser, the chaotic room of floating objects, graphic stuff like Satan piercing Reagan's vagina with a crucifix. Just saying that sounds disgusting.
I've only seen William Friedkin's work in another movie, Killer Joe with Matthew McConaughey, and that film had a disgusting sense to it. But that is unique, modern too. This is different, and takes things to a supernatural level. The religious aspects of this film aren't shoved down the viewer's throat, the act of exorcism is for the child, not as a service to God. Anyways, the pacing is great, the music is awesome, some location images were really nice. The car stopping by Chris' house at night, very memorable, also spoofed in Scary Movie 2. Even when it ends, there's something lingering inside, it might look like a happy ending, but it's more of a relief kind. The final 20 minutes dominated by the priests and Reagan, was mentally draining. Like some other films, I came out feeling relieved, because it's a very hard hitting movie. That's why it's awesome, no letting up, uncompromising, that's what all movies should be.
And just today, continuing the month of horror, Night Of The Living Dead. I think the movie is timeless as far as the social commentary, that's very subtle. Some images, like that of the zombies, are legendary. However, I think some things in it, are obsolete. To be specific, aspects of the film through age, don't look as hard hitting as they probably were. For the most part, it falls on the acting. Everyone pretty much spoke loudly, and that's the case of a boom mic rearing its head. In very small parts, the zombies are comical.
There are just small little things to the film, overall, it's not too hurt by it. The big flaw, it hasn't aged perfectly. That doesn't make it a bad film at all. Even without comparing this to other zombie movies, there's something about it that's not overly menacing.
It's definitely a horror film, but I think there's a great deal of science fiction and drama to make this interesting. It's an indie film through and through, it looks like something made passionately. The biggest plus to the film is the atmosphere. I think that's what contributes the most to the horror. Some of the images are disturbing, but the music and parts with minimal sound, push the content further. It's like a soundtrack to Halloween really. It's spooky music, not gory horror, something to make you jump. It's something to play in a graveyard, and make the scenery grim. So yeah, music was damn good.
Some of the acting was really good. Duane Jones was awesome. I guess in 1968, a black man leading in a film is outrageous. He stands apart as a strong character, where everyone else have cracks. One of them, a middle aged guy, is just an ass. The other white guy is kind of dumb, [NOBABE]Judith O'Dea's[/NOBABE] Barbra becomes petrified, so she stands out too. The other blonde Judy doesn't stand out, and the asshole's wife doesn't either. They have a daughter that becomes the first to show the infected turning into zombies.
It's a short movie that doesn't drag. It really is a b-film, the budget didn't seem big, there's only a handful of locations, small cast, minimal makeup and effects. So as a b-film, it's awesome, it has replay quality. There are some aspects that are a bit dated. I'm interested in the remake by Tom Savini because that seems to refresh the plot, and I think switch the roles around, where a woman takes control this time. Of course there's the other zombie movies by George Romero. Dawn of the Dead, I can't wait to see that for the first time.
This movie comes off to me as gateway horror. Also a classic example of atmosphere in horror films. It's only the beginning, shit gets real in the 70s and 80s, and for the rest of time. Overall, great film, deserves the praise, for sure a classic. Easy to watch really. The social commentary, I should go back to that, is very subtle. Basically, who are the real monsters? Humans or zombies? There's the monologue by Duane Jones' character where he talked about escaping from, peaceful zombies? He mowed them down with his car. Such an awesome monologue, seriously, he's the best actor in that film. The ending is less subtle in the social commentary, but it's more jarring and actually shocked me. Duane Jones' character meets a sad ending, and it wasn't by zombies. It's fucked up, and I was thinking a racist tone to it from the people doing the killing, especially when they literally get their hooks on him. Not a pleasant film, not a pleasant ending, but it's very powerful and worth watching.
Really quick here, I just saw Commando Squad. Fred Olen Ray film, standard cheap 80s action film. I think the film stands out though because of two things. First, Brian Thompson is a lead in this. Now, coming off of Mortal Kombat Annihilation, where he was horribly miscast, his face looking weird, his left eye slanting big time, and overall not looking like a hulking fuck-off man that Shao Kahn is, I was curious how Thompson would fare here. Younger, with hair, and dialogue that isn't laughably bad or just plain bad. He basically succeeds at being a second rate version of 80s action stars. I think closer to John McClane, because he's not indestructible, but he can't die. And physique wise, he wasn't too big. In fact, not too different from Shao Kahn's build. Only younger and looking better. Better, in the sense of his character. He's a special agent, from some unnamed agency, that gets into trouble in Mexico. Someone is sent to help him out, after no communication with him for a long time. This brings me to the second thing, [NOBABE]Kathy Shower[/NOBABE] as Cat. This has to be her strongest character role. She doesn't get nude, she doesn't fuck around, she's basically a badass. I say this affectionately, a second rate [NOBABE]Sybil Danning[/NOBABE] with a black wig. I'm not sure why she wears the wig. If it's for disguise, it's not that strong. Someone can just pull it off, the long blonde hair discovered, nothing would change really. Anyways, she kicks ass, as much as Thompson. I think even more, because most of the time he gets stopped in his momentum, while Shower's character got more play. She opened the film even, so really, she's kind of the lead. She's second billed though, and once her mission is agreed upon, it does move into Thompson's part in the story. So at least 50/50. Definitely by badassery, it's not so split in the middle, [NOBABE]Kathy Shower[/NOBABE] wins. The only nudity in the film is from Anita, a liaison for the agency that has to help Thompson's character, but she ends up getting killed.
Some explosions, gun battles, even fights. Cat's fight with [NOBABE]Dawn Wildsmith[/NOBABE] who put on a hilarious and dodgy Spanish accent (she's pure white by the way) was great. Funny and entertaining. The villains are decent too. So, just a super solid action B-film, but where a woman kicks a lot of ass. Something that can only happen in the 80s through B-movies. I love it, without this angle, the movie would just be pretty by the numbers, but probably stand out a bit because of Thompson. He gets down and dirty in his own right.
Warning though, if you search for the movie. The quality is bad. The video I found wasn't sharp, not loud enough, needing to use a volume booster, and the coloring is dark. This begs for a remaster basically. Can you believe this movie on Amazon, in the new section, on VHS, goes for $226?! That's ridiculous, used versions are pocket change, but jeez. What's so special about a probably bad quality VHS? I should also add that my video had hardcoded subtitles. I guess Swedish, and thankfully there was only 1 bit of nudity, because the subtitles would've gotten in the way of boobs, butt, and bush. Anyways, nice movie. I'd watch it again.
The Ice Harvest (2005)
The Martian.
Matt Damon's character Mark Watney is left on Mars for hundreds of sols, or Martian days (1 sol = 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds), with some living space, equipment, a rover, and limited food supplies. So, he has to "science the shit out of this". The cast, especially Damon, nicely deliver the script (mainly because it's excellent), and no one was overly dramatic. And [NOBABE]Kate Mara[/NOBABE] (of the much-hated recent Fantastic Four) with [NOBABE]Kristen Wiig[/NOBABE] (of SNL) get a serious career boost.
Thoroughly engaging. Why would you not watch it? Points for Ridley Scott.
