Recent Viewings, Part 2

[RCMerchant]

^ No- they ARE adaptions. It's on Shirley Jackson's imdb listings.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0414047/

Right you are!  I hope you can look at the 18 minute I posted; it's good!

I did watch it. It is good!

[Rev. Powell]

WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE 3: THE ABSENT DESTINATIONS OF DAVID PRIME (2020): A time-traveling clone appears to David Prime and to warn him of future danger. The characters are comically simple stick figures placed into cosmic, psychedelic backgrounds; this installment is much more plot-oriented than previous episodes, forgoing much of the philosophy but keeping the social satire (David's memories are sponsored by annoying pop-up ads for, among other things, "holograms that yell at you"). Continues the story started in the Oscar-nominated WORLD OF TOMORROW, though it could probably be watched as a standalone without any additional confusion. 30 min long, available for on demand rental only. 4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Viy (1967) -If you know one classic Russian horror movie its probably this one. The story is decent and concise, but the most appealing aspect is probably how different it looks from other movies of the era.

A monastery that's full of drunks and louts (is this accurate? or did they just not want to offend communist censors by showing actual Christians) lets out for some sort of vacation and one of them gets dragooned into reading the last rites for a witch. It ends up being a pretty harrowing task. You may have seen the gifs of painted gray hands and weird folktale skeletons around. In fact, I think they were posted here the other day!

If you're looking for a slick modern horror with Illuminati figures being a cabal behind major world regimes and so forth skip this. If you have a tolerance for older movies and want to see something different check it out. Tubi's print is excellent and the attractive younger version of the witch sweetens the deal.

4.5 /5

[RCMerchant]

^ I seen that movie some years back. Fantastic.

[Rev. Powell]

I love VIY.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Tales of Halloween" (2015)
This cool anthology flick consists of ten short stories of Halloween terror, all of which take place in one small town. Segments include killer kids, a Jason-style slasher who meets his match, jack-o-lanterns with a taste for human flesh, and a kidnapping scheme that goes very wrong.
Not every story is a home run but overall this is a fun, goofy, gory flick that's become a Halloween season perennial for me. Lots of fun.

[RCMerchant]

the EVIL (1978)
Richard Crenna (of the RAMBO movies fame) and friends rent an old creepy house for the summer.
Of course it's haunted. Some real cheesy tropes, but watching Andrew Prine cut his hand in half with a table saw, and afterwards running around like it was nothing was funny. Real cheezy. I liked it anyway.

[Rev. Powell]

WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE 2: THE BURDEN OF OTHER PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS (2017): Don Hertzfeld's independently-released animated sequel to the Oscar-nominated "World of Tomorrow" sees another time-traveling clone visiting little Emily (voiced by 6-year old Winona Mae), seeking to replace her purposeless mind with a copy of her original's. A bit more obviously sentimental than the original, but still with great moments of absurd humor ("It is very important that you don't think of a baby dinosaur later"), and Winona's babblings about Kittyland and such are as charming as ever. 4/5.

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER: THE SAGA OF THE VIKING WOMEN AND THEIR VOYAGE TO THE WATERS OF THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: This is the episode where, for some reason, all of the host segments are about waffles. Despite the impressive title and some actual special effects, the movie itself is a barely less boring than the usual Roger Corman cheapie of the era, but the home economics short gives Joel and the bots some excellent opportunities to turn chaste 50s gals into teenage rebels ("will she smoke thin black cigarettes and reject the triune God?") 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Nightmare Castle - Barbara Steele looks very nice in this black and white horror flick, but the plot is not exactly Hitchcock level. A weird count or lives in a castle with his wife Muriel (Steele) and their maid, who is actually some sort of witch or something. That aspect isn't really explored at all. He does dastardly deeds and gaslight Muriel's sister, als0 played by Steele. It seems like the director really didn't understand what to do with the supernatural elements so you're left with a pretty bland crime story. There a shorter version I'd opt for that one

3.25/5

[indianasmith]

WASHING MACHINE (1999) - This is an Italian giallo (which, as near as I can translate, is Italian for "Boobs and bodies") about a police inspector who gets called when this girl supposedly finds a dismembered body in her washing machine - but passes out from shock, and when she wakes up, the washing machine is empty and all the blood is gone.  In the course of the investigation, the inspector meets all three of her sisters, and winds up breaking up with his girlfriend and having sex with all four sisters at one time or another.  Pretty much every woman in this film appears nude at some point, and the plot is a muddled mess, but the cinematography and the women are beautiful, even if the English dubbing is rather poor.  Still, free on Amazon Prime, so it's worth a watch.  Who puts a dismembered body in a washing machine, anyway?

4/5 on the bad movie scale, 2/5 on the "regular" movie scale.

[RCMerchant]

Nightmare Castle - Barbara Steele looks very nice in this black and white horror flick, but the plot is not exactly Hitchcock level. A weird count or lives in a castle with his wife Muriel (Steele) and their maid, who is actually some sort of witch or something. That aspect isn't really explored at all. He does dastardly deeds and gaslight Muriel's sister, als0 played by Steele. It seems like the director really didn't understand what to do with the supernatural elements so you're left with a pretty bland crime story. There a shorter version I'd opt for that one

3.25/5

Ah- I would disagree with that assesment. I think it's a great Italian horror film.

[Leah]

Finally saw Beetlejuice from the beginning, usually I catch it at the dinner table scene. Fun movie to sit through.

[Dr. Whom]

Beyond the Rising Moon (1987)

This is apparently also known as 'Outerworld' (which doesn't fit the movie any better). This could have been a decent SF action movie, but is completely let down by the execution. The plot is very straightforward. A derelict spaceship is discovered and sinister corporation sends Penta their synthetic superhuman assassin in to prevent another corporation from claiming the ship. However, the Penta sees this as a chance to gain her freedom, so she sets off with a Han Solo rip off to claim the derelict for herself, chased by the sinister corporation.

A lot of effort has gone into the photography, set design and scale models, which are quite good for a film of this era, especially as it is the director's debut. In fact, he likes the sets so much that there are quite a few shots of the empty sets. And of spaceships landing. Which leads into the main problem: the director can't do an action scene to save his life. Fight scenes are basically just Penta throwing one punch in the general direction of the goon, at which the goon crumples up and never moves again. Even the worst fights in Blake's 7 are more exciting. Gunfights and space battles aren't much better. As for the acting, while not painfully bad, it is not very inspiring either, and the script doesn't help. Tracy Davis (who starred in just this one and then did not much else) certainly has the visual presence for this role, but fails to make the 'robotic killer finding her humanity' aspect work.

Finally, there are some strangely dated aspects. 8000 dollars in cash will pay for instellar travel with no questions asked. And in what is now my favourite scene in cheap SF: at one point the Han Solo rip off decides to call the cops. To do this, he has to locate a pay phone, only to discover that he doesn't have any small change on him.

[pacman000]

I generally liked Beyond the Rising Moon, but it is kinda slow. There's an interview with the director on this site! Here: http://www.badmovies.org/interviews/philcook/

[pacman000]

Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, Larry Buchanan, 1964

Docudrama Purporting to examine the evidence against Oswald in a fictional jury trial. Starts out feeling rather weighty, but drags on & becomes as fun as real jury duty. Some nice old-time shots of Dallas. At the end of the movie an attorney comes out & says Oswald was most likely going to be convicted. The evidence may have been circumstantial, but it was strong. Decent acting, tho the prosecutor was a bit hammy & some witnesses were a bit wooden. Occasional editing goofs; characters looking the wrong way after a camera angle change, etc.

Buchanan could've become a good director, but from what I've seen he got worse with each movie he made.