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Post by Joker on Jun 30, 2011 19:06:11 GMT -5
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Vincent Price is Dr. Anton Phibes, an organist whose wife died on the operating table while he was burned to death in a car accident while racing to her side. Now it appears that he's come back from the dead and is exacting gruesome revenge against the people he blames for her death. Each over-the-top killing seems based on the curses visited upon Egypt from the Bible. One guy is exsanguinated for the plague of blood, another guy is frozen to death as if bombarded by the plague of hail, etc.
There are two stars of this excellent black comedy. One is Price, who manages to still be imposing as Phibes even though he can't speak his lines. The other star is the production design that hits you in the face with it's garishness like a malicious rainbow of incredible sets and costumes. Everything is a production with Phibes, so this ordinary revenge film becomes much more epic in it's grandeur.
Perkins' 14 (2009)
A small town deputy sheriff has been looking for his abducted son for ten years and suddenly realizes that a guy named Perkins in a holding cell may be the man responsible. After doing some detective work he finds a basement full of cages under the guy's house. You'd think that the story ends here as the cop is going to get his revenge, but Perkins has been pumping the children he abducted full of PCP all this time - and they just escaped into the community. Now the movie shifts into survival horror as the cop tries to protect his family by holing up in the police station against the animalistic killers running loose in the streets.
This movie really just falls apart as it goes on. The guy who is supposed to be the hero just looks terribly creepy and there winds up being a lot of shaky cam (which must have been to try and distract you from the fact that the unleashed freaks just seem to be bloody and filthy extras. There's a subplot where one of the titular 14 is the creepy cop's grown son, which goes nowhere as his son's brain has been ruined by the drugs he's been forced to take all this time and it's far too late to save him. Also, there's scenes which are awkwardly set up just so some gore can happen, which makes it that much dumber.
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Post by Shep on Jul 2, 2011 3:18:00 GMT -5
I recently finally saw Fulci's "The Beyond." Really enjoyed that, and it's always nice to see David Warbeck, who played an important role in one of my favorite films, Sergio Leone's "Duck You Sucker." (Warbeck was also the second string James Bond throughout the 70--ready to step in should Roger Moore have dropped out)
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Post by Crowfan on Jul 2, 2011 9:37:12 GMT -5
I recently finally saw Fulci's "The Beyond." Really enjoyed that, and it's always nice to see David Warbeck, who played an important role in one of my favorite films, Sergio Leone's "Duck You Sucker." (Warbeck was also the second string James Bond throughout the 70--ready to step in should Roger Moore have dropped out) I've always enjoyed this movie too. I saw it as a kid in the theater when it was released as "Seven Doors Of Death".
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Post by Frameous on Jul 2, 2011 11:18:27 GMT -5
I've said it before and will say it again: The Beyond is one of my favorite horror films, and I think it's Fulci's crowning achievement.
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Post by Crowfan on Jul 2, 2011 11:18:52 GMT -5
Agreed.
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Post by Joker on Jul 14, 2011 1:03:39 GMT -5
I always thought that Fulci's Zombie (1979) was his best film. Warning: All linked trailers contain violence, language, and gore. Midnight Movie (2008)Five years after an insane director escapes from an asylum a small neighborhood theater is showing his film. Only a few teens, a biker couple, a cop looking for the killer and his psychiatrist from the asylum have shown up. At first this just seems like a stupid grindhouse flick playing out on screen and these people are somewhat bored. Then it appears that someone in the theater bathroom is being killed in the film and they realize that they're trapped in the theater - now a part of the film unfolding onscreen. The skull-masked killer kills people with a big corkscrew and continues to haul the dead into the cellar onscreen. The only way to survive is to keep an eye on the film for the killer's P.O.V. shots to know where he is in the theater. This film starts out as the usual boring DTV slasher flick that suddenly becomes meta as the film and reality mash together and the patrons and staff of the theater wind up being the victims that could wind up in his film basement of horrors. The actors are pretty bland and unmemorable, but the killer and the premise here are enough to push it past average status. Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)Rutger Hauer is the Hobo who rolls into a scummy town with the simple dream of begging for enough money to buy a lawnmower and start a mowing service. Instead he gets brutalized after rescuing a young prostitute (Molly Dunsworth) from the two insane sons of the local terrorist crimelord The Drake (Brian Downey). This town is sick as all hell with blood and gore in the streets as the dead pile up. The cops are dirty and won't stop the non-stop killing and the Hobo finally reaches his breaking point during a pawn shop robbery and picks up a shotgun. Now the scum of this city have someone to fear as he goes through the streets blasting the psychos, criminals, and freakoids. In response Drake declares war on the Hobo by terrorizing the populace into killing all of the homeless. It seems like Drake's grip is slipping as the Hobo keeps on with his bloody mission so the crime boss calls in The Plague, a couple of heavily armored psychos who leave nothing but bodies in their wake... This is one of the most over-the-top crazy films you'll ever see. Hauer is brilliant as the Hobo, who seems to have reached some sort of terrible psychotic level as he mercilessly executes criminals who deserve much worse. The Plague wind up being scene-stealing super-killers in their crazy armor and ruthless efficiency. The whole movie is like a Troma film, but much better. Highly recommended.
