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Post by theravenking on Jul 18, 2021 10:35:44 GMT
This didn't have Fenech in it. What? Isn't this the movie?
No, that would be The Strange Vice Of Ms. Wardh from the same director, the one I was referring to was this:
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 18, 2021 14:14:41 GMT
Rituals (1977) Five doctors on a fishing trip in the wilderness are terrorized by a deranged hillbilly. Terrifying, low budget backwoods chiller from Canada. Grim, gritty, and extremely intense. One chilling sequence after another; the image of the killer standing on the horizon is especially unsettling. And showing the killer in brief glimpses as a shadowy figure is also very creepy. Hagood Hardy's eerie music score is a major asset. This also happens to be an allegory for war; dealing with the horrors of war and trying to survive it. Rituals is currently streaming on Shudder, and this is by far the best quality version I've seen of it.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jul 18, 2021 16:20:03 GMT
Rituals (1977) Five doctors on a fishing trip in the wilderness are terrorized by a deranged hillbilly. Terrifying, low budget backwoods chiller from Canada. Grim, gritty, and extremely intense. One chilling sequence after another; the image of the killer standing on the horizon is especially unsettling. And showing the killer in brief glimpses as a shadowy figure is also very creepy. Hagood Hardy's eerie music score is a major asset. This also happens to be an allegory for war; dealing with the horrors of war and trying to survive it. Rituals is currently streaming on Shudder, and this is by far the best quality version I've seen of it. It's one of my my favorites--that image of him watching from the distance is spooky. The killer was tortured in a Japanese internment camp--I never knew Canadian soldiers were in the Pacific.
The question is, why did he offer his medals to Harry?
I wonder if they used the same print for the Code Red dvd which I have. They could not get the negative because it was held somewhere so Lawrence Dane supplied his own 35mm copy.
This movie is a perfect example of gothic---gothic is supposed to be where the wilderness plays a role in the story--and this certainly does.
I feel it would have been better if we didn't see the killer's face at the end. Good makeup though it is, I think it would have been more haunting.
Some good humor, like the Korean rice story he tells. There was a Rue Morgue article on it and they did ask Holbrook about the movie. I was curious what he thought about it since he had a starring role for a change.
“I got very emotionally involved in the story; I found it very easy to believe that we were being stalked in this strange wilderness,” recalls Holbrook. “I remember the scene where Larry’s character and I were carrying Robin’s character on the travois; we had to drag that bloody thing - and we really did, there was no faking at all - over detritus, rocks and every other type of damn thing, up and down over hills. Our feet had towels wrapped around them and it hurt like hell. Once, we were taking it down a hill, ’and the rocks were sharp and slippery, and I thought, ‘We’ve got down the damn hill, Peter's gonna cut the camera soon and stop this torture,’ but he just kept going until I was so mad at him. He got really close to the real thing because we really were hurting, we really were exhausted." ...Diving headfirst into a potentially dangerous, low-budget Canadian genre picture made it seem that Holbrook had something to prove. “That’s why I took it on!” he says, raising his gravely voice. “I didn’t want to wear a suit all the time. I’d been trying to get away from a pinstripe suit my whole damn life in the movie industry. They cling to it. they don’t let you loose once they signify you in one way. They don’t want to give you a chance to do anything else. Doing this job [on Rituals] with Peter was so wonderful and exciting to me.”
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 18, 2021 18:22:43 GMT
Rituals (1977) Five doctors on a fishing trip in the wilderness are terrorized by a deranged hillbilly. Terrifying, low budget backwoods chiller from Canada. Grim, gritty, and extremely intense. One chilling sequence after another; the image of the killer standing on the horizon is especially unsettling. And showing the killer in brief glimpses as a shadowy figure is also very creepy. Hagood Hardy's eerie music score is a major asset. This also happens to be an allegory for war; dealing with the horrors of war and trying to survive it. Rituals is currently streaming on Shudder, and this is by far the best quality version I've seen of it. It's one of my my favorites--that image of him watching from the distance is spooky. The killer was tortured in a Japanese internment camp--I never knew Canadian soldiers were in the Pacific.
The question is, why did he offer his medals to Harry?