Matt Damon's character Mark Watney is left on Mars for hundreds of sols, or Martian days (1 sol = 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds), with some living space, equipment, a rover, and limited food supplies. So, he has to "science the shit out of this". The cast, especially Damon, nicely deliver the script (mainly because it's excellent), and no one was overly dramatic. And [NOBABE]Kate Mara[/NOBABE] (of the much-hated recent Fantastic Four) with [NOBABE]Kristen Wiig[/NOBABE] (of SNL) get a serious career boost.
Thoroughly engaging. Why would you not watch it? Points for Ridley Scott.
Carrie. The original with Brian De Palma. More of this guy, and more proof how awesome a director he is, and knowing music. The music in this film is so damn good, it backs up all the moods various scenes exhibit. The centerpiece though is the actors. [NOBABE]Sissy Spacek[/NOBABE] as Carrie, a movie that should be shown to bullies. It's the best anti-bullying piece I've seen, especially since the anti-bullying PSA and campaigns these days suck.
[NOBABE]Sissy Spacek[/NOBABE] was awesome, I'm finding that in horror films that are highly derivative of each other, the victims, most of them being teens, are not interesting. They aren't likable at all. This being its own story, the victim is very likable, very sympathetic. On the other hand, the other victims are those that deserve it, the people that laughed at and bullied Carrie. The movie builds up to that big prom scene, but everything before it was really good, and teasers in comparison. I never thought I'd call [NOBABE]Nancy Allen[/NOBABE] a bitch, but damn, she was a total bitch in this movie. Great acting, that's for sure. Miss Collins was the only adult that gave a damn about Carrie, but in the prom scene, even she laughs, and I thought "You fucking cunt!" As it turned out, the only one who didn't die, was the only one who cared about Carrie through it all. [NOBABE]Amy Irving's[/NOBABE] Sue. Her boyfriend would count though, she asked him to take Carrie out to prom, and he ended up doing it for the best intentions. He did disappear seemingly after the big scene, he could've died, or not.
Carrie's bullied by her high school peers, and her religious zealot of a mother, played beautifully by [NOBABE]Piper Laurie[/NOBABE]. She discovers that she has telekinetic powers, and when she's insulted a lot, small instances of her powers come. Once the pig blood scene happens, that's all she wrote. John Travolta was in this, fucking knob he was in that film. Also good acting. The casting was interesting because these women are considerably older than high school age girls. [NOBABE]Nancy Allen[/NOBABE] and Sissy Spacek for example were in their mid to late 20s, for example. Even older than John Travolta! So despite the ages, they really fit into those high school senior roles.
When Carrie unleashes all her powers, it's absolutely amazing. The kills, the facial expressions by Spacek, the music, the coloring as most of the times it was red. The fire and destruction, just great. There's the stuff after it, also awesome, although I wonder how the end happened. Was it Carrie killing herself? Or did the house just fall apart randomly? Either way, everyone dies, except Sue, but she gets her own bad ending, nightmares. Brian De Palma scores again with me, awesome movie.
Maniac. It's basically 85 minutes of Joe Spinell scalping women. It's really that simple. There's a story to it, done very nicely for a very short movie. I know Spinell best as the loan shark from the first 3 Rocky movies. I forgot about his Godfather role and Taxi Driver. So imagine the realization of how long he went without sunglasses. That always seemed to be a trademark of his, and now getting his face uncovered, was interesting. Sad to read about how he died, but I do have to say, he looks like a rat. A dangerous rat, a rat scalping women.
He does this heavy breathing that's a bit creepy, antisocial, obvious mommy issues. He really does have them, but also his scalps women to adorn his mannequins. Why does he have mannequins? How did he get these mommy issues? There are vague answers, and that's perfectly fine. It's very straightforward, and it might be because of the director. William Lustig, who directed the Maniac Cop movies, straightforward movies in their own right. Well, the third one was a bit murky, but still. Joe Spinell co-wrote the film, and it really makes more sense how he was perfect for the role. He embodied it, and I think that with how he died, perhaps, he was a bit of a maniac. His response to his fatal blow made me think that, not calling the hospital and instead going to sleep. This is just according to wikipedia, it's sad and odd. He was going to write a sequel for the film too.
This is from 1980, and it perfectly set up what the 80s was going to have. Greatly executed kills, crazy slashers and murderers, victims left and right, and not taking time at all. Just streamlined and presented in brutal fashion. That being said, the other star of this film, [NOBABE]Caroline Munro[/NOBABE], doesn't appear until halfway into the film. Her role is basically the woman that got away, and she gets a longer term pursuit by Spinell's Frank Zito. Other girls were easy to catch and kill, yet Zito took his time with this girl. I think because she took pictures of him, maybe that intrigued him enough to get to know her, before trying to kill her. I should also mention Tom Saivini, he's the reason all the kills look the way they do. He even appears here just to get his head blown off! That was amazing, and again, 1980, head shots like that couldn't have been that insane back then. This was a year before Scanners, which I never saw, but I know about the head explosion in that.
The sole nudity on here, apparently came from a pornstar. The model that gets killed, [NOBABE]Abigail Clayton [/NOBABE]. I didn't know that, but my post-movie research was more fun as a result. Munro's character got to escape, and how she damaged Spinell was interesting. She ran, then suddenly slashed Zito with a shovel. I didn't expect the victim to make a violent comeback, immediately after running, and not for long too. Great setting with it being a cemetery. The ending is a bit vague, it was revealed that the scene where the mannequins come to live and kill Zito, was a dream. But then he had a hole in his stomach, looking like someone stabbed him there. No explanation for that, I assume he did it himself to fool the cops. They came by, thought he was dead, and left. Then Zito opened his eyes.
Awesome movie, offers a classic blueprint for, well, maniac murderers. Not really any flaws as far as the intent and delivery in the film, so it stands up to me as a classic film. I will watch the remake, Frodo scalping women? Sign me up.
Black Dynamite! First time watching that, brilliant film. Hilarious, intentional production flaws, lovely tribute to blaxploitation films that dominated the 1970s, modern cult film classic. What really separates it is Michael Jai White's martial arts skills. I haven't watched many blaxploitation flicks that this one seemed to pay tribute to. Only the Jack Hill/[NOBABE]Pam Grier[/NOBABE] ones, and two Jim Kelly ones. That's the thing, Michael Jai White and his martial arts kills, amazing. They take the film to more than just an overall brilliant comedy. Jim Kelly did the same thing, otherwise funny or action packed movies were better because he did his unique martial arts in them. Hell, in those films, he choreographed his own fights. So White kicking ass with a gun, his hands, and legs, makes him really take the film above what it might've aimed for. The plot was interesting because I expected one thing, got another, then got another., then one more thing These 4 main villains, were somehow tied together, and it was funny how. The first thing was Mike Starr as the drug dealer, but then he's offed in the middle of the film during a funny montage. Next is the CIA agent that betrayed Black Dynamite, then it's the Fiendish Dr. Wu, then it's a certain high ranking person in the US government. I think that's enough to say.
The fight scenes are really well done, but also hilarious. There was one where a bad guy is smacked in the head, didn't like it, then cut to a stunt double that looked nothing like the original, getting smacked! Again, these intentional production flaws that are amazing. There's also a boom mic popping in, and Michael Jai White even looking at it a couple times. The afros are awesome, the taches are sexy, the women are sexy. There's great nudity here, supplied by[NOBABE] Charlotte Stokely, Stacey Adams, Charmane Star, and Erika Vution[/NOBABE]. [NOBABE]Justine Joli[/NOBABE] also offers that plot, but in a deleted scene.
