Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

I've been slackin' on the film watchin' lately but I just borrowed a whole heap of movies from the library so I started with these two...

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" (2012)

http://www.youtube.com/v/34x6m-ahGIo

This historical action/horror flick landed with a thud at the box office this summer, but I dug it. Obviously "AL: VH" is pretty much a one-joke idea but as long as you can get swallow the absurd premise you're in for some silly fun. The flick gets off to a somewhat slow start but once the serious butt kickin' starts around the halfway mark, you'll be rootin' for Honest Abe as he battles to save the fragile U.S. from vampire rule.

"The Gorgon" (1964)

http://www.youtube.com/v/UeQTmGt-7wE

Gothic horror entry from the legendary Hammer Films, in which a turn-of-the-century German village is menaced by the snake-headed female demon from Greek mythology, who hides out in a spooky old castle turning anyone who looks at her to stone. Christopher Lee and Richard Pasco want to solve the mystery and end the reign of terror, while Peter Cushing is the creepy old doctor trying to preserve the monster's secret. Moody and atmospheric, but also very talky. At times you get the feeling you're watching a stage play instead of a movie. Not bad, but there are way better Hammer Horrors than this one.

[Jack]

"The Gorgon" (1964)

Gothic horror entry from the legendary Hammer Films, in which a turn-of-the-century German village is menaced by the snake-headed female demon from Greek mythology, who hides out in a spooky old castle turning anyone who looks at her to stone. Christopher Lee and Richard Pasco want to solve the mystery and end the reign of terror, while Peter Cushing is the creepy old doctor trying to preserve the monster's secret. Moody and atmospheric, but also very talky. At times you get the feeling you're watching a stage play instead of a movie. Not bad, but there are way better Hammer Horrors than this one.

What killed that movie for me was that the plot revolved around trying to figure out the identity of the Gorgon.  Well, you know she's female, and there's only one female character in the movie.   

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Gorgon" (1964)

Gothic horror entry from the legendary Hammer Films, in which a turn-of-the-century German village is menaced by the snake-headed female demon from Greek mythology, who hides out in a spooky old castle turning anyone who looks at her to stone. Christopher Lee and Richard Pasco want to solve the mystery and end the reign of terror, while Peter Cushing is the creepy old doctor trying to preserve the monster's secret. Moody and atmospheric, but also very talky. At times you get the feeling you're watching a stage play instead of a movie. Not bad, but there are way better Hammer Horrors than this one.

What killed that movie for me was that the plot revolved around trying to figure out the identity of the Gorgon.  Well, you know she's female, and there's only one female character in the movie.  

I had the same thought..."Come on fellas, there's only ONE woman in the movie, so who ELSE could it be?"

Also, the "hair of snakes" effect on the Gorgon creature were rather, shall we say, ahem, underwhelming when she finally had her "big reveal" towards the end of the movie...

[fulci420]

Ginger Snaps: Unleashed (2004) I'm a big fan of the first Ginger Snaps and had been meaning to catch up with its sequels for some time now. Whereas the first film had a comedy aspect to it this first sequel tones that aspect down resulting in a more disturbing viewing experience. After the events of the first movie the title character of Ginger is dead leaving her sister Bridgette who is now attempting to prevent transformation into a werewolf through injecting a herbal remedy. This is no cure and after she is institutionalized and prevented from getting her antidote she begins to show signs of transformation.

Taking out most of the satire aspect of the first movie was a risky move but I think it mostly paid off. This is a much creepier movie than the first, and there were numerous times where I had to look away from the screen due to injection/cutting scenes. The institution setting itself is well utilized and there is some great atmosphere throughout. It's not perfect, the writing is not as sharp as the first film and some plot turns are not completely satisfactory but overall this is a good sequel. It never feels like a rehash of the first film to its credit and I think fan's of that film will enjoy this movie. I look forward to watching the next film in the series a prequel set in 19th century Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uquoj9DNnE
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[Jack]

Dollman (1991) - Tim Thomerson stars as a macho cop from another planet.  He unintentionally ends up on earth, where all us humans are six times taller than him. He meets a woman who lives in a bad neighborhood and is trying to get rid of all the drug dealing gang members - and she needs lots of Dollman's help. Fun little movie, Thomerson's always entertaining and he's got a cool gun that blasts people literally to bits. The gang members were amusingly nasty. 3/5.

Demonic Toys (1992) - Tracy Scoggins stars as a hot police babe who ends up trapped in a toy warehouse with the criminal she's apprehended, as well as the fried chicken delivery boy.  But by an unfortunate twist of fate there's also some sort of demonic presence in the place that causes the toys to come to life and attack them. Another fun one, the nasty little toys were really good, especially the foul-mouthed Baby Whoopsie. The human characters were well developed and likable. A nice enjoyable bit of silliness. 3.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Changeling" (1980)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTzgXVosQOU
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This moody supernatural who-dunit stars George C. Scott as a composer who recently lost his family in a tragic accident. After leaving New York and moving into a big spooky ole house in the Pacific Northwest, things start goin' bump in the night at his new digs and he soon learns that this house has also seen its share of agony, sending him on a quest to solve a 70 year old murder mystery.

Cool, creepy stuff with loads of atmosphere, this flick actually made the hair on the back of my neck stand up more than once. "The Changeling" is regarded as a classic in some circles and I can see why. Recommended!

[ChaosTheory]

^^ Love THE CHANGELING! 

