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#3
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 04:55:17 PMTHE LODGER (1927):
I was pretty excited for this, potentially Hitchcock's first major or surviving "thriller", after I watched the imminent follow-ups BLACKMAIL and MURDER!, both of which are pretty decent in different ways. Unfortunately, THE silent LODGER is more primitive narratively than either of those talkies, at least in some senses. The one good thing about having a "scenario" yet no actual screenplay or dialogue to film is that it empowers Hitchcock to experiment heavily w/ montage... of which of course he would later be known as an Anglo master. His next two thrillers are more stagey and static, necessarily in order to record sync dialogue, whereas THE LODGER has no such obligation.
Unfortunately, THE LODGER (which is adapted from a play, which presumably was primarily dialogue-driven) would really have benefitted from some dialogue to justify its long sequences where characters stand around and move their mouths w/ no sound coming out and rarely any supertitles. A vicious serial killer runs loose in London (in the 20s, so it's not Jack T.R. as is often misstated) at the exact moment a creepy, retiring dude rents the attic apartment from a middle-aged couple and their 20ish niece. The guy looks like a quite dashing Crispin Glover, so I guess it's remotely plausible that the niece falls for him in spite of everyone's mounting suspicions that anyone so private and socially awkward must be a serial killer! There's a nominal "twist" near the end which is fine and then things almost climax in an exciting M-like mob-scene....... and then it farts a blank one and ends happily.
2.5/5 Hitchcock w/ the floaties still on.
I was pretty excited for this, potentially Hitchcock's first major or surviving "thriller", after I watched the imminent follow-ups BLACKMAIL and MURDER!, both of which are pretty decent in different ways. Unfortunately, THE silent LODGER is more primitive narratively than either of those talkies, at least in some senses. The one good thing about having a "scenario" yet no actual screenplay or dialogue to film is that it empowers Hitchcock to experiment heavily w/ montage... of which of course he would later be known as an Anglo master. His next two thrillers are more stagey and static, necessarily in order to record sync dialogue, whereas THE LODGER has no such obligation.
Unfortunately, THE LODGER (which is adapted from a play, which presumably was primarily dialogue-driven) would really have benefitted from some dialogue to justify its long sequences where characters stand around and move their mouths w/ no sound coming out and rarely any supertitles. A vicious serial killer runs loose in London (in the 20s, so it's not Jack T.R. as is often misstated) at the exact moment a creepy, retiring dude rents the attic apartment from a middle-aged couple and their 20ish niece. The guy looks like a quite dashing Crispin Glover, so I guess it's remotely plausible that the niece falls for him in spite of everyone's mounting suspicions that anyone so private and socially awkward must be a serial killer! There's a nominal "twist" near the end which is fine and then things almost climax in an exciting M-like mob-scene....... and then it farts a blank one and ends happily.
2.5/5 Hitchcock w/ the floaties still on.
#4
Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...
Last post by Allhallowsday - Today at 04:17:01 PMPETER TOSH Legalize It
#5
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by lester1/2jr - Today at 02:58:42 PMSummer Girl (1983)- aka "The hand that rocks the cradle at the beach". Diane Franklin, later of Better of Dead and Bill and Ted's fame, plays a teenage temptress who wants to take over the family she works for, for some reason. David Faustino (Bud Bundy) is one of the kids but is unrecognizable in a tv kid bowl cut. This kind of plot is now a trash tv standby, notably "The Babysitter's Seduction" with Keri Russell (1996).
After an extremely short interview which she does in nerd girl drag, Cindi the babysitter immediately starts dressing like a Van Halen groupie, aggressively hitting on the Dad, and turning the kids against the Mom, who finds solace in day drinking and jealously snapping pictures of Cindi and the Dad. There are cracks in the facade though, as Cindi can't seem to contain her dark side. This is spelled out in gruesome fashion when the little kid shows her a jellyfish he caught and Cindi crushes it to death with a rock! At another point, she takes the parents car and uses some mud to cover the license plate. Yeah, that'll work.
Youtube's print was 480p but watcheable. It's a TV movie and the version I saw also had the ads. Taken from Florida TV, they are mostly for female products like diet pills and Summer's Eve douche, but there was also one for Lone Wolf McQuade. The flirting between the Dad and babysitter is super awkward and there's lots of memorable/ foolish stuff.
4.25 /5
After an extremely short interview which she does in nerd girl drag, Cindi the babysitter immediately starts dressing like a Van Halen groupie, aggressively hitting on the Dad, and turning the kids against the Mom, who finds solace in day drinking and jealously snapping pictures of Cindi and the Dad. There are cracks in the facade though, as Cindi can't seem to contain her dark side. This is spelled out in gruesome fashion when the little kid shows her a jellyfish he caught and Cindi crushes it to death with a rock! At another point, she takes the parents car and uses some mud to cover the license plate. Yeah, that'll work.
Youtube's print was 480p but watcheable. It's a TV movie and the version I saw also had the ads. Taken from Florida TV, they are mostly for female products like diet pills and Summer's Eve douche, but there was also one for Lone Wolf McQuade. The flirting between the Dad and babysitter is super awkward and there's lots of memorable/ foolish stuff.
4.25 /5
#6
Bad Movies / Re: have I bought a bad movie ...
Last post by zombie no.one - Today at 02:00:16 PMfairly amusing plot synopsis on the back:
When a man finds himself in a hole, it is only wise he stops digging further because burying himself is likely to happen. Especially to a desperate man like Simon. He has committed a grave sin. He sold his father's house.