I wonder if they used the same print for the Code Red dvd which I have. They could not get the negative because it was held somewhere so Lawrence Dane supplied his own 35mm copy.
This movie is a perfect example of gothic---gothic is supposed to be where the wilderness plays a role in the story--and this certainly does.
I feel it would have been better if we didn't see the killer's face at the end. Good makeup though it is, I think it would have been more haunting.
Some good humor, like the Korean rice story he tells. There was a Rue Morgue article on it and they did ask Holbrook about the movie. I was curious what he thought about it since he had a starring role for a change.
“I got very emotionally involved in the story; I found it very easy to believe that we were being stalked in this strange wilderness,” recalls Holbrook. “I remember the scene where Larry’s character and I were carrying Robin’s character on the travois; we had to drag that bloody thing - and we really did, there was no faking at all - over detritus, rocks and every other type of damn thing, up and down over hills. Our feet had towels wrapped around them and it hurt like hell. Once, we were taking it down a hill, ’and the rocks were sharp and slippery, and I thought, ‘We’ve got down the damn hill, Peter's gonna cut the camera soon and stop this torture,’ but he just kept going until I was so mad at him. He got really close to the real thing because we really were hurting, we really were exhausted." ...Diving headfirst into a potentially dangerous, low-budget Canadian genre picture made it seem that Holbrook had something to prove. “That’s why I took it on!” he says, raising his gravely voice. “I didn’t want to wear a suit all the time. I’d been trying to get away from a pinstripe suit my whole damn life in the movie industry. They cling to it. they don’t let you loose once they signify you in one way. They don’t want to give you a chance to do anything else. Doing this job [on Rituals] with Peter was so wonderful and exciting to me.”
I think the reason the killer offered his medals to Harry is that he was trying to tell Harry that he is the best soldier of the platoon of doctors and he will be the survivor of this little war that the killer declared. Therefore, Harry deserved the medals. It's possible Shudder may have used the Code Red print, but if that's the case they sure cleaned it up; gone are those scratchy lines that appeared on the DVD. Interesting story from the Holbrook interview. Sounds like the director really pushed things to the limit to get the genuine reactions he wanted from the actors.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jul 18, 2021 19:00:36 GMT
That's a possible solution. They quote that poem by Keats
slouching towards Bethlehem--waiting to be born----also Marty tells a story about getting a chimp to salute by breaking the legs of a dog--4 legs--4 doctors.
Also, all the doctors are corrupt--even Harry. They all violate their oath in some way--I forgot what Abel's sin was--Marty let his homosexuality interfere with his surgeon role---Mitzy was chasing a high paid job, TJ was doing unnecessary surgeries to make money-the worst offender----and Harry was keeping patients alive no matter what because he felt guilt about his father.
He's one that can have some redemption.
I think it's better than Deliverance. It's more intellectual.
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Post by gspdude on Jul 20, 2021 14:38:02 GMT
Miracle Mile(1988) Starts off looking like a typical rom-com, but turns into a thriller when a young man receives an accidental phone call convincing him nuclear war will start in about an hour. Had a hard time with suspension of disbelief in this one (see spoilers). 5/10 After expressing only brief doubts, Harry accepts the info from a stranger on a pay phone. Then the people in the diner accept the info from harry, who they don't know, and almost immediately go into panic mode. Then within the hour pretty much the entire city is in panic mode on "unconfirmed reports"(pretty sure that's what the lady on TV said). And the heliport, Julie's apt, and the diner were all within walking distance. Don't know why Harry asked Mrs Peters if she had a car? I really expected this to be a dream. Maybe it was, or supposed to be, and they changed their mind, or left it vague. I still think it could have been, it would make more sense.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 21, 2021 0:46:30 GMT
While the film Pet Sematary was the first ever horror film I remember seeing as a kid. Over time, it lost some of the appeal. But not enough for me, not to check out “Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary“. Quite a compelling, and thoroughly informative documentary on the cult Stephen King film adaptation. Cool to see the locations again, and even listen to some of the stories by locals who were involved.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Jul 21, 2021 20:02:25 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Jul 23, 2021 19:36:07 GMT
