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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 21, 2019 17:26:09 GMT
Race With The Devil.
Another one of those movies I can never get tired of watching. Thoroughly enjoyable combination of the horror and car chase genres. And as I've stated before, the ultimate paranoia movie.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jul 21, 2019 21:08:26 GMT
And remember when you race with the Devil, you better be faster than Hell!
SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY 1974 -- an unusual thriller in that its really more of a drama about the generational gender clash between a farmer (Ernest Borgnine) and his granddaughter once three killers show up at the farm. Michael J Pollard is one of the sadistic killers. Part of the horror stems from Borgnine's sincere efforts to teach her about the dangers of being too soft and weak. It's not as judgemental as I would have expected and as a revenge film I would say it is much more cerebral about the subject compared with Death Wish.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 22, 2019 8:05:30 GMT
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Post by James on Jul 22, 2019 20:14:09 GMT
The Hitcher (1986) - 8/10 Thoroughly enjoyed this one. The sadistic hitchhiker John Ryder played by Rutger Hauer was intimidating and I even liked the main character Jim. You felt his struggle along the way in this road trip thriller. I heard there’s a remake to this and that it isn’t nearly as good, but I’ll probably check it out anyway, lol.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 25, 2019 1:36:31 GMT
Split Second (1992) R.I.P Rutger Hauer
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 25, 2019 1:51:52 GMT
The live-action movie Tokyo Ghoul (2017). I never read the manga on which this is based (I believe there was an anime series too), but was introduced to it by someone at a place I was working. In our free time she showed me the manga and explained the characters/story. Only some of that stuck in my brain (since my memory's so shoddy these days), but from what she'd told me, I was intrigued. From what little I saw of it, the character of Touka was the main one who caught my interest. She seemed pretty 'badass'. The other thing that caught my attention was the mask that the lead character, Kaneki, wore - it was certainly memorable. Having never read the manga or watched the anime series, I was going into this movie with only a few vague memories of the characters/story, so it came as quite a surprise to me (even though it shouldn't have) when the seemingly nice/sweet girl (Rize) who Kaneki was awkward around went from this... To this (after having take a good-sized bite out of poor unsuspecting Kankei)... Worst. Date Ever. So that^ was surprise #1. Surprise #2 came not long after, when she was flattened by falling pipes. As soon as this happened, I remembered seeing the grisly scene depicted in the manga I was shown. Speaking of 'grisly', while the movie has a decent amount of gruesome/violent moments, the part that actually made me shudder was after Kaneki had started turning into a ghoul and he was trying to eat/drink regular human food and made an unholy mess on the floor of his kitchen - all I could think was " Ew." at that. Not quite as 'ew'-worthy, but certainly unnerving were the ghoul eyes. When Kaneki's turned red and black, I thought they did a good job with that. I've watched so many supernatural shows/movies with the same ol' same ol' all-black eyes or glowing red/yellow/whatever colour eyes...it gets a bit boring/old. These were truly unnerving and seemed painful (complete with squishy-sound effects when he'd move his eye). They also reminded me of Gambit's eyes from the X-Men comics/animated series. I was very happy once Touka eventually showed up. When I first watched the trailer for the movie, I had to have Touka pointed out to me by the person who'd introduced me to Tokyo Ghoul, as I was not expecting her to look so young (from what pictures I'd seen of her in the manga and anime, she looked a bit older to me). However, my concerns with the actress cast were alleviated once seeing her in the movie. It didn't take long before she convinced me she was right for the role, playing the part of Touka as I thought/imagined she would be like. So, once again, it's been proven that the attitude/ personality of a character is what matters most, rather than the physical appearance. She kicked all sorts of butt, which I was very happy about, but what I liked most was her interaction with Kaneki. She really had no time for his ignorance of what was happening to him. Yes, she might've seemed a bit 'mean' to him, and I could definitely sympathise with him not having much of a clue as to what was going on, but at the same time I could understand her impatience with him. She was a good contrast to his character and I liked the way they played off each other. I liked that even though she wasn't very nice to Kaneki, he said that he cared about her, and despite her attitude towards