Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

Last night I tried to watch a movie from Maverick Entertainment called SPIKE. Four people driving through the wilderness in a van run offroad and get stuck.  A hideous humanoid creature covered with spikes all over its body is stalking them and carries off one girl after mortally wounding her boyfriend, leaving the lesbian couple to try and rescue her.

Sounds like a cool premise, but then the Spike creature starts whining like a lovelorn teenager about how he and this girl were best friends as kids, and she's the only woman he ever loved, and how could he ditch her for this other guy . . .

and I fell asleep.

What a lame movie!  What makes me mad is the cover art made it look like SUCH a cool idea!!!  And the costume was awesome.  But even when I woke back up a few times, it just never got any better.  And the end was a total downer.

This is on my "to review" list.  I will try to drink a pot of coffee before I watch it. 

[lester1/2jr]

raffine- fascinating.

The Rabbit is Me (1965) - This understated east german gem (that's right, I said it. it's a f**king gem) is not likely to be rediscovered anytime soon. It's not Nightmare Alley or some thing that is going to hit you over the head with "holy crap!" but I really liked it, eventually, and it was similarly subversive. It was a little dull for a while though.

A little background: the rabbit is me was the main film in a group called "The Rabbit Films". Kind of like the video nasties in england in the early 80's, these were films that were banned by the east german government in the mid 1960's. In this case it was partially for the sort of morality squad stuff that inspired the video nasties list but it had alot more to do with the increasingly totalitarian east german governments attempt to force its will on its people.


In the commies quasi defense, it's a pretty edgy film for 1964. The main character is the mistress of a judge who just happens to be the guy who put her brother away for 3 years. (His crime was allegedly something relating to criticizing the government, she doesn't know exactly what.) She is seen partially nude at times and there is some adult subject matter. More relevent is the politics.

It's really an amazingly audacious film. It's whole point is how the socialist system can be manipulated by unscrupulous people to the detriment of innocents. It's basically an indictment of socialism, the very system that exists as the film is being made.  I can't really think of another time that has happened. Imagine a North Korean movie about how stupid kim jong il is or something.

From what I understand there was a very short period of time at the begining of East Germany's existenc where there was relative freedom of speech. I've seen this and Carbide and Sorrel and both were really good, the latter probably a little more accesible. the only other East German Movie I've seen is "Hot Summer" which was one of the musicals the east german government began to allow in a desperate attempt to find some sort of east german film product that people would actually want to see, rather than the heavily censored communism-laced stuff they generally promoted.

They were all good but that's 3 good films in a decade. Even Hollywood manages better than that. Someone should have told the censors that they were really hampering their nations place in film history though they probably wouldn't have cared.

It's an hour and 49 minutes. the young female lead isn't the sexiest women ever but she is grows on you. The male lead is out of shape and not incredibly handsome either but they play the parts well and aren't miscast. There are some creative shots , my favorite is one where she is thinking about how in love she is while the guy throws snowball after snowball at the window she is gazing out of.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aylrTYczwMg&feature=related
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4/5

[3mnkids]

The house that screamed(2000)~ Marty is a horror writer looking for inspiration so he rents a haunted house. Strange things start happening... of course they do, its a haunted house. Things like death knocking on the door and running away. Actually he doesn't run away, more like glides away. Im assuming its death because it carries a sickle. Marty also gets strange phone calls, mostly heavy breathing kinda stuff. ghost, they are sooo funny.

Before you start thinking this is just another haunted house story, think again. The first couple of minutes are of a woman taking a shower. The camera loves her boobs. It shows her boobs, then an eyeball, more boobs(this time being soaped up)eyeball, boobs.. you get the picture. There is also a burning house, decapitated heads, a guy eating the face of one of the heads and a woman in her underwear feeling herself up followed by a little dance(she shows up later in the movie and does her little strip tease and grind for some reason).. what does any of this have to do with the movie? Absolutely nothing.

Some of the dialogue is just wonderful... A woman, who appears out of nowhere, tells Marty that "the house is just beautiful and if it was alive, man or a woman, she would make love to it". Also," If you were so scared why didn't you just leave?" Believe me, I wanted too but I cant explain it. Its like I couldn't or I didn't really want too"... What?