The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957 directed by Jack Arnold. Can't believe it took me this many years to actually watch it. This is a damn good 1950's atomic era movie that dares to not have a happy ending, yet a very satisfying ending. Exposed on a sailing trip to a mysterious mist, plus walking under trees were some one is pest spraying starts a chemical reaction that makes our hero smaller and smaller, at first smaller is noticed on clothes, latereven the pet cap he once used to kuddle sees him as a possible pray. When minimal and having fallen down to the cellar he starts living in a new world, where his enemy is a spider, and he lives on food once meant for mouse traps. For effect's it easy to understand why the producers went for a tarantula spider, but they dig holes and hunt for preys, they never build nets, making nets is a bit beyond them, unless she killed the net builder and liked the hideout. A follow up was in the making, where our hero's wife also begun being smaller. but that idea somehow died.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 24, 2021 3:38:09 GMT
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) Actress Heather Langenkamp is asked to reprise her role as Nancy in a new Elm Street movie, but discovers this sequel will actually release an ancient evil entity into the real world. The franchise was really getting tiresome, so it was refreshing that Wes Craven brought an innovative perspective. By incorporating creative ideas, bizarre imagery and doubling the amount of psychological layers of the first film, Craven made this a welcome edition to the franchise.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Jul 25, 2021 2:37:55 GMT
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 25, 2021 2:59:04 GMT
Two duds tonight. First up Fractured (2019, dir. Brad Anderson). Relentlessly run-of-the-mill. Concept is your standard “Paris Exposition”/ Lady Vanishes gambit: A guy’s family disappears, everyone thinks he’s crazy and the family didn’t exist, and he has to find them, prove their existence, take down the conspiracy. Now, I happen to love that plot; I just don’t think Hollywood has executed it all that well, with a few exceptions (original Lady Vanishes) and variations ( One of My Wives Is Missing, Unknown, Bunny Lake Is Missing). This telling is an object lesson in how not to write a thriller movie. The opening is so weird, with the camera lingering on unnecessary details and the dialogue (intentionally?) stilted, that it puts the audience on guard, makes us suspect something’s up. What’s up, unfortunately, is the twist 99% of viewers will suspect from the get-go: The guy’s crazy, can’t cope with his daughter’s death, and dreamed up this whole conspiracy as a way out of tragedy. Not only is this twist done to death, I’ve also seen it—exact same thing, also with a young girl’s death—in another Netflix thriller!
What makes the movie irritating, though, is that at first the writers seem to know that you know about this twist. They throw in obvious hints when the daughter gets hurt—and have characters talk about this twist about halfway through. Then, when you think that twist is the red herring, bam!—last two minutes or so, you find out you were right all along.
Tricking the viewer into thinking the film is smarter than it is, just to reveal that it is as dumb as the viewer originally thought, is not clever. It’s just stupid. Then The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020, dir. Jim Cummings). This may be, amazingly, even worse. It tries harder than Fractured: It has a lovely opening sequence, some nice directing, and stellar scenery. Not to mention that great poster. But it stinks—in large part because of its writer-director-star, Jim Cummings ( this Jim Cummings, not Winnie-the-Pooh). Cummings’s performance is excruciatingly over-the-top: He emotes way too broadly, especially in scenes that don’t call for much emoting, and comes off early on as the least likable, most irritating protagonist I’ve seen in ages. Apparently Cummings liked and expected us to like this character, because he gave himself all the big heroic moments, but his character is a bigger asshole than most movie villains. (Also, amusingly enough, I think Cummings miscast himself. He doesn’t look old enough to have the 17-year-old daughter his character has, something that kept pulling me out of the story.) Everyone else’s performance in this is fine and naturalistic. I suppose Cummings deserves credit for directing those performances—but was he really that blind to the badness of his own performance? Anyway, the movie just loses it at the end, in which the killer—who is a guy in a wolf costume, not a werewolf—is revealed to be someone we’ve never seen before. We got one line about this person toward the beginning, and that’s it. We also get no explanation for the red herring suspect, why the guy had a dead body in his backyard… Nothing. This is one of the biggest anticlimaxes in the history of the movies. This stinks. Stay away. Boooooooo.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Jul 25, 2021 22:21:01 GMT