Black Dynamite is basically the equivalent of having your cake, and eating it too. It's easily now in my top 10 of best films I've seen in 2015. I fucking loved this.
The same can be said for [NOBABE]All The Marbles[/NOBABE], but for different reasons. Not so much a comedy, but rather a sports drama that seemed to be part of the ring fighter movie craze that popped up after Rocky. What makes it interesting is that it's not boxing. There's a feel of it though, with managers and drama that one has seen in Rocky and Raging Bull. But there's just so much heart in it, I felt it while watching this. Again, it's not boxing, it's wrestling. Wrestling treated as real, so it's not like The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke. It starred Peter Falk as the manager of a women's wrestling tag team, the California Dolls. Played by Vicki Frederick and Laurene Landon. The latter, is my current obsession as I've been watching movies of her, listening and watching interviews of her, and just learning about this interesting, quirky, amazing woman.
The story is basically how the California Dolls work the wrestling circuit. They manage alright in the beginning, sink to a real low by the middle, start a slow climb to the top, ending with an awesome final wrestling match. One that is around 30 minutes, the actual advertised length of the match, as it was a 30 minute time limit one. There are subplots that are really small, and handled a bit too easily. Landon's Molly character has a painkiller addiction, but she kicks it without any scene showing it. Just went cold turkey, no problem. Also, Vicki's Iris character and Falk's Harry character are apparently lovers. They have one scene where they intimately kiss and embrace, and that's it. So there just a few nitpicks, but overall, it's a wonderful movie.
It's rated R, but do feel good movies with that rating exist? I think it's a feel good movie. I felt good after watching it, really happy, almost emotional. It's so underrated, and I don't think it's so much a bias as a lapsed wrestling fan. I haven't watched it in over a year. Really, over a year, not even watching old wrestling, just total cold turkey. Even though I followed wrestling knowing that it's scripted, there's still the fact that it can supply amazing stories. An underdog story, fight to the top, following a person's journey, in this case a tag team. Hell, in this case, a female tag team! You think WWE would have something like this? Last I saw wrestling, they didn't give a shit about women's wrestling and tag teams! From what I've read, both seem to be getting a turnaround, but they have a really bad track record of dropping them like fads.
So watching this, it felt like I got what WWE should've been supplying, but failed to do so. That's where being a wrestling fan comes in, but I can still treat it as a story for just a movie fan. The fact the story is really easy to follow, relatable, and spread out well for something near 2 hours. I think one thing that truly sets it apart, is that the wrestling was real. Everything was choreographed, whoever you saw wrestling, were actually wrestling. Especially the California Dolls, Landon and Frederick were trained by Mildred Burke and two of her pupils, in preparation for the film. No doubles at all. There is some nudity in the mud wrestling scene, which is the tag team hitting rock bottom. Mrskin said Landon got nude. She didn't. There might've been a tiny slip of the nipples, but I'm not sure. Frederick and the woman she wrestled, full on topless. That's it though. So Hundra really is the only film where Landon got naked, topless to be specific, and even that was close to not happening. It only happened because Landon didn't like the double for that. She was opposed to nudity, learning about that is nice, understandable for sure. But it's not far out to say she would've got more work if she did nude scenes. Sad, but I think true. Still, what makes her unique and awesome and not needing to do nudity, is the fact she wants to do everything herself, no doubles and stuff. It's really admirable. Now, jeez, with her plastic explosives (that's what she really calls her enhanced boobs), and having no other work done, I'd love to see her bare the boobs in new movies. That's just pervert me typing.
Back to this movie, Burt Young appears here, unsurprisingly as a bit of a mafia guy, the shady guy in the wrestling business. He was nice in it, not really different from his Pauli role in the Rocky movies. Anyways, fantastic movie, underrated sports drama, paced really well, great wrestling. Women's wrestling in the 80s, looks exactly like how it was presented here. So, authentic. A lot of women tried out for wrestling roles, with [NOBABE]Kathleen Turner[/NOBABE] trying out too. Judging by the wrestling in the film, the casting was done right. There are some funny bits, but overall it's a lovely wrestling drama. Total respect to women's wrestling.
The House By The Cemetery. Great Italian horror film, with some funny dubbing. It was shot in English, but still got a looping treatment. The blonde boy, Bob, was absolutely funny sometimes. He screams like a girl, it makes me think a woman looped his voice, but nope. Thankfully no real animal killings, just a mechanical bat. Quick little movie, spooky house, I believe there are ghosts. I'm not sure what the little girl Mae and her "not too dead" mother was, I just think ghosts. It's never explicitly said. Anyways, spooky house becomes inhabited by husband and wife with their kid Bob. The house was previously inhabited by a Dr. Freudstein, who disappeared. The movie builds up to a big confrontation, as there's small creepy moments, then kills start popping up, and there's horror trickery throughout. When the murder reveals himself, it then shifts into a faster pace. The gore was really well done, neck slicing looked really realistic. The makeup on the murderer was damn good, and it's explained that he needs body parts off corpses in order to live as long as he wants. Something about cell replacement, but by body parts? Yeah the science in this is odd, but it's a horror movie first and foremost. It takes a bit of a while to get things really kicking, even for a movie around 85 minutes long, but it pays off in a great way.
Rambo: First Blood Part 2. What is there to say? Rambo has to go take pictures of POWs in Vietnam, but instead goes out to save them. He kicks ass, shoots arrows, guns, looks sweaty almost starts a relationship with [NOBABE]Julia Nickson's[/NOBABE] Co, but she's killed. That's an odd penchant of Sly. He co-wrote this with James Cameron of all people! I did not know that, but yeah, I know about his penchant of killing off characters. Apollo Creed, Mickie, Adrian. It's as if his main characters must always suffer losses, even if the characters are so iconic and legendary. I'm curious about Creed, if Stallone will kill off Rocky! That'd be something. Anyways, sweaty beefy man kicking ass, this is 80s movie porn. I love it.
Russ Meyer's Up! Awesome sex comedy. A lot of wank material, really funny stuff, a loose plot. Russ Meyer was a genius, he knew exactly what people really wanted. Camera work too, he shot his own stuff, edited too, and the big thing about his movies is how every single aspect of it has Russ Meyer's name on it. Very much an independent spirit in that regard. With big boob women like [NOBABE]Raven De La Croix, Kitten Natividad, and Candy Samples[/NOBABE], there's no shortage of awesome nudity.
Rosemary's Baby. Long, but very well paced. Also great makeup, I think, because [NOBABE]Mia Farrow's[/NOBABE] Rosemary gets in a period of sickness, and she looked awful. She appeared to have AIDS or something, it was hard to watch. So that's a huge compliment for the makeup, my goodness. Great acting overall though, I didn't even know John Cassavetes as an actor. I just knew him as a director. He did find as Rosemary's husband, and definitely nailed down being a bit of a twat very well. Very light musical touches, a great deal of buildup and some suspense. Oddly enough, the ending was really the least awesome part. I don't want to say "worst" part, it indicates I didn't like. I liked it, but it's kind of like when you are lead down this scary path. You're fearful but want to know how it ends, expecting something grand, something even more scary. Instead, you enter your house, and bam, surprise party! That's what I felt, the surprise party part here was just a bit too funny to take seriously. Hail Satan! Old people saying that, funny! It was a bit cartoonish, and Rosemary's decision in the end, though shows grim acceptance, is still itself, too odd. Definitely a classic though, and really telling about old people as neighbors. They are annoying.[NOBABE] Ruth Gordon's[/NOBABE] performance was great, but damn was she a pest in the movie. It's all revealed in the end though.