The acting, omg the acting.. Whoever thought this guy, or anyone connected to this movie, had an ounce of acting ability must have suffered a head injury.
The sound.. It ranges from heavy breathing, lots of thunder sounds and music my 8 yr old could pound out on his keyboard.
oh, i almost forgot. Some of the scenes are shot from an angle that I can only assume means they had a little person holding the camera.

Its like a train wreck and I couldn't stop watching.  It is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. There is a part two but im not up to checking it out right now.

[Jack]

The house that screamed(2000)~

Added to my Netflix queue 

[indianasmith]

I watched a rather brutal film film called OPEN HOUSE this week.  A divorced couple are selling their home when two psychotic killers move in, a brother and sister couple named David and Lila.   Lila stabs the husband to death while making out with him in the hot tub, but David falls in love with the wife and imprisons her in a crawl space in the cellar.  Over the next week they kill everyone who comes into the house - the realtor, the cleaning lady, a friend of the couple, and some random people they invite over for a dinner party. All apparently because the sister is addicted to killing.  They also film many of the murders.  David is trying to keep the woman's survival a secret from his domineering sister, but she begins to suspect something.  A pretty brutal film, that leaves several questions unanswered at the end.  Overall, worth viewing, however.

[Cthulhu]

Island of the damned AKA. Who can kill a child?

Holy s**t, this movie was creepy.
I highly recommend it.
Althrough the first 8 minutes of stock footage of concentration camps, and starving children is not necessary. At all. I had to fast forward after 5 minutes...I recommend you to skip that part.

[Couchtr26]

Island of the damned AKA. Who can kill a child?

Holy s**t, this movie was creepy.
I highly recommend it.
Althrough the first 8 minutes of stock footage of concentration camps, and starving children is not necessary. At all. I had to fast forward after 5 minutes...I recommend you to skip that part.

I keep hearing about this one.  Finally, decided I should join the 2000's and get Netflix.  Is it available in their selections?

[Cthulhu]

I don't know. But you can *purchase* (wink, wink) the movie online.

[Jack]

I keep hearing about this one.  Finally, decided I should join the 2000's and get Netflix.  Is it available in their selections?

Yup, Netflix has it.

The Deadly Spawn (1983) - A meteorite crashes to earth and, as usual, brings with it an alien life form.  It's a multi-headed mouth monster, and it looks exactly like what you see on the cover of the box:

It takes up residence in the basement of a house and soon begins turning out lots of little tadpole aliens.  Apparently they've moved into another house as well, but I'm not sure how they got there.   But for the first half of the movie, we don't see too much of it.  We see a lot of the characters going about their daily life.  Nothing more exciting that watching people do what I just spent all day doing    We get to watch a woman go over to her mother's house and get ready for a luncheon with the other old ladies of the neighborhood.  They get the house ready, they prepare the food, they talk about the food.  Thrilling.  It goes on for about 10 minutes.  One of the tadpole aliens makes its way into the food processor, and it doesn't really compliment the dip very well at all.  Some teenagers finally get attacked by the alien in another house.  They're not the brightest bunch.  They apparently don't realize that houses have windows, which make for handy escape routes in life-and-death situations.  Just to highlight this fact even more, one guy crawls out a window, but instead of jumping to the ground and escaping, he crawls up on the roof and goes back in the house on the third floor.  Overall, it's good cheesy fun at times, and the characters aren't bad - especially the cheesy '80s teenagers.  And the monster is certainly cool.  But it's just kind of slow moving, and it's more comical than scary.  2.75/5.

[claws]

Yup, Netflix has it.

