What Films Did You Watch Last Week? (27/08-02/09) CLOSED

Hi darksidebeadle & hi everyone.

I like 'Taxi Driver' and 'Rolling Thunder', great pair of gritty crime pictures. I'll try and see 'Tape', thanks for the review.

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My viewings :

'The Guest House' (2012 - Michael Baumgarten)

"A-grade" student Rachel (Ruth Reynolds) is dumped by her egotistical boyfriend Jason (Jake Parker), berated and grounded by her brash father Frank (Tom McCafferty) and locked up at home with new paying boarder Amy (Madeline Merritt).

'The Guest House' is a light drama about a rebellious emo girl who's about to leave home to attend college. Emotions run high at her family's guest house. It's well acted by Ruth Reynolds and Madeline Merritt who carry the bulk of the action. ‘The Guest House’ is a pleasant independent film about relationships.

'Hi-8 (Horror Independent 8)' (2013, Anthology - Various directors)

A compendium of 8 tiny horror tales.

Ron Bonk ... (segment "Gang Them Style")
Donald Farmer ... (segment "Thicker than Water")
Marcus Koch ... (segment "A Very Bad Situation")
Tony Masiello ... (segment "The Tape")
Tim Ritter ... (segment "Switchblade Insane")
Chris Seaver ... (segment "Genre Bending")
Todd Sheets ... (segment "The Request")
Brad Sykes ... (segment "The Scout") (wraparound segment "No Budget Films Presents...")

Brad Sykes invited seven underground horror filmmakers to contribute short films to the experiment 'Hi-8'. These hand-picked directors all maintain standing within the business as makers of ultra-low budget, shot-on-video (s.o.v.) shockers. Personally, I think Sykes' own contributions to the film are my favourites. His closing segment 'The Scout' is an energetic hand-held horror shot in one of his favourite locations, the Mojave Desert, and his wraparound story is a vibrant jogging piece in which an amateur film crew are stalked in the forestry of Los Angeles, California. The veteran Donald Farmer's penultimate segment 'Thicker Than Water' crudely satirises moral conservatism and it's notable for merging two sets of footage shot at different times. Todd Sheets' segment 'The Request' is a nifty radio tale with a wicked twist filmed in Kansas City, Missouri. I also like the opening story, 'Switchblade Insane', a morbid examination of the psychology of serial killers shot by Tim Ritter in Lexington, Kentucky. Like most anthologies it's a decidedly mixed bag but worth dipping in to.

'The Misandrists' (2017, Die Misandristinnen - Bruce La Bruce)

Isolde (Kita Updike) and Hilde (Olivia Kundisch) rescue injured soldier Big Volker (Til Schindler) and hide him above their dormitory. Big Mother (Susanne Sachsse) is always on the lookout for males stalking the Gerwomanland plains which have been largely freed from male oppression. In a protected zone built for expressions of superior female love, the Sisters must continue to battle the capitalist system that threatens to engulf them.

'The Misandrists' is an outlandish call to arms from Canadian writer-director Bruce La Bruce who celebrates gender fluidity while carving out his own distinct take on feminine glory. Big Mother becomes Big Brother as La Bruce confidently dissects the rules that hold together a girls school where state interference has been turned on its head. It borrows plot elements from the Pole Lloyd Simandl's 'White Slave' pictures which are partly produced in Canada and filmed in the Czech Republic. The amusing political text in 'The Misandrists' is thought-provoking and funny but I found the exaggerated characterisations way over the top, so much so that I couldn't become invested in anybody's future. It's an interesting film shot entirely on location in Germany.

'Carnivore : Werewolf Of London' (2017 - Simon Wells)

Dave (Ben Loyd-Holmes) and Abi (Atlanta Johnson) rent a cottage in the country for a dirty weekend. They're interrupted by a horny werewolf with murder in mind.

'Carnivore : Werewolf Of London' is a hideously awful British horror that's hard to watch. There are two dramatic sex scenes that are like damp squibs as director Simon Wells was determined to not show anything sexy. On the other hand, lead hunk Ben Loyd-Holmes shows off his muscular frame going shirtless. As for the story, there isn't one, it's just a dodgy soap opera set-piece (quarreling lovers with no future) padded out to make a feature. Atlanta Johnson tries her best but is given nothing substantial to work with. The horror content when it finally arrives is a terrible letdown. Wells and Lloyd-Holmes have reunited for the fantasy 'Knights Of The Damned' (2017) which I'll be avoiding like the plague after sitting through the abysmal 'Carnivore : Werewolf Of London'.