him, it did appear as if she came to 'care' about him too...eventually (even if she maintained otherwise). Their training scene was a good one, I thought, and I enjoyed it. I liked seeing Kaneki eventually harness his 'kagune'. Yes, he'd used it earlier in a fight with the glasses-wearing jerk who seriously injured his best friend (the way he shoved poor Hideyoshi Nagachika's head into that table or whatever it was looked pretty painful, and it certainly messed him up. I couldn't remember if the friend lived or not in the manga, so I was actually quite worried for him, as I would've hated for Kaneki to lose his best friend when he was already dealing with so much). I thought that first fight Kaneki had was pretty neat. The actor playing his friend did a good job too. He could've been a supremely annoying character (in fact, I think what little I'd seen of him in the manga made me think he'd be a character that'd bug me), but I actually felt sorry for him when he was hurt. Speaking of friends, I liked Touka's human friend, Yoriko, who was only doing what she thought was a nice thing by bringing Touka some home-made food. Unfortunately for Touka, human food was pretty horrid to ghouls, so it was almost painful to watch her have to eat it to keep her friend from being sad...though, admittedly, even *I* would've probably caved after seeing Yoriko's sad reaction to Touka saying she'd try it later. And as for the 'kagune' - I've seen some reviews complaining about how they were created with CGI, but all I can think is, "How else were they going to bring that to life?". It's such a creative/unique-looking thing, and I thought it was pretty dazzling - especially how each ghoul's one was different. Yes, they were obviously CGI'd...but who cares? They made for an interesting visual and exciting fight scenes. I liked most of the ghouls who took Kaneki in and helped him get accustomed to being a ghoul/ghoul ways. I liked... The old man, Yoshimura - he seemed the nicest of the lot. The young girl, Hinami - she was sweet...even though Kaneki walked in on her ghoulish feeding. I felt bad for her when she lost her mum and it was awesome to see her 'kagune' near the end...I just wish she'd used it. Which was the same problem I had with her mum, although I liked her too. Speaking of... Hinami's mum, Ryōko - I guess she was against fighting? As she didn't untilise her 'kagune' when she got executed. The waiter, Koma Enji - I don't really recall much of what he did/said, but he seemed to be a decent guy/pretty nice. Irimi Kaya - I don't really recall, but at least she was better than... Renji - The only one I wasn't overly fond of. His purpose seemed to be to stand around and glare, and I didn't see him being much use in the final fight when Touka needed some help. What was he doing the whole time? Speaking of that final fight, I really didn't like the two ghoul investigator characters who were opposing Kaneki and Touka in their respective fights. They grey-haired dude, Mado, really annoyed me and I wanted him dead (especially considering he stole ghouls' 'kagune' and used them as a weapon against other ghouls). I was glad when Touka finally offed him (with Hinami's help). The other guy, Amon, seemed slightly more sane...though the fact that he didn't give up fighting even after he'd been bitten (and, presumably, would eventually turn into a ghoul as a result) told me he was so hellbent on killing Kaneki he wouldn't listen to reason. I didn't feel sorry for him when he found Mado's limbless (well...virtually) corpse. Last but not least, I must give praise to the actor playing Ken Kaneki. I thought he did a good job of playing the nice, awkward guy in the beginning who then went on this bizarre character journey and near the end had believably become this pretty 'badass' dude who could fight, take bites out of people and even deliver Jokey-esque maniacal laughs. I know that this movie doesn't have a high rating on IMDB and that it's probably not popular with a lot of people who read the manga/watched the anime (apologies to any fans if I managed to mangle the story with my review and/or misunderstood any of the characters’ actions), but I myself quite enjoyed it and was hoping there'd be a second one. It seems there is (though it looks like they got someone else to play Touka, which is somewhat disappointing, but I'll at least wait to see the movie before I judge). I'm glad I finally got to see this, as I'd been itching to check it out as soon as I learned there was going to be a live action version. I might even end up getting it on DVD or Blu-ray at some point. The trailer for the sequel doesn’t look bad and it was released in cinemas yesterday.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Jul 25, 2019 7:16:47 GMT