Definitely not a gorefest, very occult, but also very psychological. The horror is in the possibility of birthing a child incorrectly, and creating serious paranoia. As it turned out, everyone but maybe Dr. Hill, and Rosemary's friends, and the main character herself, are in on it. The mating scene was a bit comical, because the monster hands and arm, distract from the otherwise interesting scene.
Another classic movie, and Mia Farrow's butt looked great.
Lastly, Trancers. Great little sci-fi film that is only 76 minutes. Jack Deth, fantastic name by the way, goes back in time to take a thing, sorcerer or beast, or both, back to his time. So he had to go 1985, the the year this film came out. In 1985 is a really young [NOBABE]Helen Hunt[/NOBABE]! Who know she did B- films. I wonder she she looks at films like these with content and satisfaction. Nice effects too. There was one blatant filler scene to try and squeeze in the short scene.
These movies date back to Saturday, and end on Monday morning.
[NOBABE]Sissy Spacek[/NOBABE] was awesome, I'm finding that in horror films that are highly derivative of each other, the victims, most of them being teens, are not interesting. They aren't likable at all. This being its own story, the victim is very likable, very sympathetic. On the other hand, the other victims are those that deserve it, the people that laughed at and bullied Carrie. The movie builds up to that big prom scene, but everything before it was really good, and teasers in comparison. I never thought I'd call [NOBABE]Nancy Allen[/NOBABE] a bitch, but damn, she was a total bitch in this movie. Great acting, that's for sure. Miss Collins was the only adult that gave a damn about Carrie, but in the prom scene, even she laughs, and I thought "You fucking cunt!" As it turned out, the only one who didn't die, was the only one who cared about Carrie through it all. [NOBABE]Amy Irving's[/NOBABE] Sue. Her boyfriend would count though, she asked him to take Carrie out to prom, and he ended up doing it for the best intentions. He did disappear seemingly after the big scene, he could've died, or not.
Carrie's bullied by her high school peers, and her religious zealot of a mother, played beautifully by [NOBABE]Piper Laurie[/NOBABE]. She discovers that she has telekinetic powers, and when she's insulted a lot, small instances of her powers come. Once the pig blood scene happens, that's all she wrote. John Travolta was in this, fucking knob he was in that film. Also good acting. The casting was interesting because these women are considerably older than high school age girls. [NOBABE]Nancy Allen[/NOBABE] and Sissy Spacek for example were in their mid to late 20s, for example. Even older than John Travolta! So despite the ages, they really fit into those high school senior roles.
When Carrie unleashes all her powers, it's absolutely amazing. The kills, the facial expressions by Spacek, the music, the coloring as most of the times it was red. The fire and destruction, just great. There's the stuff after it, also awesome, although I wonder how the end happened. Was it Carrie killing herself? Or did the house just fall apart randomly? Either way, everyone dies, except Sue, but she gets her own bad ending, nightmares. Brian De Palma scores again with me, awesome movie.
Maniac. It's basically 85 minutes of Joe Spinell scalping women. It's really that simple. There's a story to it, done very nicely for a very short movie. I know Spinell best as the loan shark from the first 3 Rocky movies. I forgot about his Godfather role and Taxi Driver. So imagine the realization of how long he went without sunglasses. That always seemed to be a trademark of his, and now getting his face uncovered, was interesting. Sad to read about how he died, but I do have to say, he looks like a rat. A dangerous rat, a rat scalping women.
He does this heavy breathing that's a bit creepy, antisocial, obvious mommy issues. He really does have them, but also his scalps women to adorn his mannequins. Why does he have mannequins? How did he get these mommy issues? There are vague answers, and that's perfectly fine. It's very straightforward, and it might be because of the director. William Lustig, who directed the Maniac Cop movies, straightforward movies in their own right. Well, the third one was a bit murky, but still. Joe Spinell co-wrote the film, and it really makes more sense how he was perfect for the role. He embodied it, and I think that with how he died, perhaps, he was a bit of a maniac. His response to his fatal blow made me think that, not calling the hospital and instead going to sleep. This is just according to wikipedia, it's sad and odd. He was going to write a sequel for the film too.
This is from 1980, and it perfectly set up what the 80s was going to have. Greatly executed kills, crazy slashers and murderers, victims left and right, and not taking time at all. Just streamlined and presented in brutal fashion. That being said, the other star of this film, [NOBABE]Caroline Munro[/NOBABE], doesn't appear until halfway into the film. Her role is basically the woman that got away, and she gets a longer term pursuit by Spinell's Frank Zito. Other girls were easy to catch and kill, yet Zito took his time with this girl. I think because she took pictures of him, maybe that intrigued him enough to get to know her, before trying to kill her. I should also mention Tom Saivini, he's the reason all the kills look the way they do. He even appears here just to get his head blown off! That was amazing, and again, 1980, head shots like that couldn't have been that insane back then. This was a year before Scanners, which I never saw, but I know about the head explosion in that.
The sole nudity on here, apparently came from a pornstar. The model that gets killed, [NOBABE]Abigail Clayton [/NOBABE]. I didn't know that, but my post-movie research was more fun as a result. Munro's character got to escape, and how she damaged Spinell was interesting. She ran, then suddenly slashed Zito with a shovel. I didn't expect the victim to make a violent comeback, immediately after running, and not for long too. Great setting with it being a cemetery. The ending is a bit vague, it was revealed that the scene where the mannequins come to live and kill Zito, was a dream. But then he had a hole in his stomach, looking like someone stabbed him there. No explanation for that, I assume he did it himself to fool the cops. They came by, thought he was dead, and left. Then Zito opened his eyes.
Awesome movie, offers a classic blueprint for, well, maniac murderers. Not really any flaws as far as the intent and delivery in the film, so it stands up to me as a classic film. I will watch the remake, Frodo scalping women? Sign me up.
Black Dynamite! First time watching that, brilliant film. Hilarious, intentional production flaws, lovely tribute to blaxploitation films that dominated the 1970s, modern cult film classic. What really separates it is Michael Jai White's martial arts skills. I haven't watched many blaxploitation flicks that this one seemed to pay tribute to. Only the Jack Hill/[NOBABE]Pam Grier[/NOBABE] ones, and two Jim Kelly ones. That's the thing, Michael Jai White and his martial arts kills, amazing. They take the film to more than just an overall brilliant comedy. Jim Kelly did the same thing, otherwise funny or action packed movies were better because he did his unique martial arts in them. Hell, in those films, he choreographed his own fights. So White kicking ass with a gun, his hands, and legs, makes him really take the film above what it might've aimed for. The plot was interesting because I expected one thing, got another, then got another., then one more thing These 4 main villains, were somehow tied together, and it was funny how. The first thing was Mike Starr as the drug dealer, but then he's offed in the middle of the film during a funny montage. Next is the CIA agent that betrayed Black Dynamite, then it's the Fiendish Dr. Wu, then it's a certain high ranking person in the US government. I think that's enough to say.
