Risen From The Dead - The Rolling Horror Thread 2019

Lorra lorra chat about it over in the March Film thread

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Watched last night: The Signalman. This is the first of the BBC’s Ghost Stories for Christmas not to be based on the work of MR James, this instead adapting a Dickens’ story. I’d heard this was good and for the most part it succeeds admirably. Regular series director Lawrence Gordon Clark drapes the film with a layer of palpable dread that’s as thick as the ever-present fog that dominates the story’s setting. Denholm Elliott is magnificent in the title role of a lonely railway signalman who is haunted by a specter whose motives remain obscure for most of the piece. Elliott’s performance is all twitchy nervousness and paranoia; he knows that he’s being haunted and suspects that he’s being warned of some impending doom, but remains powerless to interpret what’s going on. The specter itself makes for quite the vision (although its impact was lessened by the fact that it’s plastered all over the front of the DVD box) and the film’s sets really work in its favour, from the gloomy signal-box where Elliott carries out his work to the impenetrable darkness of the railway tunnel whose presence serves as a constant reminder that bad things have happened here before and will happen again. Having said all this, the film isn’t quite an unqualified success: for as dread-laden as things are, I found the ending to be sad, rather than outright scary. But ultimately, this is a pretty minor criticism of a film that generally works really well. Definitely recommended for fans of gloomy, period-set ghost stories…

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really looking forward to seeing us, even tho some of the reviews are obviously well ott

Not irked personally but it might be worth blurring part of that post, just saying there’s a twist sort of gives it away.

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@moderators Can someone blur that part of my post?

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Done!

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can you blur mine as well actually (didn’t think that through)… also didn’t know you were a mod!

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Yeah, @Kallgeese is drunk on power these days. As opposed to just regular drunk previously…

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Hah! I’m actually having a cider right now!

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Having trouble on mobile (tiny screen) so I’ll ask another mod to do it!

EDIT: Wait, got it!

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actually up for pet semetary, reviews seem ok, looks like a pretty solid prospect. also “us”.

t’other night the tv and i worked out how to fix some of the issues with IT chapter one. basically it boiled down to cutting 90% of the CGI and pennywise’s dialogue and just letting skarsgaard lurking in the corner of the frame, doing the hungry animal stare in surreal and disturbing situations, especially in the daytime.

finally watched hellraiser for the first time this morning. great film, loved it. so funny remembering seeing pinhead’s face every time i went to Apollo Video when i was a kid and being terrified, expected him to be in the film more! just amazing visually though, can see why Clive Barker is so revered. feel like Del Toro learned a lot from him.

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saw US. it was decent, not sure about the rave reviews it’s had like. didn’t think much of the ending. first 2/3 it works very well tho.

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Binged a lot of the sequels a few years back. The first few are OK, but once you get beyond the 4th one they get really bad, really quickly. Amazing that Doug Bradley stuck around for as long as he did. I once lit a cigarette for Doug Bradley in return for his signature on a copy of The Dark Side. Nice guy.

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Watched recently:

Son of Frankenstein : This is the last of the Universal Frankenstein movies to feature Boris Karloff in the role of the monster. I’d always assumed it would be a case of diminishing returns after the first two, James Whale-directed installments in the series, but in fact, there’s a lot to love here. First up, you’ve got Bela Lugosi in the role of Ygor, giving one of his better performances. Plus, even though the director is no James Whale and the sets look a bit impoverished compared to the previous two films, there’s still a lot to look at here and the whole thing is shot with an Expressionistic eye that really suits the material. Karloff’s great, although it’s a shame that he’s returned to a non-speaking role in this one. Could have done without the Hollywood moppet but there you go. Definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of these films and are looking to do some exploring beyond the ones that most fans know. Oh, and Lionel Atwill is fantastic in this too.

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Kong: Skull Island: I really, really, really enjoyed this. This wasn’t particularly well reviewed when it came out and if you were so inclined, I’m sure you could find all kinds of things to gripe about: Tom Hiddleston’s probably woefully mis-cast as an amazingly well-groomed, hardened SAS veteran, and Samuel L Jackson’s shtick is probably wearing a bit thin at this point, but whatever. However, if like me, you go weak at the knees at the sight of an enormously oversized monkey smashing helicopters out of the sky, horribly unpleasant spiders descending from trees to impale hapless grunts on their freakily long legs, all while Hollywood A-list types run around and strike heroic poses, then you might love this too. This is the second film in Legendary’s so-called Monsterverse, the first being 2014’s Gareth Edwards’ directed Godzilla, with the next film in the series coming out soon (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) before it all comes to a head next year in Godzilla vs Kong. Am I the only person in the world who’s actively looking forward to these films? Maybe. Anyhoo, if you check your brain at the door, this makes for wonderfully entertaining monster mayhem. See it in 3-D if you can, for the full experience.

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A Ghost Story for Christmas: Stigma : Wow, this really changes things up from the earlier episodes in this series. Up to this point, the annual installments had mostly adapted MR James with one Dickens story thrown in for good measure. This time around we jump feet-first into a contemporary 1970s setting and even though the series seems to be most fondly remembered for its period-set tales, this works remarkably well. Our story here focuses on a housewife who is exposed to some form of evil influence during the process of an ancient stone being removed from her garden. I’m not going to say anything more about the plot here because I’d simply recommend watching it yourself. This is a wonderfully ambiguous piece of work, making pitch-perfect use of its Avebury locations and some really brave acting on the part of its star, Kate Binchy. Plus, because it’s a late 70s BBC production, it’s also got Peter Bowles. Who doesn’t love Peter Bowles? All in all, folk horror at its finest.

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yeah it’s gas how Pinhead isn’t even remotely the antagonist in the original film

Watched last night, One Cut Of The Dead…

Had heard that this was an audience fave at last year’s Frightfest, but didn’t really know anything about it beyond that it was a zombie based comedy. Started watching it and initially thought it was a bit crap - didn’t realise that the first act is just a complete set-up for the rest of the film. Won’t say too much about it as it’s definitely a case of the less you know going in, the more entertaining it’s likely to be. Properly laughed out loud at various gags throughout - some of the physical comedy is top drawer, and there is some great splatter in here.

Looking at Wikipedia, didn’t realise that this was a micro budget smash. Filmed for $25k, it’s made over $30m so far - over a thousand times its budget :open_mouth:

Great fun. 9/10

190423%20One%20Cut

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Sky Box Office gave me Unfriended: Dark Web for free. I’ve never bought a film off them before.

No spoilers please. Is it any good?

Nope :+1::grinning:

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Enjoyed it. It’s a gimmick but it sticks to it and does it well.

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