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Post by The Mad Plumber on Jan 10, 2009 21:00:50 GMT -5
There is no room for Star Wars, The Dark Knight, or Citizen Kane in this thread. This is for obscure films or cult films that probably most people have never seen, but hold a special place in your heart. This is for films damned to obscurity or eternal malignancy ... with the exception to this thread. I'll start this one off with House II: The Second Story. As its name implies, it is a sequel of sorts to House. However, it's not a sequel in the sense of a continuation of a story, but rather it's its own separate story. So, you can watch House II without watching House ... which is my situation so far. House II might be more so a favorite for nostalgia. It was a film from my childhood that I watched often and I was thrilled that I was actually able to get it on DVD. I still find it watchable and enjoyable, unlike Howard the Duck which does get worse when you get older. House II is a story about a man who returns to the mansion where his parents were slain while he was but a baby. He discovers a magical crystal skull and its proprietor, his great-great grandfather who's been kept alive through its magic. It's an odd thing that many sources classify this film as a horror, but I totally disagree. It's merely a fantasy-adventure that incidentally features two undead zombies. It's kind of like on the same vein as Army of Darkness, but nowhere near as funny. Maybe it's because of how it's marketed graphically: a severed decayed hand making a "two" sign. Also, look for a brief appearance by Bill Maher.
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
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Post by Torgo on Jan 10, 2009 21:14:34 GMT -5
Interesting topic. As far as nostalgia goes, I'd have to go with Alligator, which I saw on the Sci-Fi channel as a lad and has been a steady favorite of mine ever since.
Then there are the films I love, yet most have never heard of or look at me cross-eyed because I dare bring up their name. Mystery Men, for example, has always made me laugh. I find it sharp, witty, and intelegent.
And of course, choice Japanese cinema that I am completly alone on in my flesh and blood life on my end of the computer: Frankenstein Conquers the World, War of the Gargantuas, Latitude Zero, Battle Royale, and so on.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jan 10, 2009 21:25:12 GMT -5
When I started the superhero marathon I discovered stuff I never knew exsisted but I'm not sure if they would be things others know about. Ones I liked from around the globe include the live action "Cutey Honey" from Japan, the Bollywood "Krrish" and a French horror/adventure/comedy titled "Bloody Mallory".
Apart from that there is one Gregory Peck film I never hear people talk about. When folks discuss Peck films I don't hear it mentioned. I've seen it once and I think it was called "Mirage" - guy on the run, he doesn't know who he is or why these people are after him. Reminded me of Hitchcock and I thought it was great, a real nail biter.
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Post by Trumpy's Magic Snout on Jan 10, 2009 21:30:30 GMT -5
Day Of The Beast a brilliant comic horror from Spain. A priest works out that the son of the Antichrist will be born in Madrid at the Millennium and so has to somehow befriend the Devil in order to discover where this will happen. He enlists the help of a heavy metal record store clerk and a TV psychic and starts doing naughty things. So far the only British release is on VHS but there were DVD versions released in Spain and South America. Worth tracking down if you haven't seen it. www.imdb.com/title/tt0112922/
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Post by Shep on Jan 11, 2009 6:01:32 GMT -5
"Rubin and Ed" comes to mind immediately.
A hilarious, offbeat buddy film about two losers (Crispin Glover and Howard "Dr. Johnny Fever" Hessmen) on a quest to bury Glover's dead cat in the desert and attend a real estate seminar.
As wacky as it sounds, but also surprisingly touching. Deserves to be seen by a much wider audience. I got my copy off ebay several years ago, but I believe it's also available through the website of director Trent Harris.
Also:
Dennis Hopper's "The Last Movie"
Hopper's follow-up to "Easy Rider" concerns a movie stuntman (Hopper) who stays behind in South America after the death of a colleague. "The Last Movie" is a treasure trove of ideas (largely concerning the nature of film/reality), well photographed, with some good performances by Hopper, Julie Adams, etc and a great soundtrack by Kris Kristofferson.
It was considered too "art house" and didn't get much of a release by the studio in the early 70s. And to be fair, ultimately the film doesn't quite work. Still, it's an interesting misfire and Hopper is supposedly working on a dvd release.
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Post by ilmatto on Jan 11, 2009 6:58:12 GMT -5
Seconds With Rock Hudson, Salome Jens (Terror year 5000), Jeff Corey (Star Trek), and Will Geer as the Old Man Is Seconds an obscure film? Black and white psychological drama - a 51 yo banker joins an organization that fakes the deaths of rich men, gives them plastic surgery makeovers and relocates them with new names and professions. These men can abandon their families and all of their problems and start again. Has very unusual and risque bacchanalia/wine stomping scene in the middle of the film. Will Geer is fascinating as the creepy old man who runs the organization. He steals the few scenes he is in - you'll find yourself hanging on his every word.
