#361

Yeah, that and noises! Devastating. Although no one seemed to give a shit about the kid!

1 Like
#362

Watched last night: Beyond the Darkness. Boy howdy, this is one seriously messed up movie. From the mind of Joe ‘Anthropophagous the Beast’ D’Amato, this is one of those classic Italian horror films that is just a pleasure to watch because of how completely out there and over the top it is. Our plot sees a young taxidermist, Frank, devastated by the loss of his partner, and determined to do everything he can to ensure their love lasts beyond the grave by digging up her corpse, bringing it home, removing its internal organs (filmed in meticulous detail), preserving it and then taking it upstairs and getting it all tucked up in bed. Alas, the path of true loves does not run smooth and Frank is constantly interrupted in his exploits by a random assortment of hitchhikers, joggers, funeral home workers and his housekeeper, Iris, who steals the show as she seeks to be both a replacement mother and lover for Frank. I loved this. I don’t know what that says about me, but there you go. Sure, if you stop to think about what’s happening in this film, it’s truly sick and disturbing but it’s all filmed in such a matter of fact manner, that it’s certainly never scary and even the more graphic scenes have a flatness that stop them from being genuinely upsetting. As with so many films of this period, I get almost as much pleasure from the setting of the film as its actual content and D’Amato makes much of the villa in which the film is set and the Austrian countryside that hosts the film’s mayhem. Add to this a top notch score by Goblin and you have a film that should be too sleazy to be enjoyable but which I found almost completely hypnotic.
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4 Likes
#363

might seek this out, have you ever seen the original (Third Eye)?

#364

No, I haven’t. I had no idea this was even based on it until earlier this morning when I was reading some reviews of BTD. Have you seen the original? I get the impression this is a fairly ‘loose’ remake…

#365

RIP John Saxon…

Had some great roles during his career :+1:

2 Likes
#366

Such a legend. Was just checking out his filmography: ANOES, Black Christmas and Cannibal Apocalypse - all truly awesome films. And apparently he was in every TV show ever at some point in his career.

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#367

Anyone here seen Ju-On Origins on netflix? I went in expecting it to be trash, but watched it in one sitting. Best horror-telly I’ve seen in a while, with lots of cool scares. The plot gets needlessly complicated in the middle and a couple of things are a bit messy, but that’s what I kind of expect from the franchise.

#368

FrightFest goes digital this year - line-up announced:

https://frightfest.co.uk/2020FilmsDigitalEdition/index.html

https://frightfest.co.uk/2020FilmsDigitalEdition/2020-digital-edition-menu-how-it-works-lite.html

Sounds like it’s going to be region locked to UK/RoI…

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#369

Done a few recently

Amulet - slow burner, really wild final third!

The Rental - wish this had more to offer, quite generic but a good cast

Host - entire movie done through Zoom by a friend of a friend. Really effective and scary. Maaayybbee loses it in the final 5-10 minutes, but it’s hard to end horrors.

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#370

I really enjoyed Host, thought the cast were believable and I was glad they kept it to under an hour rather than make it too bloated. Some bits reaally got me and then my bedroom door randomly slammed that night which really shit me up - always a good sign of a lingering scare :grin::ghost:

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#371

I think it blew it’s load when the demon keeps BOOing the camera at the end

But other than that I really loved it

#372

Yeah I agree the first one got me but by the end of the BOO sequence I was laughing… Still lots of fun.

1 Like
#373

this documentary looks really great. the soundtrack is awesome, btw - love the ‘version’ he (Alexander Taylor) does of the main theme

can’t stop laughing at Kreuger’s walk at the end of this scene

2 Likes
#374

Not been keeping up on my lockdown viewing on this thread. It’s been…a mixed bag tbh tbf :thinking:

Beyond The Gates - watched this when it came out and enjoyed it enough for a re-visit. Glad I did as it is great fun. The backdrop to the film is an old timey video rental shop and the story revolves around a play by video game (anyone remember those?). This is shot in a classic 80s style, lots of dry ice and neon lighting, and features one of the all time great scream queens in the shape of Barbara Crampton (still fantastic). Enjoyable. 8/10

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Let Us Prey - on the face of it, this is fairly generic enigmatic stranger comes to town stuff set in a (curiously) remote Scottish police station. What elevates it is the two leads - Liam Cunningham is reliably great in everything, but it’s particularly pleasing to see Pollyanna Macintosh get a decent role (and not be playing trash heap lady in The Walking Dead). The two of them carry the film, which has some decent enough gore and thrills. The culmination of both characters’ story arcs is particularly pleasing. 7/10

Let Us

A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) - had low hopes for this and it managed to comfortably not meet them. Lacks everything that made the originals both scary and funny. Also Jackie Earle Haley is a fine actor, but he doesn’t come close to filling Robert Englund’s shoes. There are some decent enough referential nods to the original’s dream sequences, but overall this is a big old mess. 3/10

Nightmare

Death Race - Death Race 2000 was an ever present in my local video shop growing up. This remake is far too slick to recapture the originals grimy charm, but does at least tick the exploitation flick boxes. Jason Statham does his…thing. Cars go whizz, guns go bang, Ian McShane continues to be in 40% of all new films released. Entertaining despite itself. There are a whole load of sequels to this apparently, all featuring yer man from Bros in the Stath role. 6/10