The trailer for the sequel doesn’t look bad and it was released in cinemas yesterday. I agree, it doesn't look bad (and I'm eager to watch it after having only watched the first one recently). I hope I didn't make it sound like I thought it looked 'bad' in any way. My brief hesitation/comments regarding the trailer were more just me having to adjust to another actress playing Touka so soon after having seen the first actress playing her. However, I will certainly wait until I've watched the movie before I form an opinion on the new actress playing her (which seems only fair). She definitely looks the part, though. I doubt it'll get a release in cinemas where I am. I'll probably have to wait for it to come out on DVD here.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2019 11:55:34 GMT
Fair enough. Did you notice the Stephen King appearance in the movie? I thought that was funny and Stephen King made appearances in a lot of the old adaptions of his novels and I don't know why he doesn't do it anymore but I think it might have been 'cause there were some move adaptions he wasn't a fan of how they turned out at the end so he decided to remove himself from them. I have enjoyed most of the movie and TV adaptions of Stephen King's work even some of the ones he didn't like himself like the first six 'Children of the Corn' movies and they aren't as well known as some of his other adaptions but I enjoyed the 'Sometimes They Come Back' franchise and that had three movies and the funny thing about those movies is 'Sometimes They Come Back' was only supposed to be a segment in Stephen King's 'Cat Eye' but they left it out and made it into a full TV movie instead and it got sequels. There are only a few Stephen King adaptions I really didn't enjoy and as bad as 'Maximum Overdrive' was I did find that movie to be kinda enjoyable in parts and some sites list it as being one of the movies that is so bad it is good just 'cause it is entertaining to watch.
What are your favourite Stephen King adaptions and which one did you think was the worst. I think 'Needful Things' deserves to have the title of the worst and I am in favour of a remake of that movie especially since Stephen has said he wants to write the script himself to make sure they get it right this time and I think a better adaption could be made. I am still hoping we get movie adaptions of 'Duma Key', 'The Talisman', 'The Regulators' and 'The Long Walk' instead of just remakes of the stories that have already been adapted and I am surprised 'The Long Walk' didn't get a movie ages ago 'cause I remember hearing George A. Romero was going to direct it. Yeah. Different Tom Holland and I didn't pick up on that myself until recently and he is still making movies now so it is possible for him to direct a 'Spider-Man' movie and they could have the two Tom Holland's working together. From what I remember the tornado was more in the middle of the novel and they had it in the graphic novel adaptions and Nick and Tom's characters were the main focus at the time. The aeroplane crash was at the start and there were more things in the book that explained how the virus got on the loose that got left out. The 'Salem's Lot remake is worth checking out but avoid the sequel.
you seen the
His cameos for most part are highlights, and definitely in ‘The Langoliers’. I think I enjoy the one in Maximum Overdrive the most. Children of the Corn is a rough King adaptation, but I do like certain elements of the film (location, John Franklin etc) and Part 3 was probably the one I got the most out of, especially Screaming Mad Geroge’s FX. ‘Sometimes they come back’ was rather decent, even the sequel despite basically being a retread of the first. However the second sequel looks rather different. If I was to list favourite Stephen King adaptations; The usual picks; Carrie The Dead Zone The Shining Misery And then Christine, Thinner and The Night Flier. I know Graveyard Shift isn’t great, but I seem to like it a little more each time I watch it. Storm of the Century and Rose Red were rather good mini-series too. As for what I didn’t care for (excluding spawned sequels); two films and a mini-series shoots to mind. The Mangler, Dreamcatcher and The Tommyknockers. The latter the more disappointing, and probably my least favourite. I haven’t seen it myself but I keep on seeing ‘Needful Things’ popping up as one of his worse. I’m actually a fan of A Return to Salem’s Lot 😳😄. Very silly movie, but I do have a soft spot for Larry Cohen. Sorry for taking a while to get back to you on this. I agree with you about Stephen King's cameos and I liked that one in 'Maximum Overdrive' too and it is funny to see such a serious Author like Stephen King making fun of himself in a movie like that but despite his reputation for writing scary stories he does have a sense of humour and I would like to see him do some more cameos in movies again and with all the adaptions of his works that are in development now which are literally dozens of movies and TV Shows he could make one or two again if he wanted to. I don’t think there has been another Author who has had this many of their stories adapted to screen and I wouldn’t be surprised if every one of his novels is eventually adapted as a movie or a TV Show ‘cause his stories are very popular and he will most likely go down as the most popular Horror writer of all time.