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Post by gspdude on Jul 26, 2021 13:09:15 GMT
Phantasm(1979). Young teen and his older brother discover some spooky goings on at the local cemetery. Lots of supernatural stuff thrown into an illogical plot. Even towards the end when it is somewhat explained it didn't make a lot of sense to me. There is some gore, some scares, some brief nudity, and the movie does have it's fans (6.7 on IMDB) but I was left largely unimpressed. 5/10.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jul 26, 2021 17:01:30 GMT
Phantasm(1979). Young teen and his older brother discover some spooky goings on at the local cemetery. Lots of supernatural stuff thrown into an illogical plot. Even towards the end when it is somewhat explained it didn't make a lot of sense to me. There is some gore, some scares, some brief nudity, and the movie does have it's fans (6.7 on IMDB) but I was left largely unimpressed. 5/10. I was never fond of Phantasm either. Had its moments, but overall pretty silly and badly acted.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Jul 27, 2021 10:38:48 GMT
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Post by gspdude on Jul 27, 2021 14:05:38 GMT
Blood and Chocolate(2007). A pack of human/wolf shape shifters in Romania. Wolf girl falls for a human and the pack disapproves. I prefer my lycans more in the traditional mode, but Agnes Bruckner makes this watchable. 5.5/10.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 27, 2021 14:53:20 GMT
Phantasm(1979). Young teen and his older brother discover some spooky goings on at the local cemetery. Lots of supernatural stuff thrown into an illogical plot. Even towards the end when it is somewhat explained it didn't make a lot of sense to me. There is some gore, some scares, some brief nudity, and the movie does have it's fans (6.7 on IMDB) but I was left largely unimpressed. 5/10. I was never fond of Phantasm either. Had its moments, but overall pretty silly and badly acted. I was surprised at the high IMDb ratings, as these supernatural horror films, rarely reaches above 5,0, but then again, Phantasm sure has quite a cult-following, I should know, I am one of the admirers, at least of the first film that is. After that, it kind of gets a bit too uneven, specially the second one, which sadly were more dominated by studio decisions, and hurted the great chemistry and bond which were one of the reasons I loved the original. Thankfully the original cast returned later on, but yeah, I never quite got into the third and fourth, as much as I had wanted to, and still not seen the fifth one, yet.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 27, 2021 14:57:42 GMT
Miracle Mile(1988) Starts off looking like a typical rom-com, but turns into a thriller when a young man receives an accidental phone call convincing him nuclear war will start in about an hour. Had a hard time with suspension of disbelief in this one (see spoilers). 5/10 That is a great looking poster/artwork, far superior to the two alternative versions of the Arrow Video Blu-ray I own. I had never seen or heard of it, until two years ago, more or less, but really enjoyed the characters, story and atmosphere it had so much of. A fantastic display of characters actors, showing up, and rated it with a 7,5/10. Might climb higher, with a re-watch.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 27, 2021 15:01:11 GMT
Rituals (1977) Five doctors on a fishing trip in the wilderness are terrorized by a deranged hillbilly. Terrifying, low budget backwoods chiller from Canada. Grim, gritty, and extremely intense. One chilling sequence after another; the image of the killer standing on the horizon is especially unsettling. And showing the killer in brief glimpses as a shadowy figure is also very creepy. Hagood Hardy's eerie music score is a major asset. This also happens to be an allegory for war; dealing with the horrors of war and trying to survive it. Rituals is currently streaming on Shudder, and this is by far the best quality version I've seen of it. Surely one of the better and very chilling films that I got out of a 50 "Great" films movie box-set, a few years back. Of course, have yet to see it through, as most of the titles I managed to watch, were pure filth, so bad, it felt like time stood still. I was almost ready to hand in the towel, and just throw the damn thing in the garbage bin, when I stumbled upon Rituals, and yeah, it was on a whole different level of entertainment and quality, felt almost bad for the film itself, that someone decided to throw it in, with so much pure garbage. I really need to upgrade that DVD, hopefully I might be able of finding a more reasonable price and remastered DVD/Blu-ray release.
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