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The Droving - Super low budget British folk horror. Has some genuinely tense scenes, but the pacing on this is all over the place - it feels as though they included every piece of footage they shot. Has a decent enough payoff to keep things interesting. 6/10

Droving

Faults - This is a nice mix of psychological thriller and black comedy about cult deprogramming. Leland Orser, who I’ve enjoyed in everything I’ve seen him in, is great in this - all slimy nervous energy. However, it’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead who steals the show here - previously I would have said that 10 Cloverfield Land was her best role, but I think she is probably even better in this. Nicely claustrophobic, this has a very satisfying pay-off. 8/10

Faults

4 Likes
#375

Continued…

Extracurricular Activities - original enough to stand out from the slew of other teen murder flicks, this is pleasingly darkly comic and features some entertaining death scenes. 7/10

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Truth Or Dare - this on the other hand feels very similar to a bunch of other films made over the past few years that see the protagonists having to make ever greater sacrifices to stay alive. Has some creepy effects, but the characters are dislikable enough to never really care who is going to survive. 5/10

Truth Or

Knowing - part thriller, part sci-fi, 110% Nicolas Cage. Alex Proyas has always had a great eye for the dark side of the cinema since his Crow/Dark City days and this is no exception - stuff gets smashed and incinerated in graphic detail throughout. Shame that Gods Of Egypt seems to have put his career back on hiatus as this is pretty decent for a mainstream release. 6/10

Knowing

The Limehouse Golem - based on a Peter Ackroyd novel, this has the corresponding attention to detail for Victorian London that you would expect. The whole thing is beautifully shot (Manchester’s Victorian Quarter standing in for London natch) but ultimately a bit…sedate. The cast acquit themselves well, and the ending does the job, but this is not particularly scary at any point. 6/10

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The Falling - This is shot in a beautifully dream-like fashion that reminded me of Picnic At Hanging Rock. Featuring early brilliant performances from Maisie Williams and Florence Pugh, the whole cast is pretty great in this. Manages to captures the staid-ness of 60s Britain on the verge of societal change while maintaining a fairytale feeling throughout. 8/10

Falling

Endzeit - stumbled across this by happy accident. German set zombie apocalypse story that breathes new life into a tired old genre. Doesn’t particularly bother itself with explaining the background to the set-up, this instead focuses on the characters’ journeys and features an unusual ecological half folk-horror/half fairytale undertone. Would make a good double bill with Swedish film The Border, which came out at the same time but which managed to grab an international audience while Endzeit seemingly did not. 8/10

Endzeit

6 Likes
#376

I rewatched 10 Cloverfield Lane recently and found myself wondering what else Mary Elizabeth Winstead has done. And now I know. Cheers!

2 Likes
#377

Watched recently: Le frisson des vampires: 7th Jean Rollin movie of the year and I’m sad to say, one of my least favourite so far. This is full of some of his most iconic scenes but sadly iconic scenes alone do not a good movie make. The main failing here is the plot – never Rollin’s strong point, but here things just don’t cohere in a way that I ever really found particularly engaging. That’s not to say there’s nothing to love here – it looks amazing, the soundtrack is awesome and the cast features the usual assortment of oddballs and beauties you’d expect from a Rollin film. But overall, this had me checking my watch to see how much longer it had to go, which is never a good thing. Mind you, lots of people think this is among his best work, so there you go.

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Creature from the Haunted Sea: More shenanigans from Roger Corman here, but sadly this never really scales the heights of A Bucket of Blood or Little Shop of Horrors. It definitely shows glimpses of the humour that made those two flicks everything they were, but there’s just too much footage of nothing much happening underwater to make this worth your time. Having said that, it does have a very nice faux-hardboiled first-person narration. Best line: It was dusk. I knew, because the sun was going down.

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Beasts: During Barty’s Party: This is really, really good. Premise here finds a couple in their 50s (?) trapped in their house by a horde of seemingly intelligent rats. This is definitely up there with the other standout episode from this show, Baby. The sound design is magnificent here, giving you an amazing aural depiction of the rats that prove so distressing to our protagonists. This just builds and builds and builds in a way that is unusual for TV of this period which often favours subtlety over intensity. Highly recommended!

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Munecos Infernales aka Curse of the Doll People: South of the border horror here. Watched this several years ago when I got it on a DVD along with another Mexican horror, the infamous Night of the Bloody Apes. Munecos is way more sedate, emphasizing black and white atmosphere over gore and such. A group of friends make the mistake of stealing an idol from Haiti and are subsequently targeted by a voodoo master who uses his doll-like minions to get revenge. This isn’t essential viewing by any means, but it’s a fun time and I always like checking out old horror from parts of the world that I’m not so familiar with. The design for the dolls is quite creepy and the voodoo master’s appearance is very cool. Recommended viewing for upcoming autumn nights.

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#378

I always read this thread but never contribute, posting as I picked up the Arrow Blu Ray of Nightbreed yesterday, been after it for a good while, 2 disc edition. Looking forward to indulging over the weekend.

1 Like
#379

Does that have the director’s cut on it? Have not seen that, despite both the book and film looming quite large when growing up…

1 Like
#380

It does. I have seen it on VHS decades ago so it will be fresh. There’s a load of extra stuff on it. Think I’ll go with the longer cut which apparently has a different feel. It doesn’t have the ultra long “Cabal” cut but glad to finally have tracked it down, been looking for it (priced normally) for 6 months or so.