mgmarshall
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@mgmarshall
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Post by mgmarshall on Feb 20, 2021 11:03:28 GMT
Demons 2 (1986) by Lamberto Bava I should probably have re-visited the first one, and then moved onto the second afterwards. But, after the Guess which movie challenge a few days ago, I kind of wanted to re-visit the sequel, just to make sure if I had missed out one something. Sadly, for the third or fourth time, that I have seen it, it just never reaches above a mediocre rating, as it feels like somewhere in the mess, it might or could have turned into a much more fun and "better" movie, but too many annoying side characters/stories, and the ones who actually come across as either interesting or likeable, ends up getting the bad treatment of being written out, too early or just be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Instead, the film decides to pay far too much attention towards some bratty teen girl and her birthday party, a bunch of douchebags, riding a fast car in the streets (yeah, I remember something similar from the original, but I think that one actually had somekind of reason to be included, not just a time waster) then you have the annoying pregnant woman and her geeky boyfriend, the even more hysterical and annoying hooker in the elevator, and if not for Bobby Rhodes in the role hilarious role of another screaming and shouting man of action, as Hank the gym instructor, and where his commanding precence as just another born natural leader, in the mist of total chaos, is sadly given too little time in this one. I kind of liked the idea of a tall building and lots of potential for atmosphere and cool scenes, but it was too much "all over the place" at times, dragging down the pace and it just never came close of capturing the same fast paced style and adventure of the first film. Still, there are some cool special effect and gory scenes, Bobby Rhodes is back in action, cheese (the obvious Gremlins and Videodrome references) and some nice choice of musical songs included, but again, one of those films that no matter how much I try, I just cannot seem to enjoy it more. 5/10 Yeah, I always really preferred the first one.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Feb 20, 2021 14:15:56 GMT
I think both of the Demons films, were filmed or set in some German city, Frankfurt or Stuttgart? They even included a few random scenes from some sausage party in the streets, not to ignore one of the party goes, who was "thrown" out, to stand guard and wait for the douchy teenagers in the rapid moving car, and it felt like those scenes dragged on, way too long, and again, it hurt the pace of the movie.
The best scenes, I thought where the siege/war down in the parking lot basement, with the demons going up agains the work-a-holics and the other tenants in the building, all led by Hank the gym instructor. Sadly for Hank, he got his balls in a tight squeeze, but still managed to kill of a few of the enemies. I wonder which of the supposedly "third" Demons film are actually worth seeking out, as I remember one also went under titles of Demons or Demoni 3, but also The Ogre and a couple of other Italian named alternative titles as well.
I guess it was kind of the same with the many Zombie releases, Zombie 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on. A lot of confusion, made maybe even worse by some of those films being great, really classic zombie films, others, not so well.
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mgmarshall
Junior Member
@mgmarshall
Posts: 2,062
Likes: 3,317
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Post by mgmarshall on Feb 20, 2021 18:27:20 GMT
I think both of the Demons films, were filmed or set in some German city, Frankfurt or Stuttgart? They even included a few random scenes from some sausage party in the streets, not to ignore one of the party goes, who was "thrown" out, to stand guard and wait for the douchy teenagers in the rapid moving car, and it felt like those scenes dragged on, way too long, and again, it hurt the pace of the movie. The best scenes, I thought where the siege/war down in the parking lot basement, with the demons going up agains the work-a-holics and the other tenants in the building, all led by Hank the gym instructor. Sadly for Hank, he got his balls in a tight squeeze, but still managed to kill of a few of the enemies. I wonder which of the supposedly "third" Demons film are actually worth seeking out, as I remember one also went under titles of Demons or Demoni 3, but also The Ogre and a couple of other Italian named alternative titles as well. I guess it was kind of the same with the many Zombie releases, Zombie 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on. A lot of confusion, made maybe even worse by some of those films being great, really classic zombie films, others, not so well. Yeah, there are a couple Demons 3's. There's Black Demons, an Umberto Lenzi cheapie about voodoo that has nothing to do with the first two: There's the aforementioned Demons III: The Ogre, which also has nothing to do with the first two: Then there's The Church, which actually had involvement by Argento again, and is sorta kinda seen as the official unofficial Demons 3:
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Feb 21, 2021 11:16:31 GMT
Looking at these trailers, I actually believe I have seen both The Church and Black Demons, but The Ogre is one that I have never met up with before. The Church, I think Asia Argento once again played a part, maybe a bit bigger as well than her role in Demons 2. I might have to try and re-watch it, as it looks like the better of the trio.
Anyway, thanks for bringing up the trailers.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Feb 21, 2021 15:03:44 GMT
Looking at these trailers, I actually believe I have seen both The Church and Black Demons, but The Ogre is one that I have never met up with before. The Church, I think Asia Argento once again played a part, maybe a bit bigger as well than her role in Demons 2. I might have to try and re-watch it, as it looks like the better of the trio. Anyway, thanks for bringing up the trailers. I thought The Church was just OK. One thing that does stand out is that catchy Keith Emerson score.
