Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

Viy.

Evidently, this was the first horror film made in the old U.S.S.R. Based on a novel that in turn claims to be based in folklore, it is the story of a young student priest who has it sit for three nights with the corpse of a beautiful young witch. I can't really say more about the plot without giving the story away. The cinemaphotography seems comparable to Hollywood films of a few years earlier. I have no idea if this is typical of Soviet movies of the time or not.

It's not typical of Soviet films. Movies were supposed to promote Communism and adhere to the dogma of "Soviet Realism." Very few fantasy-type films were allowed to be made, and no horror films. I think visually it's remarkably accomplished, among the best-looking special effects I've seen in any Soviet film. The ending is remarkable. This is a great movie.

Enjoying it so far, although the dubbing isn't the best. I'd rather watch it with subtitles. I was surprised to see it was a film about priests coming out of that era, even if they are hardly being presented as icons of virtue.

I didn't know they dubbed it. Ugh. 

[Alex]

Viy.

Evidently, this was the first horror film made in the old U.S.S.R. Based on a novel that in turn claims to be based in folklore, it is the story of a young student priest who has it sit for three nights with the corpse of a beautiful young witch. I can't really say more about the plot without giving the story away. The cinemaphotography seems comparable to Hollywood films of a few years earlier. I have no idea if this is typical of Soviet movies of the time or not.

It's not typical of Soviet films. Movies were supposed to promote Communism and adhere to the dogma of "Soviet Realism." Very few fantasy-type films were allowed to be made, and no horror films. I think visually it's remarkably accomplished, among the best-looking special effects I've seen in any Soviet film. The ending is remarkable. This is a great movie.

Enjoying it so far, although the dubbing isn't the best. I'd rather watch it with subtitles. I was surprised to see it was a film about priests coming out of that era, even if they are hardly being presented as icons of virtue.

I didn't know they dubbed it. Ugh. 

Sadly yes. It does seem to stick closely to the original story though which gave it bonus points in my book though even if it didn't make up entirely for the dubbing.

[indianasmith]

Ice storm triple feature:

PSYCHO NURSE:   I saw this one coming on late last night and set it to record - although it was on one of my premium movie channels, turns out it was a made-for-TV LMN network movie.  Beautiful nurse with a record of killing her patients moves in with a young couple whose son is crippled with MD; she is slowly poisoning the wife while worming her way into the husband's and son's affections.  She kills 2 or 3 people who threaten her scheme before the wife finally catches on.  Honestly, a fun premise (albeit an old one) that could have made a really good movie, but with no steamy scenes and very little gore - as well as a rather anti-climactic ending - this one was a waste of time.  2/5

FRIGHT VISION:  A freebie on Amazon Prime, this was a series of vignettes told by a buxom Elvira ripoff named "Doctor Boobenstein."  One of the stories was pretty good, the rest only fair, and the good doctor was nowhere near as pretty or as sexy as Elvira.  3/5

TERROR BIRDS:  A SyFy original about a treasure hunter who discovers two Eocene "terror birds" and brings them back to his ranch in South Texas, where they eat a bird-watching trespasser, his reluctant genetics specialist, several ranch hands, and some college kids looking for the birdwatcher (who is Dad to one of them).  Silly CGI monster fun.  3/5

[jimpickens]

Vice squad saw it on B-Zone and it was a s**tty edited copy with scenes missing you can tell by the cutaway to commercials cuts that are clearly visible. 

[Rev. Powell]

THE PAPER TIGERS (2020): Three middle-aged men must rediscover their skills and recover their honor to investigate the death of the kung fu master who trained them as his chosen disciples in their teens. Lightweight but with nice comic relief and appealing characters; there's a very 80s sensibility about the entire project. I imagine this is aimed at the crowd that enjoys "Cobra Kai." 3.5/5.

[Trevor]

THE PAPER TIGERS (2020): Three middle-aged men must rediscover their skills and recover their honor to investigate the death of the kung fu master who trained them as his chosen disciples in their teens. Lightweight but with nice comic relief and appealing characters; there's a very 80s sensibility about the entire project. I imagine this is aimed at the crowd that enjoys "Cobra Kai." 3.5/5.

I always remember the movie with David Niven and the late Hardy Kruger called "Paper Tiger": good childhood memories. 

[Jim H]

Paper Moon - Cute road/family drama/grifter film.  Tatum O'Neal really is quite good for her age, though the range she has to show is pretty limited.  It's entertaining and fun start to finish.  Ryan O'Neal's character introduction is just about perfect.  I think charming is the best word for it, but it also certainly works on an emotional level.  I quite enjoyed it.

I also watched half of The Dark Lurking.  Has anyone else seen this one?  Be curious to hear other opinions. I'll probably go back and finish it. 