The Deadly Spawn (1983) - A meteorite crashes to earth and, as usual, brings with it an alien life form.  It's a multi-headed mouth monster, and it looks exactly like what you see on the cover of the box:

It takes up residence in the basement of a house and soon begins turning out lots of little tadpole aliens.  Apparently they've moved into another house as well, but I'm not sure how they got there.   But for the first half of the movie, we don't see too much of it.  We see a lot of the characters going about their daily life.  Nothing more exciting that watching people do what I just spent all day doing    We get to watch a woman go over to her mother's house and get ready for a luncheon with the other old ladies of the neighborhood.  They get the house ready, they prepare the food, they talk about the food.  Thrilling.  It goes on for about 10 minutes.  One of the tadpole aliens makes its way into the food processor, and it doesn't really compliment the dip very well at all.  Some teenagers finally get attacked by the alien in another house.  They're not the brightest bunch.  They apparently don't realize that houses have windows, which make for handy escape routes in life-and-death situations.  Just to highlight this fact even more, one guy crawls out a window, but instead of jumping to the ground and escaping, he crawls up on the roof and goes back in the house on the third floor.  Overall, it's good cheesy fun at times, and the characters aren't bad - especially the cheesy '80s teenagers.  And the monster is certainly cool.  But it's just kind of slow moving, and it's more comical than scary.  2.75/5.

Sorry to read you didn't get a kick out of this one. Loved it in VHS rental days, and I will never part with the rather cool SE DVD 
I like the kind of rural setting and the rainy morning storm which I thought added to the atmosphere.
A cheap rip-off no doubt, but done with lots of 'gory charm' and love for the genre.

[Jack]

Sorry to read you didn't get a kick out of this one. Loved it in VHS rental days, and I will never part with the rather cool SE DVD 
I like the kind of rural setting and the rainy morning storm which I thought added to the atmosphere.
A cheap rip-off no doubt, but done with lots of 'gory charm' and love for the genre.

Yeah, it definitely had a certain charm to it, and I liked the rainy day as well.  I dunno, I guess it didn't really draw me into it.  If I'd seen it back in the '80s I'd probably have had a higher opinion of it - maybe I'm getting a bit jaded in my old age 

[Raffine]

BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955)

A genial, one-armed stranger (Spenser Tracy) steps off the train ("That train hasn't stopped here in four years!") in the tiny Western town of Black Rock and starts asking questions about a local Japanese farmer. The hostile locals are immediately suspicious of the stranger will stop at nothing to discover the motive behind his visit.

This is one of those classics I've heard about for years but had never actually seen. It was pretty bold of MGM to make what is basically a very dark film noir in SuperCinemascope and bright Technicolor, and put the setting in a sunny Western town. But, boy, does it work! There's also a mid-50's dream cast of great character actors: Tracy, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine (who's role in MARTY beat Tracy's performance in this film that year for a 'Best Actor' Oscar), Lee Marvin, Dean Jagger (a personal favorite!), Walter Brennen, Russell Collins, John Ericson, and  Anne Francis.

One reviewer wrote "You'll never eat chili again without thinking about this movie".
True, true.

[Pilgermann]

Over the past week or so:

Inglourious Basterds - I really wish I'd watched this while it was in theaters but it was still wonderful at home.  Bizarre and violent, but really entertaining.  My favorite film of '09, now.

The Lost Boys - I always thought I'd watched this whole movie before but I think I'd previously only seen it in fragments.  It's not a great movie but it's very likeable.  Essential 80's viewing!

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - This is some classic sci-fi, and it's somewhat deserving of its reputation, but in many ways it's no different than a lot of other goofier 50's sci-fi films I've seen, but it seems a little less fun.  Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it's not one I'll go back to very often.

[3mnkids]

Growing out~Tom is a down on his luck musician who has just been "fired" from the open mic coffee house he plays at. He finds an old house offering free room and board for cleaning up the place. He finds a hand down in the basement and decides what the hell, and starts watering it. The hand soon turns into a young man named Archie...

Another weird one.      This could have been so much better.  Its very funny at times, the performances are pretty good, and like I said, its weird. The problem is its way to long and the relationship between Tom and his neighbor is distracting and just kills the movie for me. What a shame. A great idea bogged down by nonsense.

[Rev. Powell]

Growing out~
Another weird one.      

 
But you're the second person who's reported it's not very good, so I'm gonna skip it.