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Post by Frameous on Jul 14, 2011 1:21:45 GMT -5
This is one of the most over-the-top crazy films you'll ever see. Hauer is brilliant as the Hobo, who seems to have reached some sort of terrible psychotic level as he mercilessly executes criminals who deserve much worse. The Plague wind up being scene-stealing super-killers in their crazy armor and ruthless efficiency. The whole movie is like a Troma film, but much better. Highly recommended. Yes, thank you. I was going to post my own review but said to hell with it. I didn't think anyone cared to hear my thoughts on this one, but you are right. Hauer and The Plauge make this an unforgettable film, despite the Troma trappings. This is the right context to enjoy such an outing. I found it gleeful fun from beginning to end.
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Post by Joker on Jul 26, 2011 22:24:40 GMT -5
[REC] 2 (2009)
Taking up where the first film left off, a heavil armored/armed SWAT team goes into the sealed off apartment building where people are seemingly getting infected by a rabies-type virus. Accompanied by a public health official they find a bloody scene in the place, but no bodies. When they suddenly get attacked and the health official guy uses holy speech to keep the infected at bay they realize they're not dealing with just an ordinary virus but a kind of demonic possession that has become contagious. The only way of saving the world outside from the evil is to find a blood sample from the original possessed girl who was held in an upstairs lab and now wanders around as a creepy as hell gaunt creature...
One thing about Hollywood that makes their movies terrible these days is how they seemingly make them in a factorylike way where afterwards they have to be reviewed again to make them even more slick. This has made their current horror crop very soulless, which is why most people like older, indie, or foreign horror films where chances can be taken, silence can be a boon to suspense and tension, and performances can stand out. This Spanish horror film is so tense and claustrophobic with it's first person camera way of storytelling that it is one of the most excellent world cinema films I've seen in a while. The film is like if you crossed 28 Days Later with Aliens with elements of The Exorcist thrown in for more terror. The use of nightvision for a mind-blowing twist later in the film makes it that much weirder-and better.
Rawhead Rex (1985)
An American photographer on vacation in Ireland with his family is fascinated by a stained glass window in a local church that depicts a demon being vanquished. A local farmer is killed when a stone pillar is struck by lightning nearby and the titular demon is unleashed. This fertility demon kills anyone in his way except pregant women and gets a disciple in the form of a manic priest. When the photographer's son is killed by the demon he becomes obsessed with destroying the beast, with a secret hidden in the church perhaps being the key to destroying the demon.
Clive Barker wrote the screenplay for this film and it shows as this seemingly conventional film becomes very strange at times with catty insults and a foul-mouthed demon-serving Catholic priest cussing people out in church. When he gets "baptized" by the demon you realize how irreverent the film is. The movie is still pretty dull though as it takes a while to get going.
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Post by Joker on Aug 4, 2011 0:18:56 GMT -5
Terror on Tour (1980)
A rock band called The Clowns is gaining popularity because of their violent stage show where they destroy mannequins and pretend to kill women in bloody fashion. The crowds that come to their shows eat it up, but after their concerts someone is really killing female groupies dressed as one of the band. The police are investigating, but it's hard to know which member of the band it is since they all dress in the same clown outfit and makeup. A detective gets the bright idea to send in a woman who has been busted for petty crimes trying to clean up her record to infiltrate a show to get dirt on who the killer might be. In this world of drugs and cheap sex this woman is in way over her head.