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Post by Satchmo on Jan 11, 2009 14:19:15 GMT -5
Following.
This is the first film of Christopher Nolan, who after this, would make my favorite movie, Memento, and later direct Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
Following is about a man who has an unhealthy obsession with following random strangers. On one of these escapades, he follows a man who has his own strange way of passing the time- he breaks into people's houses. He doesn't steal anything much, just enough to wreck a relationship, or at least make the victims come in contact with the insecurity of their world. I can't tell you anything else without giving away the plot of the film, so all I will say is this: Things go wrong. That's all I can really say.
While not as good as Memento, Following is a brilliant and taut psychological thriller, and a must-see for anyone who can find a copy. If you have a Netflix account, you can order a copy, otherwise, Good luck finding it.
Things to look for: 1.On the main character's door, you can see the Batman logo. 2. Look at the upper right corner of the screen, you can see the icon from the video camera Nolan used.
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Post by silvermorgan on Jan 11, 2009 15:47:22 GMT -5
I'll have to check out Following, satchmo. I'm a total nerd for Nolan. I think everything he touches turns to gold. BTW, you can find it on DeepDiscountDVD.com for $6.15 and free shipping. Love that website.
When I was a kid, there were two movies my cousin and I couldn't get enough of that I've found most people don't know: Disorganized Crime (Lou Diamond Phillip) and The Dream Team (Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd, and Peter Boyle). Silly movies, but I still watch them every now and again.
Present day, most of the obscure movies I know are in the horror genre. I don't spend a lot of time researching movies, but my husband is an uber fan of horror so, by default, I get sucked in. Here are a few great ones:
1. Dead Alive - Directed by Peter Jackson ages ago (must have been one of his first). It's an over the top zombie movie with an unlikely hero that results in some of the most on screen blood I have ever seen. And it is absolutely hilarious to boot!
2. Hatchet - this movie came out last year. I don't know who directed it or what the actors names are, but it's one of the most fantastic new horror movies I have ever seen. The dialogue is witty, the gore is campy, and I laugh like a fool every time I watch it.
3. The Gravedancers - One of the After Dark Horror Fest's 8 Films to Die For from a couple of years ago. It's a simple ghost story that's executed well with suspense and a gratifying pay off of creature designs (one in particular royally freaks me out!). It took me a bit to get over the fact that the lead hero of our movie sounds exactly like David Putty from Seinfeld, but I realized that, really, it only adds to my enjoyment of the film.
Honorable mentions: Dance of the Dead (A Ghost House movie - which were hand picked by Sam Raimi, BTW), The Deaths of Ian Stone (I think this was one of the 8 Films to Die For from 2008), Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (A Troma film), and Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (co-starring the always funny Robert Englund).
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Post by Mr. Atari on Jan 11, 2009 16:38:46 GMT -5
A few come to mind, and none of them are any good. But they're all guilty pleasures of mine.
Night of the Creeps. A goofy horror flick, full of camp and cliches. Starring the guy who played Rusty in National Lampoon's European Vacation, the plot was that alien slugs enter people's mouths and turn them into zombies. The only way to stop them is to kill the person and set the slugs on fire when they try to escape the dead host. As goofy and ridiculous as it sounds.
Ice Cream Man. The one and only Clint Howard as a schizophrenic, murderous ice cream man. Or is he? There's so much to love about this film, including the cast that includes Olivia Hussey, David Warner, David Naughton, Jan-Michael Vincent, Lee Majors Jr., Doug Llewellyn, and...Steve Garvey? Plus there's a skinny kid playing a fat kid by (honestly) sticking a pillow under his shirt.
Big Man on Campus. A low-budget '80s comedy version of the hunchback of...well, UCLA. It's dumb, and stars a bunch of low-rent brat-pack wannabes. Tom Skerritt and Cindy Williams embarrass themselves throughout, and for some inexplicable reason, I love it.
They Still Call Me Bruce. Even dumber than the previous entry. Johnny Yune, an unfunny Korean stand-up comedian who used to be on Carson a lot, somehow parlayed his Tonight Show appearances into two full-length movies. The second one was funnier, and featured Robert "Benson" Guillaume as a vet who helps Yune run a karate studio. Yune kind of looks like Bruce Lee, but knows nothing about martial arts. That's the joke. Get used to it.
