Recent Viewings, Part 2

[RCMerchant]

#Alive (2020)

Sometimes you inadvertently make a movie that comes at just the right moment. This zombie-comedy romp is entertaining and very watchable, but doesn't add that much to the genre. However the theme of the internet savvy nerd with no particular life skills being holed up in his flat while an epidemic rages outside, certainly struck a chord in these times of lockdown, making it far more popular than it would have been otherwise. Full marks for the performance of Yoo Ah-In and, as the movie is basically just him and a bunch of zombies. His character is no cool Charlton Heston in the Omega Man, but a guy who makes up in determination what he lacks in general competence. Similarly Park Shin-Hye does a great job as the level headed half of the duo.

I just watched it. I liked it a lot! Mostly for the performances of the two leads.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Hunt" (2020)
Wealthy "elites" kidnap a group of "ordinary" citizens, turn them loose on the grounds of a palatial estate, and hunt them for sport. Unfortunately, one of their targets turns out to be tougher and smarter than they expected.
This ultra-violent, heavy handed social satire is part "Purge" and part "Most Dangerous Game," but it's trying too hard to be edgy and controversial. It started off promising but just got sillier as it went along. Skip it.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Black Metal Satanica" (2008)
Billed as "The Most Haunting and Evil Documentary Ever Made" (woooo, spooky!), this cheap looking doc on the Scandinavian Black Metal scene is pretty standard stuff -- you get a quick overview of the Mayhem/Burzum saga and the early 90s series of murders and church burnings, then lots of interviews with current purveyors of "the scene" like Watain, Mordichrist (?),  Shining, and Rimmfrost, all of whom ramble on endlessly about how much they hate Christianity, modern society, humanity in general, yadda yadda yadda. We get it, guys, you're all way evil 'n' brutal 'n' stuff.
I'm not a black metal fan at all but for some reason I still find docs like these interesting, in a "Why-the-f*ck-are-these-people-walking-around-loose" kind of way.
A better title for this movie would've been "Black Metallers is the Craziest Peoples."

[FatFreddysCat]

"Ready Or Not" (2019)
On the night of her marriage into a very old fashioned, very wealthy family, a young bride (Samara Weaving) learns that her new in laws have an unusual wedding tradition - attempting to hunt and kill the newcomer, who must survive until sunrise.
A fast moving, dark-as-hell horror comedy that's kinda like an old style Agatha Christie murder mystery, but with a way bigger mean streak. Lots of sadistic fun.

[Dr. Whom]

"Ready Or Not" (2019)
On the night of her marriage into a very old fashioned, very wealthy family, a young bride (Samara Weaving) learns that her new in laws have an unusual wedding tradition - attempting to hunt and kill the newcomer, who must survive until sunrise.
A fast moving, dark-as-hell horror comedy that's kinda like an old style Agatha Christie murder mystery, but with a way bigger mean streak. Lots of sadistic fun.

This one is a hoot!

[Dr. Whom]

Blues Brothers (1980)

When it came out, it was all the rage at school, but it never really appealed to me. So 40 years later, I finally gave it a go. I found it a bit disappointing. It drags along from one set piece to another, it is not particularly funny and the acting tends to be wooden. It does get a lot better in the last 40 minutes or so, when things really kick off.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Inmate Zero" (aka "Patients of a Saint," 2020)

Death row inmates at a remote island prison off the coast of Ireland are used as medical test subjects, which of course is never a good idea. When a viral outbreak fills the place with homicidal rage-filled zombies, a small band of survivors has to fight their way out.

Think "28 Days Later" (fast zombies) crossed with "Alien 3" (prison setting, shaven-headed female badass lead character).

This British horror flick starts off strong -- there's lots of splashy gore and it makes the most of its creepy-cool setting (the movie was filmed in an actual prison)  -- but it starts running out of gas about an hour in, and by the end it's just spinning its wheels.

Not terrible, but not a must-see.

[RCMerchant]

I just finished watching MY FRIEND DAHMER (2017)
I tried to watch it a while back- but it was just too much. It's a very well made film.
They took something that you would see on Lifetime or ID and made a very disturbing look into the psyche of a young man going insane. If a movie is too disturbing for me, you know something is going on.
I don't know if you ever seen GUMMO (1997), but it's at that line of good or really f**ked up.

Here it is to the tune of PSYCHO KILLER

http://youtu.be/CKti7QixnJI

[lester1/2jr]

Creepshow 2 - 80's classic remains so

[Rev. Powell]

THE DEAD ONES (2019): Four seniors are locked inside their high school at night; characters dressed as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse stalk them. It introduces an alternate timeline and things start to make little sense trodding a shaky line between sloppy surrealism and incoherence, but I like that it's not afraid to go full weird. Very divisive: it has a 3.1 IMDB rating (way too low), but was also named the best horror movie of 2019 by Film School Rejects. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Blue Thunder" (1983)
An L.A.P.D. helicopter pilot (Roy Scheider) is assigned to test fly a new, high tech, heavily armored chopper code-named "Blue Thunder." At first he's amazed by all of the new machine's bells and whistles, but when he discovers a plot to use it against civilians, he goes rogue and hijacks it, leading to a series of aerial battles against shady government goons (led by the delightfully evil Malcolm McDowell) in the skies over the city.
John "Wargames" Badham directed this tight action-thriller that was a favorite of mine as a teenager, when it seemed to be in a constant loop on HBO. It had been years since I'd seen "Blue Thunder" but it's held up pretty well.

[pacman000]

Alpha

A boy falls off a cliff on his first hunt, & survives the winter with a wolf/dog he caught & tamed. Sometimes slow, but still interesting.

[Alex]

The Mansion.

I was going to watch a French movie tonight, but when I hit 'Advance' on my remote to skip through the adverts, it waved a white flag. So I went with a Belgian movie instead. Nothing overly original here, a bunch of friends head off to a mansion they've rented for a new years party together. Someone starts killing them off one by one. It is one of those movies where you start wanting certain characters to get killed off because they are just annoying.

[Rev. Powell]

OLIVIA (1983): Young Olivia saw her prostitute mom's murder and grows up with both man and mommy issues, until she meets an engineer Prince Charming who's planning on moving the London Bridge to Arizona. OLIVIA wants to be grindhouse Hitchcock, drowning ideas from PSYCHO and VERTIGO in a river of sleaze. 2.5/5

[RCMerchant]

TRUTH OR DARE (2017)
A flock of 20- somethings spend the night in a haunted house which forces them to play a deadly game of 'truth or dare.'
It's kinda fun sometimes in the middle, but reverts to torture for thrills.
I don't like torture movies.
Except MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970) which has Herbert Lom and Reggie Nadler.