When a man finds himself in a hole, it is only wise he stops digging further because burying himself is likely to happen. Especially to a desperate man like Simon. He has committed a grave sin. He sold his father's house.
#7
Bad Movies / Re: have I bought a bad movie ...
Last post by zombie no.one - Today at 01:50:57 PMQuote from: M.10rda on Today at 06:13:26 AMCongrats! That's a real get!
thanks. currently leaping round my living room Hi-5'ing myself as I type this!! (erm no hang on that's impossible...)
Quote from: Alex on Today at 11:24:25 AMJust out of curiosity, does it have an age rating on it?
yes, it's an 18... although didn't notice anything in the film to warrant that? (got to admit I wasn't 100% focused on it all the way through)
#8
Bad Movies / Re: How many of these Dracula'...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 01:46:01 PMI thought A6 must be from "The Simpsons," and I just verified it. (I would have gone with Mr. Burns as Dracula, but might have been too easy?)
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5 Count Duckula
A6 Republican Dracula from "The Simpsons"
A7 John Carradine
A8
A9 Count Chockula
A10
B1
B2
B3 Nicolas Cage
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
D9
D10
E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
E7
E8 "Batman vs Dracula"
E9
E10
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5 Zhang Wei-Qiang from "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary" (OK, not an easy one)
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10 "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night"
G1 Leslie Nielsen
G2
G3
G4
G5 Gary Oldman
G6
G7
G8 "The Count" from Captain N: the Game Master
G9
G10
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
H7 George Hamilton
H8 Klaus Kisnki
H9 Louis Jourdan
H10
I1
I2
I3
I4 Udo Kier
I5 Jack Palance
I6
I7
I8 Zandor Vorkov
I9
I10
J1
J2
J3 Christopher Lee
J4
J5
J6
J7
J8 Jim Ward
J9 Bela Lugosi
J10 Max Schreck
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5 Count Duckula
A6 Republican Dracula from "The Simpsons"
A7 John Carradine
A8
A9 Count Chockula
A10
B1
B2
B3 Nicolas Cage
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
D9
D10
E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
E7
E8 "Batman vs Dracula"
E9
E10
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5 Zhang Wei-Qiang from "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary" (OK, not an easy one)
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10 "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night"
G1 Leslie Nielsen
G2
G3
G4
G5 Gary Oldman
G6
G7
G8 "The Count" from Captain N: the Game Master
G9
G10
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
H7 George Hamilton
H8 Klaus Kisnki
H9 Louis Jourdan
H10
I1
I2
I3
I4 Udo Kier
I5 Jack Palance
I6
I7
I8 Zandor Vorkov
I9
I10
J1
J2
J3 Christopher Lee
J4
J5
J6
J7
J8 Jim Ward
J9 Bela Lugosi
J10 Max Schreck
#9
Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...
Last post by Allhallowsday - Today at 01:25:28 PMHARRY NILSSON Nilsson Schmilsson
#10
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 12:37:34 PMQuote from: M.10rda on October 18, 2025, 07:09:22 AMTHE BOWERY BOYS MEET THE MONSTERS (1954):
Google's AI tells me that the entire expanded Bowery/Dead End/East Side/Little Tough universe comprises 175 films
but even if AI overshot by 300% the number remains staggering. (It would appear, based on Tarantino's recent book of film "criticism", that he has seen them all, possibly repeatedly, and holds strong opinions about their varying quality... which of course he does, but really, what the heck is that guy's deal and does he ever take a break to get laid?)
I digress. I have only seen a meager three films from the canon: the o.g. ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (obv), 1942's SPOOKS RUN WILD (where the Boys meet Bela Lugosi, so natch!), and this one... and unless I learn that they shared the screen with Bela twice, I'm happy to tap out of the cycle right here, thanks.
Okay, someone call 911 and have me referred for serious psychological problems, 'cause I went and Did The Research, and the Bowery Boys did indeed make two movies w/ Bela Lugosi, so after I watch that one, I will have seen... five BoweryVerse films, including the horror-adjacent
MASTERMINDS (1949):
.......In which Sach (Huntz Hall) eats a lot of candy, gets a toothache, and then is struck in the head by Slip (Leo Gorcey), a chain of events which reveals that Sach is prone to occasional (accurate) psychic fugue states. The Boys immediately cash in on this discovery by showcasing Sach in a circus sideshow, which naturally puts him in the crosshairs of the local mad scientist........ who is on the market for an advanced intellect to transfer into the body of his hulking hairy ubermensch, Atlas (Glenn Strange). Fortunately no surgery is required and their minds can be swapped temporarily if they wear matching collanders linked with curly tubing and the Mad flips a big switch.......
I'd never sincerely try to tell you that any of these flicks are "Good" but MASTER MINDS is easily the best-written of the three I've seen (excepting of course ANGELS, which is a real movie), which is to say it has the best or funniest dialogue, which is to say there are actual textual jokes and clever malaprops. It also has the best performances from Hall and Gorcey, who don't seem utterly exhausted or bored at this (still fairly advanced) date in their tenure. Hall has the most to work with in MASTER MINDS, as he's actually allowed to act intelligent and erudite while in his psychic fugue states, and then later when his body is occupied by the mind of Atlas, Hall clearly is having a ball flying into berserker rages instead of having to be the perennially passive Satch. This fun also extends to monster movie stalwart Strange, a 6'4" brute who minces, prances, and preens perplexingly when possessed by the mind of Satch. (Hall as Satch doesn't behave like a broad homosexual stereotype normally but it is bizarrely funny that Strange was allowed to play Satch this way.)
3/5 If you ever hear I've watched a sixth Gorcey/Hall joint, please shoot me.