I always liked the first 6 ‘Children of the Corn’ movies and while they haven’t been the most popular Horror franchise they have their fair share of fans which is why there have been so many movies and I know a lot of Horror fans who liked the first three. ‘Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest’ was one of the standouts and I liked how we actually got to see ‘He Who Walks Behind the Rows come out of the ground in his huge monster form even though it does look kinda fake now and Naomi Watts was great in ‘Children of the Corn 4’ even though the movie kinda threw continuity out the window and I think Naomi is underrated as an actress and like a lot of her movies especially ‘The Ring’ which is one of my favourite Horror movies of all time and one of the best Horror remakes ever made in my opinion.
I am glad you liked the ‘Sometimes They Come Back’ franchise and those are one of his lesser known franchises I would suggest to a lot of Stephen King and Horror fans to checkout even though they are not perfect and have their flaws but it’s funny and strange at the same time how stories like that and ‘Children of the Corn’ have had so many adaptions yet ‘The Dark Tower’ has only had one movie and that has had 8 novels and many people see it as a masterpiece. I hope the next adaption does justice to the novels and am glad they are making into a TV Show instead of trying to squash it down ‘cause I think it is too big of a story to just be a movie or even a movie franchise and a TV Show will let them do so much more with it that they couldn’t do under the limitations of a movie.
Thanks for letting me know what your favourite Stephen King adaptions are and I liked a lot of those too and I have to ask you if you have ever seen the TV show of ‘The Dead Zone’ ‘cause I haven’t seen or talked to many people on here that have seen that and it went for a number of seasons and had a following back when it was on air. Just don’t know where that following has gone. lol If you haven’t seen it I would suggest you watch the first season of it one day to see if you like it ‘cause I thought it was pretty good and we watched it on Foxtel and got all the seasons in a big box set years ago. ‘The Mangler’ and ‘Dreamcatcher’ weren’t great. Although I have seen some people call ‘Dreamcatcher’ a masterpiece and the greatest Stephen King adaption ever made and I got kinda bored watching it the first time and remember nearly falling asleep until it picked up lol and I have seen ‘The Tommyknockers’ with Jimmy Smits a couple of times and it is not great but I enjoyed some parts of it and did you know it takes place in Haven? I am surprised they never had the Tommyknockers on the show or mentioned them.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 28, 2019 9:40:48 GMT
His cameos for most part are highlights, and definitely in ‘The Langoliers’. I think I enjoy the one in Maximum Overdrive the most. Children of the Corn is a rough King adaptation, but I do like certain elements of the film (location, John Franklin etc) and Part 3 was probably the one I got the most out of, especially Screaming Mad Geroge’s FX. ‘Sometimes they come back’ was rather decent, even the sequel despite basically being a retread of the first. However the second sequel looks rather different. If I was to list favourite Stephen King adaptations; The usual picks; Carrie The Dead Zone The Shining Misery And then Christine, Thinner and The Night Flier. I know Graveyard Shift isn’t great, but I seem to like it a little more each time I watch it. Storm of the Century and Rose Red were rather good mini-series too. As for what I didn’t care for (excluding spawned sequels); two films and a mini-series shoots to mind. The Mangler, Dreamcatcher and The Tommyknockers. The latter the more disappointing, and probably my least favourite. I haven’t seen it myself but I keep on seeing ‘Needful Things’ popping up as one of his worse. I’m actually a fan of A Return to Salem’s Lot 😳😄. Very silly movie, but I do have a soft spot for Larry Cohen. Sorry for taking a while to get back to you on this. I agree with you about Stephen King's cameos and I liked that one in 'Maximum Overdrive' too and it is funny to see such a serious Author like Stephen King making fun of himself in a movie like that but despite his reputation for writing scary stories he does have a sense of humour and I would like to see him do some more cameos in movies again and with all the adaptions of his works that are in development now which are literally dozens of movies and TV Shows he could make one or two again if he wanted to. I don’t think there has been another Author who has had this many of their stories adapted to screen and I wouldn’t be surprised if every one of his novels is eventually adapted as a movie or a TV Show ‘cause his stories are very popular and he will most likely go down as the most popular Horror writer of all time.