The fight scenes are really well done, but also hilarious. There was one where a bad guy is smacked in the head, didn't like it, then cut to a stunt double that looked nothing like the original, getting smacked! Again, these intentional production flaws that are amazing. There's also a boom mic popping in, and Michael Jai White even looking at it a couple times. The afros are awesome, the taches are sexy, the women are sexy. There's great nudity here, supplied by[NOBABE] Charlotte Stokely, Stacey Adams, Charmane Star, and Erika Vution[/NOBABE]. [NOBABE]Justine Joli[/NOBABE] also offers that plot, but in a deleted scene.
Black Dynamite is basically the equivalent of having your cake, and eating it too. It's easily now in my top 10 of best films I've seen in 2015. I fucking loved this.
The same can be said for [NOBABE]All The Marbles[/NOBABE], but for different reasons. Not so much a comedy, but rather a sports drama that seemed to be part of the ring fighter movie craze that popped up after Rocky. What makes it interesting is that it's not boxing. There's a feel of it though, with managers and drama that one has seen in Rocky and Raging Bull. But there's just so much heart in it, I felt it while watching this. Again, it's not boxing, it's wrestling. Wrestling treated as real, so it's not like The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke. It starred Peter Falk as the manager of a women's wrestling tag team, the California Dolls. Played by Vicki Frederick and Laurene Landon. The latter, is my current obsession as I've been watching movies of her, listening and watching interviews of her, and just learning about this interesting, quirky, amazing woman.
The story is basically how the California Dolls work the wrestling circuit. They manage alright in the beginning, sink to a real low by the middle, start a slow climb to the top, ending with an awesome final wrestling match. One that is around 30 minutes, the actual advertised length of the match, as it was a 30 minute time limit one. There are subplots that are really small, and handled a bit too easily. Landon's Molly character has a painkiller addiction, but she kicks it without any scene showing it. Just went cold turkey, no problem. Also, Vicki's Iris character and Falk's Harry character are apparently lovers. They have one scene where they intimately kiss and embrace, and that's it. So there just a few nitpicks, but overall, it's a wonderful movie.
It's rated R, but do feel good movies with that rating exist? I think it's a feel good movie. I felt good after watching it, really happy, almost emotional. It's so underrated, and I don't think it's so much a bias as a lapsed wrestling fan. I haven't watched it in over a year. Really, over a year, not even watching old wrestling, just total cold turkey. Even though I followed wrestling knowing that it's scripted, there's still the fact that it can supply amazing stories. An underdog story, fight to the top, following a person's journey, in this case a tag team. Hell, in this case, a female tag team! You think WWE would have something like this? Last I saw wrestling, they didn't give a shit about women's wrestling and tag teams! From what I've read, both seem to be getting a turnaround, but they have a really bad track record of dropping them like fads.
So watching this, it felt like I got what WWE should've been supplying, but failed to do so. That's where being a wrestling fan comes in, but I can still treat it as a story for just a movie fan. The fact the story is really easy to follow, relatable, and spread out well for something near 2 hours. I think one thing that truly sets it apart, is that the wrestling was real. Everything was choreographed, whoever you saw wrestling, were actually wrestling. Especially the California Dolls, Landon and Frederick were trained by Mildred Burke and two of her pupils, in preparation for the film. No doubles at all. There is some nudity in the mud wrestling scene, which is the tag team hitting rock bottom. Mrskin said Landon got nude. She didn't. There might've been a tiny slip of the nipples, but I'm not sure. Frederick and the woman she wrestled, full on topless. That's it though. So Hundra really is the only film where Landon got naked, topless to be specific, and even that was close to not happening. It only happened because Landon didn't like the double for that. She was opposed to nudity, learning about that is nice, understandable for sure. But it's not far out to say she would've got more work if she did nude scenes. Sad, but I think true. Still, what makes her unique and awesome and not needing to do nudity, is the fact she wants to do everything herself, no doubles and stuff. It's really admirable. Now, jeez, with her plastic explosives (that's what she really calls her enhanced boobs), and having no other work done, I'd love to see her bare the boobs in new movies. That's just pervert me typing.
Back to this movie, Burt Young appears here, unsurprisingly as a bit of a mafia guy, the shady guy in the wrestling business. He was nice in it, not really different from his Pauli role in the Rocky movies. Anyways, fantastic movie, underrated sports drama, paced really well, great wrestling. Women's wrestling in the 80s, looks exactly like how it was presented here. So, authentic. A lot of women tried out for wrestling roles, with [NOBABE]Kathleen Turner[/NOBABE] trying out too. Judging by the wrestling in the film, the casting was done right. There are some funny bits, but overall it's a lovely wrestling drama. Total respect to women's wrestling.
The House By The Cemetery. Great Italian horror film, with some funny dubbing. It was shot in English, but still got a looping treatment. The blonde boy, Bob, was absolutely funny sometimes. He screams like a girl, it makes me think a woman looped his voice, but nope. Thankfully no real animal killings, just a mechanical bat. Quick little movie, spooky house, I believe there are ghosts. I'm not sure what the little girl Mae and her "not too dead" mother was, I just think ghosts. It's never explicitly said. Anyways, spooky house becomes inhabited by husband and wife with their kid Bob. The house was previously inhabited by a Dr. Freudstein, who disappeared. The movie builds up to a big confrontation, as there's small creepy moments, then kills start popping up, and there's horror trickery throughout. When the murder reveals himself, it then shifts into a faster pace. The gore was really well done, neck slicing looked really realistic. The makeup on the murderer was damn good, and it's explained that he needs body parts off corpses in order to live as long as he wants. Something about cell replacement, but by body parts? Yeah the science in this is odd, but it's a horror movie first and foremost. It takes a bit of a while to get things really kicking, even for a movie around 85 minutes long, but it pays off in a great way.
Rambo: First Blood Part 2. What is there to say? Rambo has to go take pictures of POWs in Vietnam, but instead goes out to save them. He kicks ass, shoots arrows, guns, looks sweaty almost starts a relationship with [NOBABE]Julia Nickson's[/NOBABE] Co, but she's killed. That's an odd penchant of Sly. He co-wrote this with James Cameron of all people! I did not know that, but yeah, I know about his penchant of killing off characters. Apollo Creed, Mickie, Adrian. It's as if his main characters must always suffer losses, even if the characters are so iconic and legendary. I'm curious about Creed, if Stallone will kill off Rocky! That'd be something. Anyways, sweaty beefy man kicking ass, this is 80s movie porn. I love it.
Russ Meyer's Up! Awesome sex comedy. A lot of wank material, really funny stuff, a loose plot. Russ Meyer was a genius, he knew exactly what people really wanted. Camera work too, he shot his own stuff, edited too, and the big thing about his movies is how every single aspect of it has Russ Meyer's name on it. Very much an independent spirit in that regard. With big boob women like [NOBABE]Raven De La Croix, Kitten Natividad, and Candy Samples[/NOBABE], there's no shortage of awesome nudity.
