Recent viewings

[Ticonderoga 64]

X-Men: Apocalypse(2016)
Horrible Dr.Hichcock(1962)
Vampire Circus(1972)
Avengers: Age Of Ultron(2015)
The 4-D Man(1959)

[Jim H]

V/H/S/ 2

I thought this was overall an improvement on the first film in this anthology horror series. 

Wraparound story - Competent but uninspired, kind of a weak ending.

Story 1 - Kinda eh ghost story, but certainly watchable.  Couple of random moments broke my suspension of disbelief a bit.  Acting is fine.
Story 2 - Amusing little zombie story.  Great concept.  The execution towards the end isn't fully successful, but I quite liked this one.
Story 3 - From the director of The Raid, this is clearly the centerpiece of the film.  Feel like this could have been stretched to a feature, but it has the best atmosphere, best visuals, and best concept of the lot.  Quite an ending too.  Really liked this one.
Story 4 - Pretty weak, even if the idea isn't bad.  Quite disappointed as it is directed by Jason Eisner, who also did Hobo With a Shotgun.  None of his usual red and blue gels or other 80s influenced visuals, it's just a rather lackluster and over-edited (for a found footage film, strange) alien attack..  Thin.  Eh.

It's worth a watch for Halloween.  7/10.

[lester1/2jr]

Midnight Meat train (2008) - from a story by Clive Barker and it's called midnight Meat Train. If that doesn't pique your interest I don't know what to tell you. You better sign on to Hallmark.com and tie a pink ribbon around your... nuts idk anyway

A guy wants to be a famous photographer but his work lacks excitement and depth, at least according to gallery owner Brooke Shields of all people. He starts taking pictures late at night at a train station. the haunting sometimes violent imagery he captures earns him accolades but is he getting too close to something far more sinister than mugging and harassment?

for what it is it's basically perfect. Of course there's suspension of disbelief required and the CGI gore is straight off Syfy channel but this isn't Gone with The Wind or something. better late night viewing than than watching UFC guys roll around on a mat or Terminator / Matrix/ etc for the billionth time

5/5

[Jim H]

Midnight Meat train (2008) - from a story by Clive Barker and it's called midnight Meat Train. If that doesn't pique your interest I don't know what to tell you. You better sign on to Hallmark.com and tie a pink ribbon around your... nuts idk anyway

A guy wants to be a famous photographer but his work lacks excitement and depth, at least according to gallery owner Brooke Shields of all people. He starts taking pictures late at night at a train station. the haunting sometimes violent imagery he captures earns him accolades but is he getting too close to something far more sinister than mugging and harassment?

for what it is it's basically perfect. Of course there's suspension of disbelief required and the CGI gore is straight off Syfy channel but this isn't Gone with The Wind or something. better late night viewing than than watching UFC guys roll around on a mat or Terminator / Matrix/ etc for the billionth time

5/5

I also just saw this. Few extra notes - the lead is Bradley Cooper in one of his first lead roles I believe, and I've heard he's actually pretty proud of this film. It's also directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, who also did Godzilla Final Wars and Versus.

I enjoyed it, good visuals, performance and even mystery. I thought the ending didn't quite gel - needed a bit more of a reveal maybe? But I liked it anyway. I'd give it an 8/10.  Second best Clive Barker film after Hellraiser.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Freak Out
or, that night in Houston (Texas) in the early '70's, when it went all pear shaped for at that time, what was proved to be, America's greatest serial killer.

Welcome to amateur filmmaking 101. Still . . .?! there are several things to recommend it.

1st. The writing. Which is surprisingly good. Actually, it comes across as being better than some more "professionally" written films, and towards the end of the film, there is some dialogue, that we know actually occurred that night.

2nd. The only girl there that night. Lord, as much abuse as I might have received as a child or not, it pales to the abuse--not sexual or physical, as far as the film shows--but . . .?! to the emotional and mental abuse she received. No wonder she took the path that she did.

3rd. You learn what a sadistic s.o.b. that serial killer was. 101 uses of a corkscrew, and the last one is a dilly.

Of course, it is off of actual events in some ways.

1st. Unlike what really happened, I was going to say there was less nudity, but . . .?! then I remembered, as typical, the girl got an extensive shower scene with nudity.

2nd. The 1st victim in the film was actually too young to be a victim, as the serial killer only preyed on 13- to 20-year-olds. Actually . . .?! while pedophile is used to refer to anyone who has a primary sexual interest in anyone that is underage. Technically . . .

pedophile refers to those that have a primary sexual interest in those 10 and under.

Since the serial killer had a primary sexual interest in those older than that, he was . . .

a hebephile/hebephila (primary sexual interest in those who are 11 to 14)

and an ephebophile/ephebophilia (primary sexual interest in those who are 15 to 19)

3rd. The time frame of the film was moved from the 1st half of the 70's decade to the last half of the '70's to catch on to the disco craze and the music of that era.