I always liked the first 6 ‘Children of the Corn’ movies and while they haven’t been the most popular Horror franchise they have their fair share of fans which is why there have been so many movies and I know a lot of Horror fans who liked the first three. ‘Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest’ was one of the standouts and I liked how we actually got to see ‘He Who Walks Behind the Rows come out of the ground in his huge monster form even though it does look kinda fake now and Naomi Watts was great in ‘Children of the Corn 4’ even though the movie kinda threw continuity out the window and I think Naomi is underrated as an actress and like a lot of her movies especially ‘The Ring’ which is one of my favourite Horror movies of all time and one of the best Horror remakes ever made in my opinion.
I am glad you liked the ‘Sometimes They Come Back’ franchise and those are one of his lesser known franchises I would suggest to a lot of Stephen King and Horror fans to checkout even though they are not perfect and have their flaws but it’s funny and strange at the same time how stories like that and ‘Children of the Corn’ have had so many adaptions yet ‘The Dark Tower’ has only had one movie and that has had 8 novels and many people see it as a masterpiece. I hope the next adaption does justice to the novels and am glad they are making into a TV Show instead of trying to squash it down ‘cause I think it is too big of a story to just be a movie or even a movie franchise and a TV Show will let them do so much more with it that they couldn’t do under the limitations of a movie.
Thanks for letting me know what your favourite Stephen King adaptions are and I liked a lot of those too and I have to ask you if you have ever seen the TV show of ‘The Dead Zone’ ‘cause I haven’t seen or talked to many people on here that have seen that and it went for a number of seasons and had a following back when it was on air. Just don’t know where that following has gone. lol If you haven’t seen it I would suggest you watch the first season of it one day to see if you like it ‘cause I thought it was pretty good and we watched it on Foxtel and got all the seasons in a big box set years ago. ‘The Mangler’ and ‘Dreamcatcher’ weren’t great. Although I have seen some people call ‘Dreamcatcher’ a masterpiece and the greatest Stephen King adaption ever made and I got kinda bored watching it the first time and remember nearly falling asleep until it picked up lol and I have seen ‘The Tommyknockers’ with Jimmy Smits a couple of times and it is not great but I enjoyed some parts of it and did you know it takes place in Haven? I am surprised they never had the Tommyknockers on the show or mentioned them. That’s all good. When was the last time King even appeared in one of his film adaptations? I’ve only watched the first three Children of the Corn, and bits of Issac’s Return. Always been curious of the fourth film due to a few of names involved. I liked the concept of ‘Sometimes they Come Back’, and Tim Matheson and Brooke Adams gave the film some extra weight. Is the third film any good? Dreamcatcher... a masterpiece to some? Did I miss something 😁 That would have been a nice little touch if they had converse Tommyknockers and Haven for an episode. I had no idea it was meant to be the same town. I remember watching the TV series ‘The Dead Zone’, but honestly I don’t remember much of the details, or how far I got into it. Not that far, I don’t think. If I was to watch it again, it would like starting all over. It was on free to air, I think? I remember it suddenly disappeared (possibly halfway through a season) for quite a while and then returned becoming a forgotten late night staple. I don’t think ever watched any of those seasons/episodes when it was booted from prime time. Have you seen the clips for the new ‘Creepshow’ tv series. Looks like it could be fun.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 28, 2019 9:51:03 GMT