Rosemary's Baby. Long, but very well paced. Also great makeup, I think, because [NOBABE]Mia Farrow's[/NOBABE] Rosemary gets in a period of sickness, and she looked awful. She appeared to have AIDS or something, it was hard to watch. So that's a huge compliment for the makeup, my goodness. Great acting overall though, I didn't even know John Cassavetes as an actor. I just knew him as a director. He did find as Rosemary's husband, and definitely nailed down being a bit of a twat very well. Very light musical touches, a great deal of buildup and some suspense. Oddly enough, the ending was really the least awesome part. I don't want to say "worst" part, it indicates I didn't like. I liked it, but it's kind of like when you are lead down this scary path. You're fearful but want to know how it ends, expecting something grand, something even more scary. Instead, you enter your house, and bam, surprise party! That's what I felt, the surprise party part here was just a bit too funny to take seriously. Hail Satan! Old people saying that, funny! It was a bit cartoonish, and Rosemary's decision in the end, though shows grim acceptance, is still itself, too odd. Definitely a classic though, and really telling about old people as neighbors. They are annoying.[NOBABE] Ruth Gordon's[/NOBABE] performance was great, but damn was she a pest in the movie. It's all revealed in the end though.
Definitely not a gorefest, very occult, but also very psychological. The horror is in the possibility of birthing a child incorrectly, and creating serious paranoia. As it turned out, everyone but maybe Dr. Hill, and Rosemary's friends, and the main character herself, are in on it. The mating scene was a bit comical, because the monster hands and arm, distract from the otherwise interesting scene.
Another classic movie, and Mia Farrow's butt looked great.
Lastly, Trancers. Great little sci-fi film that is only 76 minutes. Jack Deth, fantastic name by the way, goes back in time to take a thing, sorcerer or beast, or both, back to his time. So he had to go 1985, the the year this film came out. In 1985 is a really young [NOBABE]Helen Hunt[/NOBABE]! Who know she did B- films. I wonder she she looks at films like these with content and satisfaction. Nice effects too. There was one blatant filler scene to try and squeeze in the short scene.
These movies date back to Saturday, and end on Monday morning.
HELL - A German film. Takes place in 2016. Scary scenario. Pretty decent film.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Luxman
#TRE45ON
300: Rise of an Empire (2014), good action, and Eva Green is always awesome.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1253863
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1253863
Funny Games (1997)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Unfortunately I saw the 83 minute version, but I want to watch the 88 minute unrated version. I guess I'm sick like that. I will see the 88 minute version tomorrow at the least, so I won't comment much further. For the 83 minute version, awesome. Moves very quick, but Franklin and some bits by his sole surviving sister, is hilarious. Some creepy imagery, great sound effects. At least with the hammer bopping people in the head, it just came off really well. The chainsaw bits of course go without saying.
Castle Freak, the third collaboration between director/co-writer Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, and [NOBABE]Barbara Crampton[/NOBABE]. I keep thinking Combs is like Nicolas Cage, only more likable. The comparison is with the overacting, but Combs manages not to be embarrassing like Cage can be. He's just a presence when he's let loose. Also underrated is Crampton, who can really act, and while she's awesome in these horror films, I could totally see her as a dramatic actor. I have more fun watching her than [NOBABE]Julia Roberts[/NOBABE], or other veteran actresses of today. This is the debut feature film, and the last acting credit for Jessica Dollarhide, as she played Crampton and Combs' daughter. I don't think it's hard to grasp why she didn't get more work. She wasn't too good. She was alright with playing a blind girl, but dialogue wise, she can't hold a candle to her co-stars. In fact she gets a bit comical towards the end when she banged on about her fantasies, when her mother was out to hunt for the freak.
The freak, that's how I call it. There's an identity to the freak, and the movie's not some wanky mystery film. Well, it is parts mystery, but doesn't tease too much or just flat out not solve itself. It's a son of a duchess, who owned the castle in Italy that Combs inherited. I guess the duchess is Combs' John Reilly's aunt. She ended up having a thing with his father, but he went for her sister, John's mom. So she tortures her son for years until she died. It was thought the son died at 5, but he was just in captivity for 40 years. That's important to bring up because towards the end, the freak gropes and wants to pork John's daughter. She is under 18, going by the character, not the actress. So, that is pedophilia!
There aren't a lot of locations to this, maybe a low budget deal, but when you shoot inside a real castle in Italy, there isn't much else necessary. The castle belonged to executive producer Charles Band, got a sweet deal on that. Reading the imdb trivia, the cast and crew cleaned up the blood and body parts for when the Band family reunited.
Speaking of Italy, the dubbing on here is really clear, even the American actors get it. Something I learned from a review of a certain Italian horror film I'll mention later, it was common for Italian filmmakers to film the actors speaking their native language, and just dub over it all with one language for each country of distribution. So maybe this film had the same treatment.
The highlights are the same as the other Stuart Gordon films I've seen, Re-Animator and From Beyond. Special effects and makeup. The work on this is fantastic, making the freak look like a deformed monstrosity with no dick, took talent. They used actual brain matter, according to imdb. It mentioned the "climax." I'm not sure what that exactly was, because I think it might've been used in the dead body of the caretaker of the castle. I don't know, but whatever the case, the blood and gore is very well done. Some nice music, the use of thunderstorms is great.
Story wise, there's a lot for the two leads to pick and make the best of, especially Combs. He just goes nuts and over the top when any other actor would tone it down. Like when he flips out at the bald cop who had him arrested, he keeps making it clear that he didn't kill the whore and caretaker (who was the sister of his lawyer). He did fuck the whore, when he said it like that, he got whacked in the head with a nightstick.
The adult Reilly's are in the middle of a bad marriage caused by the drunk driving caused death of their son, done by John. So they don't get along for most of the film, making things interesting as the more horror oriented storyline slowly develops. Crampton also stands up to the freak towards the end, that was pretty awesome. No nudity though, she teased showing breast to the freak, because the monster is really a horndog (he ate out the whore's pussy, after her boob was chewed up!). The ending just confirmed the belief that Jeffrey Combs always dies in Stuart Gordon films. He sure has awesome deaths.
Great movie, not as good as Re-Animator and From Beyond, but no problem. The former film is just untouchable, one of the best films I've seen this year.
Skin Trade. It's on Netflix, great little 80s inspired action film with some 80s stars. Dolph Lundgren and Peter Weller for example. The latter though isn't in this for long. Lundgren co-produced and co-wrote it, and thus helped in making himself look badass. Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Ron Perlman, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa! Holy cow, you can make an Expendables film out of these names. White and Jaa even have a great fight scene. Simple revenge tale involving the human trafficking in Asia and Eastern Europe. Blood, guns, boobs, very nice. Thai boobs, most of the film takes place in Thailand. In fact there's a familiar location that I believe was in Ong Bak. Jaa spoke some English in the film, and there's obviously a language barrier, but he tries, so fair play. Interesting ending because Lundgren doesn't get what he's looking for, it leaves on him continuing that search. Perlman went for a Russian accent, and does really well there, but he breaks it in one specific moment, telling the helicopter pilot to go. The slow motion was different to what I've seen, could've toned it down though, but overall it was fine.
Suspiria, that's the Italian film I referred to earlier. My first Dario Argento film, and apparently the most famous and well regarded one. I can see why, it looks stunning, it sounds amazing. I thought the music sounded like a redo of the original music, and it's put in many years after the fact. It sounded like the intro pieces to bands like Cradle Of Filth, so it was amazing that it was the original music! I think too that the blu-ray version I saw, the remaster job helps bring these visual and audio features to the most perfect place possible.