There is hardly a serial killer who has not only had a documentary made about them, but . . .?! a film as well. Thus, this is not the only film on this subject. If the filmmakers can find a distributor for their film on the subject, In a Madman's World, it should be released sometime this month. This looks to be a bit of a more professional film, as it is shot in color as opposed to black-and-white as here, and the filmmakers tried to find actors who look like the actual people involved, unlike here.

Next time: Malaterra, or the French remake of Broad church.

[lester1/2jr]

Jim H - it was like a Masters of Horror feature. maybe not on par with Cigarette Burns but I liked it

[Jim H]

Jim H - it was like a Masters of Horror feature. maybe not on par with Cigarette Burns but I liked it

Huh, I didn't think about that, but yeah, it feels A LOT like a Masters of Horror episode.  I really can't put my finger on why exactly - something about the tone in combination with the production and writing style.

I also watched Halloween today.  It's terrific as always!  9/10.   

[Rev. Powell]

SECONDS (1966): A middle-aged banker takes advantage of an offer by a secretive corporation to give him a new start under a new identity, but, even though he now looks like Rock Hudson, he discovers his second life isn't everything he hoped it would be. If they had turned the screw just a quarter-turn more, this would have been a classic black thriller; as it is, it's a great, often overlooked fable depicting a mid-life crisis as a Faustian bargain. 4.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Face of Fu Manchu - They showed a bunch of these on TCM. I'd seen the old old school serial ones but not any of these Hammer jobbers. It wasn't wildly exciting but is certainly decent. Not as wild and crazy and full of buxom beauties as their more noteable ones ,but Christopher lee ( I think?) was good as Fu Manchu and the plot, about some Tibetan herb that can kill everybody, was colorful.

3.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Army of Darkness" (1993)
In the third installment of the "Evil Dead" saga, our undead battling hero Ash is stranded in the 1300s. Before he can find his way back to his own time, he'll have to recover the Necronomicon and then help a castle full of knights fight off an invasion of Deadites led by an evil version of himself!
"AoD" is less horrific and more of a slapsticky action comedy than the previous "Evil Dead" flicks, but it's still a stone cold, endlessly quotable hoot. Hail to the king, baby!

[dean]

"Army of Darkness" (1993)
In the third installment of the "Evil Dead" saga, our undead battling hero Ash is stranded in the 1300s. Before he can find his way back to his own time, he'll have to recover the Necronomicon and then help a castle full of knights fight off an invasion of Deadites led by an evil version of himself!
"AoD" is less horrific and more of a slapsticky action comedy than the previous "Evil Dead" flicks, but it's still a stone cold, endlessly quotable hoot. Hail to the king, baby!

Have you seen the Ash vs the Evil dead tv series? Season two just started and the whole thing is a riot, if you're into copious amounts of gore and some questionable humour. Got a pretty solid AOD feel about it. For example Ash in a recent episode was recently attacked by a corpse's lower intestines and got sucked right up the butthole. Ridiculous stuff but my god they're not afraid to spill the blood as needed.

[FatFreddysCat]

^^ I don't get the Starz channel so I'm impatiently waiting for "Ash vs Evil Dead" to turn up on one of the streaming networks like Hulu or Netflix. I'm dyin' to see it...

 "Delta Force 2: Operation Stranglehold" (1990)
The Mighty Chuck is back in this belated sequel as head Delta Force butt kicker Scott McCoy, and this time he's in South America to take down a massive cocaine operation run by perennial b-movie villain Billy Drago (at his slimy best).
This flick spends waaaaay too much time on set-up (and runs at least 20 minutes longer than it needs to as a result) but eventually it gets down to serviceable shoot'em up/blow'em up business.  "DF2" is not top drawer Chuck but it's not his worst effort, either.

[Mofo Rising]

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Self-indulgent tripe from the Coen brothers. Entertaining, though, if you've got some time to kill.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hundra" (1983)
A fierce woman warrior - the last survivor of an Amazon tribe - ventures into the world of Man for the first time to seek revenge and also to find a suitable mate.
Essentially this Spanish/Italian swords and sorcery flick is a female version of "Conan the Barbarian." Laurene London, who plays the title character, is certainly nice to look at but she can't act her way out of a wet paper bag, so after a great opening battle sequence, the movie simply wanders around in circles for the next 90 minutes.
Avoid!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Cyborg 3: The Recycler" (1995)

In the third flick in the "Cyborg" saga, our heroine "Cash" is pregnant with the first cybernetic baby (?) which makes her an attractive prize for a sleazy robot-part scavenger (Richard Lynch) and his private army. The previous "Cyborg" movie starred a young Angelina Jolie in the title role and it was actually pretty good, but this ultra-cheap follow up (which replaces Jolie with Khrystyne Haje, of the '80s TV sitcom "Head of the Class") is just junk. Avoid, delete, ignore, destroy.