It's overall a bad movie, but it's well-paced and impressive in what it accomplishes for its budget and aspirations (a scfi-fi/action/horror film obviously taking from Aliens).  I don't think it goes 5 minutes without an action scene or spook or something, and the editing and camera work is pretty solid in the action scenes too, clearly elevating what they had to work with.  It has really bad sound editing/mixing though, like it sticks out.  Repetitive sound effects, really obvious library sounds, sometimes gun shot sounds are actually placed wrong (too early, too late), vocal track seems to need better normalization - it's kind of surprisingly bad, makes me wonder if it was a temp track they lacked money to do another pass over.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Rats" (aka "Killer Rats," 2003)
A reporter goes undercover in a run-down drug rehab facility, expecting to find patient abuse, neglect, or a similar scandal. However, she gets more than she bargained for because the old building's basement is home to hordes of super-intelligent rats who've developed a taste for human flesh. Yeah, real high concept stuff here. 
I actually found this one while searching for a different rat movie (1982's "Deadly Eyes," which is also known as "Rats"). It's pretty typical early 2000s SyFy style creature feature nonsense -- the CGI'd rats are hilariously fake but there's some decent gross out bits and even a couple of solid acting performances. It may not have been the rat movie I wanted, but it was an entertaining little hunk o' junk in its own right.

P.S. my search also turned up yet another movie called "The Rats" from 2005, which is set in New York City and looks like a hoot, too. On the watch list it goes! 

[Rev. Powell]

RIFFTRAX: R.O.T.O.R.: Wow, what a piece of vintage 80s cheese! A cowboy scientist/cop and a bunch of non-actors recite some seriously bizarre dialogue ("You look like you got both eyes coming out of the same hole!") and flee a killer cyborg in this cheap ROBOCOP ripoff made in Dallas. The movie is very easy to riff, it just needs a little nudge to highlight its absurdities. This would be a great bad movie watch on its own with no commentary. 3.5/5.

[Trevor]

RIFFTRAX: R.O.T.O.R.: Wow, what a piece of vintage 80s cheese! A cowboy scientist/cop and a bunch of non-actors recite some seriously bizarre dialogue ("You look like you got both eyes coming out of the same hole!") and flee a killer cyborg in this cheap ROBOCOP ripoff made in Dallas. The movie is very easy to riff, it just needs a little nudge to highlight its absurdities. This would be a great bad movie watch on its own with no commentary. 3.5/5.

I have seen it on its' own: it is hilariously funny, like the scene where the hero makes coffee for his horse  (??)

[lester1/2jr]

Night Shot (2018) - I've seen worse but I've seen better found footage horror. The fact that it's one long shot and also that its French might reel some people in, but it's a little short on ideas. The sanitarium, whatever it actually is, is cool and covered with graffiti. Too bad the movie is in black and white.

I remember a joke that was along the lines of " any girl over the age of 18 who's wearing pigtails is probably getting dped on the regular." I always think of that when I see an adult woman wearing their hair in such a manner, as the star here is.

The one long shot thing works well enough but it's just okay 3/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Rats" (2002)
A "rogue colony" of aggressive, hungry rats spreads out across Manhattan from their home base in the catacombs beneath a high-end department store, with only a lone exterminator (Vincent Spano) and a single Mom (Madchen Amick) standing in the way of total rodent domination.
This fun, cheesy made-for-TV urban horror flick originally aired on the Fox Network. The production values are decent - the rats are actual critters (instead of cheesy CGI, like in the other rat movie I watched last night) which is a nice touch, and leading lady Madchen Amick is nice to look at. Fun fact: director John Lafia co-wrote the original "Child's Play."
If you're looking for a rat movie, you can do worse than this one.

[Dr. Whom]

The Shallows (2016)

Sometimes it doesn't take a lot to convince me to watch a movie, and in this case it was 'Blake Lively fights a shark'. Which basically sums up the movie. There is not a lot there. The part where she forms a plan and confronts the shark are quite good (even if wildly exaggerated) but that is only a small part of the movie. It is mostly either setting the scene or Blake Lively being stuck on a rock with a seagull (apparently, you can train seagulls, who knew)

[Rev. Powell]

RAGING FIRE (2021): Donnie Yen is an honorable detective dealing with a pregnant wife, personal nemesis who's a criminal mastermind, corrupt police administration, and a battalion of other cop movie cliches. Totally by-the-numbers procedural enlivened by frequent and well-choreographed fistfights, firefights and car chases. Director Benny Chan died of cancer before post-production was completed. Hong Kong cinema will likely not be taking any major chances now that it's under China's heel. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

An Unknown Compelling Force (2021) - new doc tries to bring American detective ingenuity to the mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident in Russia. A little obnoxious seeming at first, but clearly there are political issues in the way in Russia. answer becomes fairly obvious 5/5

waiting for a pizza to cook I'll say some more. Russia had issues during the cold war. Some of them included indigenous peoples in like Siberia and also radiation, which leaked out from various of their crappy nuke facilities. Right in the middle of all of this was this incident. Did a yeti do it? Did they kill each other?? Was it an avalanche?? an experiment gone awry?

If you watch any modern crime shows you know they trot out the weird stuff before they get down to the straight facts. if you pay attention to the autopsy you'll get it