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Post by Trumpy's Magic Snout on Jan 11, 2009 16:49:21 GMT -5
1. Dead Alive - Directed by Peter Jackson ages ago (must have been one of his first). It's an over the top zombie movie with an unlikely hero that results in some of the most on screen blood I have ever seen. And it is absolutely hilarious to boot! It was indeed one of his early films. It was his third after Bad Taste and Meet The Feebles and was originally titled Braindead but there's another film called that so its name was changed in America to Dead/Alive. I heartily recommend those other two. Bad Taste is about aliens who abduct an entire New Zealand town so they can sell the meat in their fast food restaurant so the government call in their crack squad which are basically some guys they found down the pub. The acting's bad, the effects brilliant in their cheap simplicity and it involves an exploding sheep and a hero called Derek. Meet The Feebles is an entirely puppet based film. The central idea is to satirise Hollywood by pretending that The Muppets (The Feebles) are real and so you see what goes on backstage. It's maybe his sickest movie because puppets allow you to get away with a lot more. Oh and much like Shaun Of The Dead copied the romantic comedy with zombies idea from Braindead, Team America owes Feebles a lot, especially the puppet sex. After Braindead he went on to make Heavenly Creatures and apart from the little seen spoof documentary Forgotten Silver that was the start of his more serious, mainstream output.
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Post by Shep on Jan 11, 2009 19:02:04 GMT -5
They Still Call Me Bruce. Even dumber than the previous entry. Johnny Yune, an unfunny Korean stand-up comedian who used to be on Carson a lot, somehow parlayed his Tonight Show appearances into two full-length movies. The second one was funnier, and featured Robert "Benson" Guillaume as a vet who helps Yune run a karate studio. Yune kind of looks like Bruce Lee, but knows nothing about martial arts. That's the joke. Get used to it. Loved this movie when I was a kid actually. I still remember a couple lines from it. "I snorted Coke once--got ice cubes stuck up my nose." [Yune tries to kill a fly with his samurai sword and misses] Woman: "But the fly still lives." Yune: "Yes, but that fly will never make love again." LOL
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Post by Shep on Jan 11, 2009 19:06:36 GMT -5
SecondsWith Rock Hudson, Salome Jens (Terror year 5000), Jeff Corey (Star Trek), and Will Geer as the Old Man Is Seconds an obscure film? Black and white psychological drama - a 51 yo banker joins an organization that fakes the deaths of rich men, gives them plastic surgery makeovers and relocates them with new names and professions. These men can abandon their families and all of their problems and start again. Has very unusual and risque bacchanalia/wine stomping scene in the middle of the film. Will Geer is fascinating as the creepy old man who runs the organization. He steals the few scenes he is in - you'll find yourself hanging on his every word. Great film! Love the scene at the party where Hudson is drunk and aggrevated (apparently he really got drunk for that sequence to make it look more realistic). "Seconds" features Hudson's finest performance imo.
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Post by ometiklon on Jan 11, 2009 20:36:55 GMT -5
Creature from Black Lake. 1976
Great little low budget horror film. This is also A great buddy film. The two stars Dennis Fimple and John David Carson Really worked well together in this one.
Check it out! lots of fun!
9/10 stars.
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Post by silvermorgan on Jan 11, 2009 22:15:06 GMT -5
1. Dead Alive - Directed by Peter Jackson ages ago (must have been one of his first). It's an over the top zombie movie with an unlikely hero that results in some of the most on screen blood I have ever seen. And it is absolutely hilarious to boot! I heartily recommend those other two. Bad Taste is about aliens who abduct an entire New Zealand town so they can sell the meat in their fast food restaurant so the government call in their crack squad which are basically some guys they found down the pub. The acting's bad, the effects brilliant in their cheap simplicity and it involves an exploding sheep and a hero called Derek. Aliens and bad acting?! I'm totally in! I'll definitely be checking that out. Thanks for the tip Speaking of sheep - I forgot to mention another favorite from Dimension Extreme films: Black Sheep. Killer sheep, you ask? And I answer, yes. What's not to love here?
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Post by ilmatto on Jan 11, 2009 23:42:12 GMT -5
The Lightship (also released as Killers at Sea) - 1986 With Klaus Maria Brandauer and Robert Duvall. Klaus is the captain of a coast guard Lightship in the late 50s or so; Robert Duvall is a psychopathic criminal mastermind - he is constantly delivering these weird stream of consciousness monologues - leading these two retarded brothers who are childlike but ruthless killers. I am not making this up. Anyway you will want to go ahead and buy a copy of the DVD just so you can study Duvall's delivery of these crazy monologues. I was hanging on his every word. You can see how he mesmerized the two dimwitted brothers who execute his every whim without hesitation.
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