This is one of those early 80's slashers where not much is really going on beyond the killings. Back then there was actually a push from producers to make these films more violent because audiences ate it up. These films were pretty misogynist as mostly women died gorily in them. This film tries at the last minute to condemn this violence, but it rings hollow because the film only has the violence to rely on to keep people interested. The music by the band The Names (who play The Clowns and actually act in the film) is good, like KISS meets Alice Cooper. Otherwise the film is pretty tedious.
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
Casey Affleck is Lou Ford, a West Texas deputy sheriff who is tasked with getting a local prostitute (Jessica Alba) to leave town, but a sudden violent outburst of sadism leads to him having a torrid affair with the woman. When he backs out of delivering a blackmail payoff to her for a wealthy contractor the job goes to a thug who Ford has a grudge against for the death of his father. He decides to brutally beat the woman to death and shoot the thug to make it look like a murder suicide. Then things get complicated as a persistent detective (Simon Baker) hounds him as the primary suspect. Marked money and a blackmailing homeless guy add even more complications that Lou decides to correct to cover his trail with murder...
This is probably Affleck's best performance as the cold psychopath whose childhood of incestuous sexual abuse has led to him becoming a monster. I was on the fence about this film being a horror film, but realized that the brutal killings here could only be tolerated by horror fans. The darkness of this man becomes a gruesome thing to see as he thinks nothing of the lives of others and seems an emotionless cypher. Some of his wheezy dialogue is unintelligible though. Kate Hudson is also good in the film as his oblivious fiancee.
What? A good Kate Hudson performance when I've heard nothing but bad things about her acting? Only in a nightmarish film like this...
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Post by Joker on Aug 11, 2011 14:42:16 GMT -5
Warning: Trailers contain violence Plague Town (2008)A bickering American family visiting Ireland to get back to their roots winds up stranded out in the countryside. As night falls they take refuge in an abandoned car then a few of them go out to find a phone. Too bad they're in some sort of dark wilderness where people seem to be watching them from the overgrowth. It turns out that this village is full of pasty-faced inbred teens who want to kill them all - except for those they need for breeding to have normal offspring. It's a slow burn film with gory deaths thrown in that leads to a more satisfying conclusion than you would think would happen. The deformed children are creepy monsters in a mash-up of Deliverance and The Wicker Man. David Gergory, who used to produce special features on Blue Underground DVDs directs the film deftly to make it creepy and disturbing. It takes a long time to kill someone with a hubcap... Stake Land (2010)Martin (Connor Paolo) is a young man who gets saved from a deadly vampire attack on his family by Mister (Nick Damici who co-wrote the film), a very effective vamp killer who trains him as they travel across a ruined nightmare America after the vamp epidemic. The two men are bounty killers who make their living off of turning in vamp fangs and save a nun named Sister (Kelly McGillis) from some rapists who work for the ultra-fundamentalist Christian known as The Brotherhood led by the evil Jebediah (Michael Cerveris). As they try to survive day-to-day and night-to-night against the vamps and Brotherhood thugs who ruin everything they pick up a beautiful young pregnant woman (Danielle Harris) and an ex-Marine (Sean Nelson). Is there any hope left in a world where religion has become poison and the people you care for can be taken away in the blink of an eye? This is what I'm talking about when I think of smart and powerful horror films. The whole film is shot professionally and has excellent performances and beautiful cinematography. The movie feels like the novel I Am Legend crossed with The Road(2009) except with the addition of the hope that comes from people pulling together to survive. Sister's faith, Mister's lack of it, and The Brotherhood's poisonous Christian terrorism add a neat dynamic subtext in the face of a dwindling humanity. It's a new horror classic that stays with you long after you've watched it.