The plot though is very simple, Jessica Harper as Suzy Bannion, American girl going to a high end Italian dance academy. That dance academy also doubles as a dormitory for the students, the location is just massive. You can lose yourself in there, and that's not even mentioning the colors. It was done in technicolor, which explains how vibrant it was. The blood effect plays to this, it almost looks like paint. Some 70s films make it obvious they used some paint, or just some really thick liquid for blood, but here, it's done so well. For example, when the blind guy is killed by his own watchdog, the blood on his pale body is striking.
Jessica Harper was absolutely beautiful, adorable, cute, and she didn't get nude at all. There's no nudity in here, but it's rated X. I think because of the kills, which for 1977, must've been over the top. The deaths aren't gory, but I think the visuals and sounds make them look disturbing. So is the makeup of the dead bodies. The first kill for example is a lynching, and it looks so realistic. Another girl dies, a large shard of glass sticking out of her face. But she kind of kills it with the breathing. Now going into nitpicking, the bat in a later scene, this is where blu-ray and HD exposes too much. Look at the shadows, obviously a string, a whole puppet job there. Again with the sounds, the bat was taken seriously based on how scary it sounded.
Language wise, I saw the English dub, and definitely with Harper, she spoke English. Meanwhile some speak Italian, and they even forgot to dub in 2 maids towards the end. They spoke English a bit, but when they were working in the kitchen, no change from the Italian. Back to the plot, deaths happen, Harper investigates and learns about witches and covens, and this matches with her suspicions of the faculty members of the dance academy. It's not hard to grasp what she discovers. Again, simple plot, the true highlights were the visuals and sounds. The ending was a bit funny, basically walking out of a burning building and smiling and laughing away, let's just say that.
Fantastic movie because of the high positives, as well as the kills, some of the acting, and the pacing is really good. Not too slow, not too fast, a little over 90 minutes of audio and video chocolate.
From chocolate to eating a sour flavored piece of charcoal, Nekromantik. A German film that was blatantly made to rebel against the German film rating system. The director didn't even aspire to be a filmmaker, but here is the film. 71 minutes, necrophilia and animal deaths. That's pretty much it. There was one animal death that is definitely real, but the other, pretty fake. The real death was stock footage of a rabbit being stabbed, skinned, and the footage was apparently played in reverse after the original footage played. It was randomly placed, it had nothing to do with the plot, it's fowl, disgusting, but it helps in making the film true horror. A horror for this viewer to watch. However, the flaw is that it actually overshadows the necrophilia, because it's real, and it's more vile. The corpse that played a central part in the film, the bleeding penis, the woman with her entire bottom half apart from the top half, all the effects and makeup, was awesome. For a low budget film, it seemed to be, the film magic tricks for this film really make it a great watch overall. Once getting over the rabbit death, it's not as difficult as Cannibal Holocaust. In fact, the corpse kind of looked like an alien, but it still looks gross. Betty has a sex scene with that. Yep, there's some really brash stuff in the film. However, like Suspiria, it's a film that is elevated by the visuals. Suspiria is a far better, more comfortable watch, at least for a horror film, but both are similar in an attention to detail level. It's funny how I basically double featured them too. Anyways, there's a cat death scene, that's fake, but still a bit hard to see. If a dog got killed like the cat was, I'd be struggling to continue watching the film. There's some cannibalism too, but I couldn't really tell at first. There's one scene where the main guy, who worked out of a street cleaning agency that handles death scenes, and his girl Betty, ate meat. I think that was from the corpse they had a 3some with, but the meat looks like steak. So I'm not even sure if the steak played human innards. The same main character feasts on cat insides, so yeah, not too far off from cannibalism.
Characters, it's hard to really like any of them. This isn't a slasher film though, nor some haunted house one. Therefore you don't have to get on with the main characters. As a matter of fact, you're supposed to be horrified of them, or just hate them. So it's not about the characters, but what they do that's just a chore to watch. I managed though through this more easily than Cannibal Holocaust. I've gotten enough animal deaths though from that film and Faces of Death, seeing more here was just, too much.
So as a horror movie, it's definitely great in shocking and making the viewer feel uncomfortable. As a film in general, it has the merits of being well done in a visual level, but that's about it. It will/should not been se by that kind of general audience, only deep rooted horror film fams would dig it. I'm only getting into horror, and I dig it. Not as much as Suspiria of course.
There's kind of a comedy scene where a guy climbs a ladder, it's totally random. Picking apples from a tree, he falls, breaks his neck, dies. It did nothing for the plot, and the guy did the whole post-death nerve response. It looked like he was trying to hump the rake. So yeah, there's some funny bits here, but it's not a comedy at all.
Oh and there's ejaculating blood in the film. That's all that needs to be said on that. Great horror film.
Castle Freak, the third collaboration between director/co-writer Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, and [NOBABE]Barbara Crampton[/NOBABE]. I keep thinking Combs is like Nicolas Cage, only more likable. The comparison is with the overacting, but Combs manages not to be embarrassing like Cage can be. He's just a presence when he's let loose. Also underrated is Crampton, who can really act, and while she's awesome in these horror films, I could totally see her as a dramatic actor. I have more fun watching her than [NOBABE]Julia Roberts[/NOBABE], or other veteran actresses of today. This is the debut feature film, and the last acting credit for Jessica Dollarhide, as she played Crampton and Combs' daughter. I don't think it's hard to grasp why she didn't get more work. She wasn't too good. She was alright with playing a blind girl, but dialogue wise, she can't hold a candle to her co-stars. In fact she gets a bit comical towards the end when she banged on about her fantasies, when her mother was out to hunt for the freak.
The freak, that's how I call it. There's an identity to the freak, and the movie's not some wanky mystery film. Well, it is parts mystery, but doesn't tease too much or just flat out not solve itself. It's a son of a duchess, who owned the castle in Italy that Combs inherited. I guess the duchess is Combs' John Reilly's aunt. She ended up having a thing with his father, but he went for her sister, John's mom. So she tortures her son for years until she died. It was thought the son died at 5, but he was just in captivity for 40 years. That's important to bring up because towards the end, the freak gropes and wants to pork John's daughter. She is under 18, going by the character, not the actress. So, that is pedophilia!
There aren't a lot of locations to this, maybe a low budget deal, but when you shoot inside a real castle in Italy, there isn't much else necessary. The castle belonged to executive producer Charles Band, got a sweet deal on that. Reading the imdb trivia, the cast and crew cleaned up the blood and body parts for when the Band family reunited.
Speaking of Italy, the dubbing on here is really clear, even the American actors get it. Something I learned from a review of a certain Italian horror film I'll mention later, it was common for Italian filmmakers to film the actors speaking their native language, and just dub over it all with one language for each country of distribution. So maybe this film had the same treatment.
The highlights are the same as the other Stuart Gordon films I've seen, Re-Animator and From Beyond. Special effects and makeup. The work on this is fantastic, making the freak look like a deformed monstrosity with no dick, took talent. They used actual brain matter, according to imdb. It mentioned the "climax." I'm not sure what that exactly was, because I think it might've been used in the dead body of the caretaker of the castle. I don't know, but whatever the case, the blood and gore is very well done. Some nice music, the use of thunderstorms is great.