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Post by forca84 on Feb 21, 2021 20:24:57 GMT
The last King of Scotland 15 minutes Mirrors Mirrors 2 Occulus Masterminds 0 The Wedding planner Maid in Manhattan The President's man The president's man: Line in the Sand Logan's War
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Feb 22, 2021 12:24:02 GMT
Mutant (1984) by John "Bud" Cardoz Two brothers from the big city, is taking a roadtrip towards the country, but gets no "warm" greetings, instead they are soon driven off the road by a bunch of wild rednecks, and which then forces the brothers to walk for the rest of the way, into the nearest town. One which just happens to be even less "friendlier", and where dead bodies suddenly starts to show up, only to then disappear the next minute. I am not sure how I got to this one last night, I believe I was in search for another Wings Houser film, but thought Mutant or Night Shadows looked like it got some potential for a fun sci-fi/horror movie, and I gotta say, the first 25-30 minutes seemed very promising at times. I thought Wings Houser delivered once again, a great (at least set in a b-movie) performance, and helped out by regular character actors such as Bo Hopkins as the local Sheriff and Jennifer Warren as the town doctor. Still, I think the film would have suited better, if it were mostly filmed during the night, as I loved the atmosphere for the first half hour, but the daylight scenes, along with those ridiculous mutant creatures, who looked like they had not seen the sun, for a lifetime, kind of ruined a bit of the setting, but still, not bad for a b-movie. Also, I did notice that some of the screaming/monster sound effects, were very similar to those from the first Phantasm movie, which makes me wonder if there is such a thing within the horror films, as the Wilhelm or Howie scream effect? Sadly, those sounds from the mutants, were far more terrifying than the clownish and goofy mutants themselves, and here in this small town paranoia situation, less is more, would in my opionion, been far more useful. Anyway, I guess I cannot complain too much, Wings Houser delivers once again a solid part, but it felt like the film had so much more going on at times, then just ended up throwing that away for the usual sci-fi stuff during the last scene. 6/10Horror High (1973) by Larry N. Stouffer Another impulse watch, thanks to the enormous free movie archive that is on Youtube, and this one was probably the best or most enjoyable film from last night. The story of a young man who is bullied and blackmailed by everything from his fellow class "mates" to teachers, is probably not groundbreaking stuff, but I thought for such a (most likely) low budget release (loved the crackling sounds and the grainy drive-in picture) it was well handed and acted out. I could see the similarities towards later high school horror films where an outsider is driven into madness, as Carrie (1976), Christine (1983) and maybe also Trick or Treat (1986) at least shares a few of the same style and setting, that and The Nutty Professor. 6,5/10
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Feb 22, 2021 20:55:05 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Feb 22, 2021 20:55:58 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Feb 22, 2021 20:56:45 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Feb 22, 2021 20:56:55 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Feb 22, 2021 20:57:07 GMT
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Feb 23, 2021 11:19:07 GMT
Third Degree Burn (1989) by Roger Spottiswoode A typical late night crime thriller, made for tv and where a private dick (Treat Williams) ends up falling head over heels, for the woman (Virginia Madsen) he is supposed to look after. And things get even more complicated, when the jelaous "husband" (Richard Masur) is killed, only to lead the police onto the detective as their main suspect, and yeah, not exactly a great film, but damn, Virginia Madsen has to be one of the most stunning women back in the late 80s and early 90s. Always thought she were a far better actress than the likes of Sharon Stone, and more sexy as well. But somehow Madsen never seemed to quite get the big break through, even if she appeared in a lot of good/solid films back then. All in all, not a bad movie, but one that if not for Virginia, I would probably forget, very soon. 5/10
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Post by lostinlimbo on Feb 23, 2021 13:43:45 GMT
I’ve seen some bad Sci-fi originals, but Savage Planet (2006) takes top honours. Oh my, the cgi and editing was beyond terrible. It doesn’t take long to rear it’s ugly head. Not taking anything away from the lousy script either. But the spliced bear footage of them attacking people was so laughably third-rate. Blotchy blood splatter like out of a late 90s pc game. But the main gripe... it was so boringly one-note.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Feb 23, 2021 15:20:37 GMT
I’ve seen some bad Sci-fi originals, but Savage Planet (2006) takes top honours. Oh my, the cgi and editing was beyond terrible. It doesn’t take long to rear it’s ugly head. Not taking anything away from the lousy script either. But the spliced bear footage of them attacking people was so laughably third-rate. Blotchy blood splatter like out of a late 90s pc game. But the main gripe... it was so boringly one-note. Not sure why, but somehow I ended up searching for it through Youtube, and caught up with the trailer (did also notice that the whole thing is uploaded as well), which seemed to focus more on showing off these HUGE WORDS (every other second) along with sloppy editing, rather than actually much footage from the film, and even then, most of the actors seemed either grumpy or just bored out of their minds, so yeah, I think I can safely say, this one is not gonna end up in my watchlist anytime soon.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Feb 23, 2021 15:24:53 GMT
Blotchy blood splatter like out of a late 90s pc game. I really hate the use of too much CGI blood, especially when certain modern films, some not all that bad, suddenly decides to throw in stuff, that looks like it came straight from a mid 90s PC game, and even then it looks so cheap and dull.