STAND BY ME (1986) - yeah, I'd never seen it before. 
This actually edges out SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION as my favorite King adaptation.  Funny, tense, and sad all in one, and amazingly acted by the four leads (kind of a shock considering two of them are Jerry O'Connell and Cory Feldman).  I don't know what happened to Rob Reiner in the 90s, but between this, SPINAL TAP and PRINCESS BRIDE he pretty much owned the 80s.
9/10

[claws]

Movies I watched the last couple of days:

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

Sequel that is about on par with the first one. It's just fun, harmless popcorn entertainment. Sadly no iconic "Release the Kraken!" but that was impossible to top anyway. 4/5

The Haunted (1991)

Spooky made-for-TV horror based on actual events. Never rented this in video days and I have to wonder why. This was pretty solid for what it is, and I didn't even mind the cheesier parts. 5/5

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)

Family fantasy adventure with dazzling CGI effects done right. Maybe a bit too neat and maybe some of the dialogue was cringe worthy, but it was fun nonetheless. Luis Guzmán was hilarious. 4/5

Red Lights (2012)

Mystery-Suspense-Thriller-Drama dipping briefly into horror territory about paranormal investigators exposing frauds and fakes. Good casting, a few tense moments and a creepy Robert de Niro. 4/5

[Jack]

Wake the Witch (2010) - a group of girls go to a park where legend has it, a witch was hung 100 years earlier. One of them performs some little ceremony that, again according to legend, will let her see into the future or something like that. Of course it's not long before weird things start happening - one girl has a seizure and needs to be taken to the hospital, and soon people in the town are coming down with a bad case of the flu. Weird guys start showing up out of nowhere and one of the girls gets abducted by them. This was really low budget and at almost two hours long, very sedately paced. But the main character, one of the girls, was a very likable and sympathetic person, and the plot was mysterious enough to keep me intrigued throughout. I ended up really enjoying it, though you definitely have to be in a mellow and patient mood. 4.5/5.

Dollman vs. Demonic Toys (1993) - the cop from the previous Demonic Toys movie is still after the evil little playthings, and she of course decides that Dollman would be the perfect guy to help her, as he's small and can run through ventilation ducts better. He's accompanied by his miniature girlfriend who was apparently shrunk in some other movie I haven't seen. So they all go to the toy factory and battle the toys. This was a fun piece of fluff. It shot by pretty quickly only being an hour long. 3.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"V For Vendetta" (2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxyUl9M_7vc
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Lavishly produced, well acted action epic set in a repressive, totalitarian Britain of the future. A masked "terrorist" known only as "V" begins striking back against the government, becoming a folk hero in the process like his inspiration, Guy Fawkes. Natalie Portman (hot) is a woman who is initially supportive of "V's" cause but over time has to decide whether he's better or worse than the corrupt leaders who are already in power. Intriguing stuff.

[alandhopewell]

     THE DEAD OF NIGHT (2004)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl61PxY5nvs
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     Irritatingly dumb. It starts out in an insane asylum, where a patient escapes, letting loose other patients. Then, the scene switches to a high school (using the exact same building as the nuthouse), where the jocks are picking on two geeks. Another student and a teacher break up the disturbance, and the jocks pretend to make friends with the geeks, inviting them to a party at the cermetery.

     The jocks (and their girlfriends) get the geeks drunk, tie them up, and bury them in an open grave, leaving them there; they didn't bury them THAT deep. The work their way loose, and are set upon by strange zombie-like creatures, who, rather that killing and/ or eating them, VOMIT INTO THEIR MOUTHS to turn them into creatures like themselves.

     It does not improve.

[indianasmith]

Last night I watched SKYFALL with my wife.  This is far and away my favorite of the Daniel Craig Bond movies; the plot was easier to follow and the action sequences excellent.  Loved the Komodo dragon scene!! This is Bond the way he should be.

[indianasmith]

Watched an Asylum release called RISE OF THE ZOMBIES this afternoon.
Great film (for an Asylum feature) with Danny Trejo, Levar Burton, and Muriel Hemingway battling
zombies and trying to find a cure for the virus that mutates people and reanimates them.  It was a
lot less terrible than many Asylum features, and actually pretty good in places.  3/5

[Jack]

The Puppet Masters (1994) - yucky little alien creatures come to earth and attach themselves to people's backs, allowing them to control their minds. Donald Sutherland leads a government team charged with containing and hopefully eliminating the threat, but with the aliens able to multiply quickly, is there any hope for humanity? I hadn't seen this in a long time and didn't remember it being this good. Sutherland is his usual awesome self - love that guy! - and the rest of the characters do a good job too. It's based on a book by Robert Heinlein, and the plot really makes you realize that if intelligent aliens wanted to take over the earth, we would be well and truly screwed. Unless they just happened to have some critical weakness we were lucky enough to discover of course . 4.25/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Soylent Green" (1973)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsVQPsiwkBI
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'70s sci-fi that depicts 21st century America as an overpopulated, impoverished dystopia. Charlton Heston is a New York cop investigating the murder of a corporate big wig, which leads him to a shocking discovery about the company's latest food product...a mysterious "wafer" called "Soylent Green."

Say it with me, folks: "IT'S PEOPLE! SOYLENT GREEN IS MADE OUTTA PEOPLE!"

Heston is hammy as usual but his over the top performance is balanced out by acting legend Edward G. Robinson (in his final role)'s dignified turn as a grizzled police researcher who remembers the way the world "used to be."

Somewhat cheap looking and dated nowadays but still fun in a retro sort of way.