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Post by Joker on Aug 22, 2011 19:10:43 GMT -5
Warning: Trailers contain violence Alien Raiders (2008)During the end of a closing shift at a small town Arizona grocery store a group of thugs rush in and take everyone hostage killing anyone who tries to resist, including a cop. The remaining people are taken hostage and it turns out that these killers are after alien parasites living inside of a few of them. Somewhere amongst them is the "king" parasite and because their "spotter" was killed they have to perform a gruesome test on each person. The hostages think these folks are just terrorists and plan to make a break for it - until it turns out that the dead cop had the king alien inside of him and is now killing them all off to get away into the world. It's a fast paced thriller where if you're pinky finger stays cut off you're safe. The performances are all extremely good for a movie that could have been pretty stupid. It winds up feeling like a cross between The Thing (1982) and Aliens (1986) so if you like those films you'll love this excellent movie. The Queen of Black Magic (1979)In a small village in Indonesia a wedding is disrupted by an invisible demon leaving the place in a shambles. The groom suspects his ex-lover is responsible for using black magic against him and assembles a posse to find the woman and kill her. They burn down her house with her mother in it (!) and then toss her off a cliff (!!), but she gets saved by a sorceror. The old man teaches her to use black magic and sets the empowered woman against the men who destroyed her life. Her deadly path of vengeance leaves people terrified until a pious young Muslim man comes to town and restores the local mosque so the people can be literally saved by prayer to Allah from the Queen of Black Magic. In a bizarre turn of events the two begin to have a relationship and a secret between them could be the key to defeating the old sorceror who plans on killing everyone in the village since they didn't make him the headman long ago... I wind up watching more foreign and independent films than most people because of my interest in horror films so I wind up with a broader look at world cultures through films. In this case Indonesian films seem to be a low budget affair with lots of gore and not very explicit sex scenes because of the Islamic culture there. The idea of an empowered woman in a patriarchal culture where women have to be good wives seems neat and the gory killings are cool (a handful of bees becoming a swarm that sting a guy to death, along with another man dying of bloody blisters are highlights). The problem is that some guy has to save this woman from the manipulation of the old sorceror instead of her just inflicting her vengeance against a bunch of guys who would only subjugate her anyway and somehow becoming a heroine in the process. It's still a good horror flick anyway.
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Post by dinnerisswerved on Aug 22, 2011 19:56:30 GMT -5
I just saw Final Destination 5 and I loved it. Before you start flaming me, I should say that I'm a sucker for ridiculous horror movies involving teens and profuse amounts of CGI.
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Post by TheNewMads on Aug 23, 2011 7:06:57 GMT -5
I just saw Final Destination 5 and I loved it. Before you start flaming me, I should say that I'm a sucker for ridiculous horror movies involving teens and profuse amounts of CGI. actually, i'm toying with the idea of seeing this myself. maybe if it's still out this weekend.
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Post by Crowfan on Aug 23, 2011 18:59:01 GMT -5
I just saw Final Destination 5 and I loved it. Before you start flaming me, I should say that I'm a sucker for ridiculous horror movies involving teens and profuse amounts of CGI. I'll probably see it too, although I had no idea that there was a Final Destination 4.
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Post by Frameous on Aug 23, 2011 23:16:34 GMT -5
I had FD5's plot spoiled for me and I was surprised at the direction they took it in. A much more original idea than the previous sequels. I also heard the 3D was decent, so it may be worth checking out. I'm not a big fan of the series so I don't think I will be seeing it, but if you do like that kind of thing, it sounds better than it has any right to be.
Fright Night (2011)
Another remake of a classic 80s flick comes down the pike, this time with some decent results. I'm a HUGE fan of the original (one of my first horror movies) so I was as apprehensive as any about the remake. I gave up being butt-hurt about remakes long ago, but that doesn't mean I will keep my mouth shut if the end product is a pile of sh/t. Gladly this one is not the case. The bare plot elements are there: young Charlie believes his next door neighbor is a vampire, and his girlfriend Amy, best buddy Evil Ed, and vampire "expert" Peter Vincent get caught up in the intrigue. This go around Ed is Charlie's nerdy D&D ex-best buddy, and Vincent a Las Vegas performer and occult know it all. Jerry Dandridge is a douchey Lothario type who calls Charlie 'guy', plays the cool asshole type with the ladies, and has the perfect cover in the city that never sleeps. The movie is not without fault, mind you. Some of the dialog of Charlie's classmates sounded really canned to me (who the hell knows, maybe that's the way kids talk these days), and I would have preferred traditional make up over the CG. Still, the end result was a funny romp that stayed true enough to the original while finding its own voice. David Tennant as Vincent was the highlight, especially in a scene where he literally sheds his on stage persona and reveals himself to be a Midori swilling blow hard. The CGI design of the vampires appeared to pay homage to the original at times, and it had some genuine laughs. I only wish the final showdown had been the special effects cavalcade the original was. Still, they threw in a Chris Sarandon cameo that made me smile ear to ear.
It really is too bad this film is under-performing, much like last year's Let Me In, another vampire story that reminded us what it was like before Twilight. I'm hoping the good reviews and word of mouth help it out before it's pulled and thrown to the dying DVD market.
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