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mgmarshall
Junior Member
@mgmarshall
Posts: 2,062
Likes: 3,317
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Post by mgmarshall on Feb 23, 2021 22:01:21 GMT
Watched a few over the weekend. Here goes... Bloody HellWow, was this one a wild, nasty ride. The overall premise is a little easy to figure out early on, but this one still found a lot of ways to keep me guessing where it was going, to the point where I really don't wanna give away too much about the story. Just know that you're in for a grimy, fast-paced, hyper-violent time, reminiscent of early Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson. The whole thing's held together by an incredibly strong, smarmy performance by Ben O'Toole as our unbalanced would-be action hero and the voice of his inner monologue. His arguments with himself are pretty riveting stuff. CrittersYou know, I'd somehow managed to go my entire life without ever seeing any of the Critters movies. Spotted the Blu-ray set of the first four for really cheap and figured "Why not...?" And yeah, I can see why people like it. It is some solid, cheesy 80's fun with incredibly memorable effects and creature designs, and an eclectic, likeable cast. It's practically a stroke of genius casting Dee Wallace as the mom in yet another extra-terrestrial movie, particularly one that directly mocks E.T. Billy Green Bush, Scott Grimes, and Nadine van der Velde are all likeable and sincere as Wallace's family. M. Emmet Walsh is the same old grouchy, loveable curmudgeon he always is as the sheriff. The two alien bounty hunters are pretty cool. Perhaps the only misstep is killing off Billy Zane so early. I was kinda having fun seeing him with real hair playing the most generic 80's douchebag I've seen in quite a while. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and I'm interested to see how the sequels pan out. Hack-O-LanternWow. Just f*cking wow. I really don't know where to even begin with this one. I'd had it in my Amazon queue for some time now, and it was hearing it mentioned on The People's Court, of all things, that finally made me decide to check it out. (If you're curious, it came up on The People's Court last week because Massacre Video were suing some guy who showed it on his local late-night horror show without permission. I didn't see who won the case, though) Once again, this is one I don't wanna give too much away about, because you need to be surprised by this thing. This is a jewel of incompetent filmmaking. This is Troll 2 bad. This is The Room bad. For the love of god, if you have Shudder or Amazon Prime, just check this ridiculous thing out.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Feb 24, 2021 2:32:24 GMT
Watched a few over the weekend. Here goes... Bloody HellWow, was this one a wild, nasty ride. The overall premise is a little easy to figure out early on, but this one still found a lot of ways to keep me guessing where it was going, to the point where I really don't wanna give away too much about the story. Just know that you're in for a grimy, fast-paced, hyper-violent time, reminiscent of early Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson. The whole thing's held together by an incredibly strong, smarmy performance by Ben O'Toole as our unbalanced would-be action hero and the voice of his inner monologue. His arguments with himself are pretty riveting stuff. CrittersYou know, I'd somehow managed to go my entire life without ever seeing any of the Critters movies. Spotted the Blu-ray set of the first four for really cheap and figured "Why not...?" And yeah, I can see why people like it. It is some solid, cheesy 80's fun with incredibly memorable effects and creature designs, and an eclectic, likeable cast. It's practically a stroke of genius casting Dee Wallace as the mom in yet another extra-terrestrial movie, particularly one that directly mocks E.T. Billy Green Bush, Scott Grimes, and Nadine van der Velde are all likeable and sincere as Wallace's family. M. Emmet Walsh is the same old grouchy, loveable curmudgeon he always is as the sheriff. The two alien bounty hunters are pretty cool. Perhaps the only misstep is killing off Billy Zane so early. I was kinda having fun seeing him with real hair playing the most generic 80's douchebag I've seen in quite a while. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and I'm interested to see how the sequels pan out. Hack-O-LanternWow. Just f*cking wow. I really don't know where to even begin with this one. I'd had it in my Amazon queue for some time now, and it was hearing it mentioned on The People's Court, of all things, that finally made me decide to check it out. (If you're curious, it came up on The People's Court last week because Massacre Video were suing some guy who showed it on his local late-night horror show without permission. I didn't see who won the case, though) Once again, this is one I don't wanna give too much away about, because you need to be surprised by this thing. This is a jewel of incompetent filmmaking. This is Troll 2 bad. This is The Room bad. For the love of god, if you have Shudder or Amazon Prime, just check this ridiculous thing out. To this day, I still have not seen Critters. Just one of those horror movies I never bothered with, and I've been watching horror movies for a long time now. But one of these days I'll check it out.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Feb 24, 2021 8:16:42 GMT
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Feb 24, 2021 8:18:38 GMT
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