Story wise, there's a lot for the two leads to pick and make the best of, especially Combs. He just goes nuts and over the top when any other actor would tone it down. Like when he flips out at the bald cop who had him arrested, he keeps making it clear that he didn't kill the whore and caretaker (who was the sister of his lawyer). He did fuck the whore, when he said it like that, he got whacked in the head with a nightstick.
The adult Reilly's are in the middle of a bad marriage caused by the drunk driving caused death of their son, done by John. So they don't get along for most of the film, making things interesting as the more horror oriented storyline slowly develops. Crampton also stands up to the freak towards the end, that was pretty awesome. No nudity though, she teased showing breast to the freak, because the monster is really a horndog (he ate out the whore's pussy, after her boob was chewed up!). The ending just confirmed the belief that Jeffrey Combs always dies in Stuart Gordon films. He sure has awesome deaths.
Great movie, not as good as Re-Animator and From Beyond, but no problem. The former film is just untouchable, one of the best films I've seen this year.
Skin Trade. It's on Netflix, great little 80s inspired action film with some 80s stars. Dolph Lundgren and Peter Weller for example. The latter though isn't in this for long. Lundgren co-produced and co-wrote it, and thus helped in making himself look badass. Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Ron Perlman, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa! Holy cow, you can make an Expendables film out of these names. White and Jaa even have a great fight scene. Simple revenge tale involving the human trafficking in Asia and Eastern Europe. Blood, guns, boobs, very nice. Thai boobs, most of the film takes place in Thailand. In fact there's a familiar location that I believe was in Ong Bak. Jaa spoke some English in the film, and there's obviously a language barrier, but he tries, so fair play. Interesting ending because Lundgren doesn't get what he's looking for, it leaves on him continuing that search. Perlman went for a Russian accent, and does really well there, but he breaks it in one specific moment, telling the helicopter pilot to go. The slow motion was different to what I've seen, could've toned it down though, but overall it was fine.
Suspiria, that's the Italian film I referred to earlier. My first Dario Argento film, and apparently the most famous and well regarded one. I can see why, it looks stunning, it sounds amazing. I thought the music sounded like a redo of the original music, and it's put in many years after the fact. It sounded like the intro pieces to bands like Cradle Of Filth, so it was amazing that it was the original music! I think too that the blu-ray version I saw, the remaster job helps bring these visual and audio features to the most perfect place possible.
The plot though is very simple, Jessica Harper as Suzy Bannion, American girl going to a high end Italian dance academy. That dance academy also doubles as a dormitory for the students, the location is just massive. You can lose yourself in there, and that's not even mentioning the colors. It was done in technicolor, which explains how vibrant it was. The blood effect plays to this, it almost looks like paint. Some 70s films make it obvious they used some paint, or just some really thick liquid for blood, but here, it's done so well. For example, when the blind guy is killed by his own watchdog, the blood on his pale body is striking.
Jessica Harper was absolutely beautiful, adorable, cute, and she didn't get nude at all. There's no nudity in here, but it's rated X. I think because of the kills, which for 1977, must've been over the top. The deaths aren't gory, but I think the visuals and sounds make them look disturbing. So is the makeup of the dead bodies. The first kill for example is a lynching, and it looks so realistic. Another girl dies, a large shard of glass sticking out of her face. But she kind of kills it with the breathing. Now going into nitpicking, the bat in a later scene, this is where blu-ray and HD exposes too much. Look at the shadows, obviously a string, a whole puppet job there. Again with the sounds, the bat was taken seriously based on how scary it sounded.
Language wise, I saw the English dub, and definitely with Harper, she spoke English. Meanwhile some speak Italian, and they even forgot to dub in 2 maids towards the end. They spoke English a bit, but when they were working in the kitchen, no change from the Italian. Back to the plot, deaths happen, Harper investigates and learns about witches and covens, and this matches with her suspicions of the faculty members of the dance academy. It's not hard to grasp what she discovers. Again, simple plot, the true highlights were the visuals and sounds. The ending was a bit funny, basically walking out of a burning building and smiling and laughing away, let's just say that.
Fantastic movie because of the high positives, as well as the kills, some of the acting, and the pacing is really good. Not too slow, not too fast, a little over 90 minutes of audio and video chocolate.
From chocolate to eating a sour flavored piece of charcoal, Nekromantik. A German film that was blatantly made to rebel against the German film rating system. The director didn't even aspire to be a filmmaker, but here is the film. 71 minutes, necrophilia and animal deaths. That's pretty much it. There was one animal death that is definitely real, but the other, pretty fake. The real death was stock footage of a rabbit being stabbed, skinned, and the footage was apparently played in reverse after the original footage played. It was randomly placed, it had nothing to do with the plot, it's fowl, disgusting, but it helps in making the film true horror. A horror for this viewer to watch. However, the flaw is that it actually overshadows the necrophilia, because it's real, and it's more vile. The corpse that played a central part in the film, the bleeding penis, the woman with her entire bottom half apart from the top half, all the effects and makeup, was awesome. For a low budget film, it seemed to be, the film magic tricks for this film really make it a great watch overall. Once getting over the rabbit death, it's not as difficult as Cannibal Holocaust. In fact, the corpse kind of looked like an alien, but it still looks gross. Betty has a sex scene with that. Yep, there's some really brash stuff in the film. However, like Suspiria, it's a film that is elevated by the visuals. Suspiria is a far better, more comfortable watch, at least for a horror film, but both are similar in an attention to detail level. It's funny how I basically double featured them too. Anyways, there's a cat death scene, that's fake, but still a bit hard to see. If a dog got killed like the cat was, I'd be struggling to continue watching the film. There's some cannibalism too, but I couldn't really tell at first. There's one scene where the main guy, who worked out of a street cleaning agency that handles death scenes, and his girl Betty, ate meat. I think that was from the corpse they had a 3some with, but the meat looks like steak. So I'm not even sure if the steak played human innards. The same main character feasts on cat insides, so yeah, not too far off from cannibalism.
Characters, it's hard to really like any of them. This isn't a slasher film though, nor some haunted house one. Therefore you don't have to get on with the main characters. As a matter of fact, you're supposed to be horrified of them, or just hate them. So it's not about the characters, but what they do that's just a chore to watch. I managed though through this more easily than Cannibal Holocaust. I've gotten enough animal deaths though from that film and Faces of Death, seeing more here was just, too much.
So as a horror movie, it's definitely great in shocking and making the viewer feel uncomfortable. As a film in general, it has the merits of being well done in a visual level, but that's about it. It will/should not been se by that kind of general audience, only deep rooted horror film fams would dig it. I'm only getting into horror, and I dig it. Not as much as Suspiria of course.
There's kind of a comedy scene where a guy climbs a ladder, it's totally random. Picking apples from a tree, he falls, breaks his neck, dies. It did nothing for the plot, and the guy did the whole post-death nerve response. It looked like he was trying to hump the rake. So yeah, there's some funny bits here, but it's not a comedy at all.
Oh and there's ejaculating blood in the film. That's all that needs to be said on that. Great horror film.
CrimsonBolt
I AM A SLUT FOR RYAN GOSLING
Wrong section that is the good movies thread
I was so dissapointed about this movie!, I won't say why because i won't spoil the end of the movie but damn that one is so bad!!!
people who's seen the movie know what i talking about.