The trailer for the sequel doesn’t look bad and it was released in cinemas yesterday. I agree, it doesn't look bad (and I'm eager to watch it after having only watched the first one recently). I hope I didn't make it sound like I thought it looked 'bad' in any way. My brief hesitation/comments regarding the trailer were more just me having to adjust to another actress playing Touka so soon after having seen the first actress playing her. However, I will certainly wait until I've watched the movie before I form an opinion on the new actress playing her (which seems only fair). She definitely looks the part, though. I doubt it'll get a release in cinemas where I am. I'll probably have to wait for it to come out on DVD here. Purchased tickets for tomorrow night, as I was lucky a Hoyts cinema nearby were showing the film. I didn’t notice it was a different actress until you pointed it out. I might refresh my memory tonight by rewatching the original.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Jul 28, 2019 9:56:19 GMT
I agree, it doesn't look bad (and I'm eager to watch it after having only watched the first one recently). I hope I didn't make it sound like I thought it looked 'bad' in any way. My brief hesitation/comments regarding the trailer were more just me having to adjust to another actress playing Touka so soon after having seen the first actress playing her. However, I will certainly wait until I've watched the movie before I form an opinion on the new actress playing her (which seems only fair). She definitely looks the part, though. I doubt it'll get a release in cinemas where I am. I'll probably have to wait for it to come out on DVD here. Purchased tickets for tomorrow night, as I was lucky a Hoyts cinema nearby were showing the film. I didn’t notice it was a different actress until you pointed it out. I might refresh my memory tonight by rewatching the original. I'd very much like to hear your thoughts on the second movie once you've seen it, if you wouldn't mind posting them in here (if you don't wish to, I understand).
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 28, 2019 9:59:48 GMT
Crawl (2019) Solid offering, nothing overly spectacular. Some well-done close quarters suspense and always on the move taut pacing. Script can throw out some dialogue clangers and CGI can be hit and miss, but it was enjoyably gripping (be it from the alligator threat to the escalating hurricane conditions) from start to finish.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 28, 2019 10:10:30 GMT
Purchased tickets for tomorrow night, as I was lucky a Hoyts cinema nearby were showing the film. I didn’t notice it was a different actress until you pointed it out. I might refresh my memory tonight by rewatching the original. I'd very much like to hear your thoughts on the second movie once you've seen it, if you wouldn't mind posting them in here (if you don't wish to, I understand). Not a problem. 🙂
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jul 28, 2019 13:48:06 GMT
Blood Lake (1987) Low, low-budget filmed-on-video 80's slasher movie. It's not the budget or the video that makes this so bad, but it's just a bunch of teenagers talking and water skiing for a full hour who are picked off at the last minute in total darkness. No payoff really, but it's still not the worst of this type I've ever seen. The endless chatter between the kids is at least a little entertaining.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 28, 2019 15:39:31 GMT
And speaking of low, low budget horror movies, last night I watched the Canadian-made torture porn The Scarehouse, made entirely in Windsor, Ontario. Two young woman designed a carnival-like funhouse that they use for their own personal torture chamber. They use this funhouse to lure in former friends to get revenge on them for a sorority party incident that got the two girls railroaded into jail.
