#1021

Pretty sure they’re only out there on DVD; that’s how I got them and they’re worth every penny. :slightly_smiling_face:

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#1022

Yes you are correct it seems, will order them now. Thanks for the recommendation.

Halfway through Buddyboy and it’s fantastic.

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#1023

So glad you’re digging Beasts. Buddyboy was one of my favourites - something about the whole atmosphere of it just really worked for me.

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#1024

Unpaused my Mubi subscription yesterday so sought out some horror on there and did a double bill of:

The Other Lamb - The description said it had echoes of The Witch and Midsommar which were certainly clear influences. It was a sort of pastoral midpoint between the two with some fairly intense scenes early on with their cult-y rituals. But it lacked the same air of mystery of the other two nor did it have some of the weirdness that Midsommar had going for it. Think what really let it down for me was mainly the slightly cliche cult-y dialogue (all the stuff about sisters / mothers etc) but then also I just couldn’t get on board with Michiel Huisman (aka Daario from GoT) as the cult leader as he just didn’t seem terribly convincing.

Otherwise though the things I did like about this film were all the gorgeous shots of the Irish wilderness but also the lead performance from Raffey Cassidy was really terrific!

Four Flies on Grey Velvet - Really loved this despite it having a slightly incoherent plot. Some proper nail biting moments of suspense especially that bit where the maid is being chased - man! But yeah the cinematography with all those cool shots of 1970’s Rome and the general mood of the film was fantastic! Cool score from Morricone - particularly loved all the drum soloing at the start before the rest of the band entered the jam.

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#1025

Saw a hattrick of below average horrors last night. Avoid the following:

Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight - Polish horror on Netflix. Monsters kill kids. 3/10.

The Tingler - A William Castle film with Vincent Price. The pair did House on Haunted Hill together. This one is just executed poorly about fear being an actually living thing in our spines and looks like a lobster. Vincent Price is of course great as always but this one is one to avoid. Watch Haunted Hill instead or again. 5/10.

The Heretics - A former cult member that escapes gets kidnapped by them a few years on. Sounded promising but wasn’t. 4/10.

#1026

really enjoyed The Pool

Thai film about a couple who get stuck in a pool after it is drained and there’s a crocodile in there. Unlike Crawl which got boring and old quite quick, this held my interest throughout, it made good use of the limited set up.

#1027

Mr James collection (DVD’s) arrived today and the Dead Of Night DVD may arrive tomorrow. Also received The Ring (Arrow steelbook), never seen the non American version / original. Will watch them all soon and watching The Dummy now. Good stuff.

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#1028

In a similar vein. I’m looking at Brimstone & Treacle, the original DVD seems out of production but not too pricey. I’ve seen it once but over 20 years ago and thought how he purges them of their afflictions madly good. Has anyone seen the Sting version?

#1029

Onto Special Offer, love the setting and can just about remember seeing some of the more obscure the actors in other roles. Likewise I can just about recall small supermarkets looking like this, plus I love the old ATV logo.

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#1030

Overall, i think Special Offer was my least favourite but I did love the supermarket-setting - like yourself, I’m just about old enough to remember them looking like this. Hope you enjpy the MR James set. While none of them are set at Christmas (as far as I can remember), their general tone and mood do lend themselves perfectly to the season. Plus, I really enjoyed the Christopher Lee readings that come on the set. May have to dig my set out and give it a rewatch.

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#1031

Watched last night: Two Orphan Vampires 11th month, 11th Jean Rollin movie. Think I’m going to take a break from these for a while to catch up with some more contemporary stuff. This was a good one to end on (for now). It’s the film that announced his return to film-making in the mid 90s after a break of some years and at a time when his work was being made available on home video in a way that it never had been before. This is based on his book of the same title which I sped through a couple of weeks back. It’s a pretty faithful adaptation and focuses on the titular vampires, two young women who are blind by day but who regain their sight at night, along with a craving for blood and other mischief. Despite a more modern look and feel, this is still classic Rollin. The plot is completely secondary to the mood and images and that’s just fine. This one really worked for me. The two main actresses share a real chemistry, the movie has a lovely gauzy look and the soft synths that make up most of the soundtrack probably sound a lot better now than they did on its first release. I’d recommend this to those who have already seen a couple of his earlier films and want to know what he was capable of later in life.

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#1032

Finished Beasts earlier. The last one was great. Amazing facial acting, especially from the woman.

52 minutes into Whistle and I’ll come to you, the silence and camera shots are simply superb.

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#1033

Fucking hell!

The end of that! Jesus. Proper gave me the shivers and I say that as generally feeling completely desensitised to horror.

FUCK.

Probably the best thing I’ve watched this year.

Shit is rated 12! The best horror gets under your skin. Simply SUPERB.

“On no”.

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#1034

I was listening to a podcast yesterday in which this got mentioned and the hosts were talking about how so much of the power of this comes from seeing a completely rational man totally fall apart - couldn’t agree more.

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#1035

It will be interesting to watch the 2010 version which I will save to last from that set.

Really was fantastic and felt very unique. Such simple ghostly effects where you felt like him as in did I just see that.

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#1036

rewatched The Hills Have Eyes for the first time in about 15 years (original)

for the first hour I thought it was probably better than Texas Chainsaw Massacre but it does trail off a bit. It’s a lot better acted then I remember though

#1037

Update on the MR James Collection. The Stalls of Barchester was very good but not in the same league as Whistle and I’ll Come To You really. A Warning To The Curious was absolutely fantastic. Sparse, like Whistle and really creepy in places. Lost Heats gave me a chill but again not really in the same league as Whistle and Warning.

Just pressed play on The Ash Tree.

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#1038

It’s weird, Lost Hearts seems to be a huge fan-favourite and while I can kind of understand this, it really didn’t do it for me.

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#1039

nice little bit of MR James content I found on Twitter (click through for photos)

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#1040

I watched Candyman for the 1st time in a while at the weekend. Still banging whilst also being incredibly 90s in vibe

Also the 80s TV Woman in Black came from cinema paradiso. Held up really really well

I treated myself to Mandy on Blu Ray cos it was cheap and I can see myself rewatching a few times. Has anyone seen Beyond the Black Rainbow? Only seems to be on US region discs and my PS3 won’t play them

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