This turned out to be fairly good. I was impressed by how the filmmakers were able to stretch their poverty budget ($273,000) to make the movie look like a bigger budgeted film. It also benefits from decent acting and an intriguing idea that has some nice surprises in store for the viewer. Worth checking out.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jul 29, 2019 7:08:04 GMT
RACE WITH THE DEVIL 1975 -- What can I say? It holds up very well--expertly made spookiness--a siege horror movie in a sense--unusual for the cast being over 30. When you race with the Devil you better be faster than Hell.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Jul 29, 2019 21:18:50 GMT
The Company of Wolves (1984). Or, as it's titled on TV here, A Company of Wolves (though when the film starts, the title that comes up onscreen has 'The' in place of 'A'. I don't know why anyone would object to the word 'The'). This is probably my favourite werewolf movie ever. Though I never did realise that the lead character’s name was Rosa leen, as when anyone said her name, it always sounded to me like Rosa lee. It wasn’t until sometime later when looking at the IMDB page for the movie I discovered what her name actually was (or maybe I discovered it when watching the end credits. I forget). What I love about this movie first and foremost is the ‘atmosphere’. It’s downright unsettling throughout. I first watched this movie when I was quite young-ish, so that’s probably why it had such an impact on me. There were quite a few truly disturbing moments in the film – the most obvious one being the face-ripping-off werewolf transformation. That was fairly disturbing when I first saw it, plus it was totally unexpected that it was going to get so gruesome (the movie was on during the middle of the day when I first watched it on TV, so not exactly the time to be expecting to see something like that). Another disturbing moment (not so much now, but still somewhat unnerving) was Angela Lansbury getting decapitated and her head shattering like a vase. That was certainly ‘WTF’-worthy. On rewatch, though, it was just sort of morbidly amusing. I remember when I watched the movie for the first time, I found Sarah Patterson pretty alluring as Rosaleen. She had this quality about her that made her almost seem ‘otherworldly’ (which, given all the other strangeness in the movie, was probably appropriate). She'd sometimes act a certain way that made me wonder what was going through her head (nevermind the fact that she was told repeatedly by Granny to stick to the path and avoid men whose eyebrows met in the middle...and she kind of ignored that advice in the end and got cozy with one such creepy unibrowed dude). When I first watched the film, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the young guy who clearly had the hots for Rosaleen in the movie. She wasn’t overly nice to him. However, on rewatch, I found him to be rather irritating (and he just wouldn't take 'no' for an answer/take the hint that she just wasn't that into him. I guess there's a reason he was credited as 'Amorous Boy'. The scene where Rosaleen (or rather, some other version of her) arrived in the white limo, dressed in white and sporting a blonde wig, along with Terence Stamp as the Devil, I found rather unsettling when I first watched the movie. The way the kid practically unhinged his jaw as he was yelling "Noooo!" over and over was particularly weird. I also much preferred that they went for ‘normal’ wolves with glowing eyes than trying to create some sort of monstrous beasts that simply did not work. It was probably cheaper just to add the ‘glowing effect’ to the eyes of them anyway. This was also the first time I’d ever seen a werewolf transformation done where the wolf snout emerged from the human mouth. It wasn’t until much later in time that the TV series Hemlock Grove came along and did this as well, having somewhat ‘refined’ the effect (and added even more grossness), though I’ll always remember this movie as being the first (that I know of) one to do it (then again, I haven’t seen that many werewolf movies, so maybe others beat them to it. I wouldn’t know). I liked that the movie was just basically made up of big sets. I’ve grown so tired of CGI settings/scenery in things now, that I really appreciate how ‘real’ the sets felt in this movie. If done right, they can make you buy into the world which the characters inhabit (even if, on closer inspection, you might be able to see the ‘fakeness’ of it all). I never saw ‘sets’, just this world in which Rosaleen was part of – and what a strange/scary world it was. I also liked that there were separate little stories within the main story of the film. They added to what was already an unsettling feeling to the movie, I thought. The wedding scene was kind of creepy, but at the same time sort of had a ‘lightness’ to it as well (might’ve been the music). Regarding the music/score used - I thought it added SO much to the film. It helped give an 'eerie' feeling throughout...but especially at the end. Speaking of the ending...I think it could be debated whether the entire film is 'all a dream' or not, but the first question asked on the movie's IMDB page in the FAQ section has a really good, solid answer that I think explains the narrative structure of the film and what is/isn't a dream. www.imdb.com/title/tt0087075/faqAll I know for sure is the ending always kind of freaked me out. Yes, it may 'just' be wolves busting through glass and paintings to enter Rosaleen's room as she's asleep, but the whole atmosphere throughout the film is unsettling - and that, combined with the music playing as the pack of wolves run up to her room and Rosaleen's bone-chilling scream, are why I find the ending so effectively creepy. Up until this point, Rosaleen had seemed pretty 'chill'/rather calm around wolves...although that may have been because she thought it was a dream up until the end where the dream seemed to bleed into actual reality. Anyway, I just find the ending very effective with its eeriness (it gives me shivers every time) and I like how the film plays around with dreams and reality, blurring the lines between the two - that's why it remains my favourite werewolf film.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 30, 2019 1:19:16 GMT
RACE WITH THE DEVIL 1975 -- What can I say? It holds up very well--expertly made spookiness--a siege horror movie in a sense-- unusual for the cast being over 30. When you race with the Devil you better be faster than Hell.
Precisely. If RWTD was made today the leads would be annoying pot-smoking millennials who constantly take selfies of each other, and the girls would be busty bimbos. Quite a contrast to the '75 version which had average middle-aged couples; completely sympathetic people.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 31, 2019 7:11:38 GMT
Tokyo Ghoul S (2019) virtually continues the story that began in Tokyo Ghoul. This time the white doves, and even human characters get little screen time, with the focus squarely on the ghouls. This follow up looks a little more polished and even stylish in the way it was shot (despite some abrupt editing between transitioning scenes), possibly a larger budget, but then again the film holds back on the CGI and action set-pieces which makes you second guess. There are a couple striking scenes, like the opening introduction of the creepy ghoul villain, the ghoul restaurant horrifyingly in full force and film's final ghoulish standoff. Outside of those moments, everything else felt slow and less memorable. Although I did like the constant interactions between Masataka Kubota and Maika Yamamoto's lead characters. Sure there are high stakes, but its more talky and burdened by emotional weight. In some ways it feels more personal and invested in its character's turmoils than the first film, but less exciting and frenetic in its action-thrills. It still provides a WTF, or brutal moment here and there, but the rush is over in seconds. Kubota's half-ghoul, half-human character Kaneki feels like he took a back-step and in doing so came across much weaker. It definitely shows in the training scene between Kubota and Kirishima early on. He's still battling his affliction, and scared of transforming. There are moments when you think he would break out. Being pushed to the edge, but his character keeps it in check for the majority of the film. Which for me at times became frustrating. He transforms only once, for around 10 or so seconds and that's at the very end. While his trademark mask isn't even seen. It's Nobuyuki Suzuki who steals the show from everyone as Shuu Tsukiyama. A murderous ghoul with epicurean desires and suave fashion sense. He takes real fancy to Kaneki's scent. Tsukiyama truly camps it up, some moments made me chuckle with his over-the-top mannerisms and I don't know if I was meant to either. After while I found his character's actions began to get tiresome in spots, but his gleeful wickedness eventually turns monstrous when he comes to blows in one very long-winded stash with Kubots and Kirishima. His mask design though is of nightmares, and rarely does he take it off when in ghoul form. The other performance to standout was Maika Yamamoto as Kirishima. She really does hold her own, and even takes on more of a role. I found her to be even more cold, cynical and aloof than the actress who protrayed the character in the first film, but her presence was strong enough I thought the scenes without her weren't as engaging. There was pain and sorrow underneath her hard shell, and you see it, via only small cracks and the growth in her character is very evident by the end. In a way I feel like her character is developed and gets a lot more to do especially in ghoul form, even with less screen time than Kaneki. He feels secondary whenever both are on screen. Honestly Kubota is overshadowed by Yamamoto and especially Tsukiyama in every scene they share. There are some plot points, and minor incidents from the first film that get expanded in this sequel. The first half is its own beast in setting up the players in the ghoul underworld, but come the second half it seemed to follow the same story route as the first film. This occurs when the ghoul who was the classmate that tried to kill Kaneki in the first film comes into the picture along with his human girlfriend. Then it sort plays out in a typical fashion through to the end. Also there's a surprise reveal midway through the end credits. Tokyo Ghoul S was a good follow-up, although I think I expected a little more from it, yet the performances mainly shine and I could see myself probably liking it more on a repeat viewing. I see on IMDb this sequel seems to be liked a lot better than the first film. I think you'll get something out of this film Chalice_Of_Evil .
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