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10/08/2022 6:22 pm  #301


Re: Recently Seen

Jinnistan wrote:

crumbsroom wrote:

Malatestas was very much my thing. One of the great joys I came across during the pandemic. It has clunky bits here and there but who cares. It's got a real off balance personality that appeals to me. One of the better film released to shudder under their Regional Horror set (only one of which turned out to be a stinker....I think Fear No Evil)

So did you see the longer version?  I think it would have gone down a lot better at 74 minutes, myself.  And I don't believe I would have missed out on anything essential.

I think it was probably the longer version, but I don't know. I doubt it would matter to my appreciation. Sometimes I like the dead air moments of low budget shit as I do the action that punctuates it. Watching people who have no seeming right standing in front of a camera, milling around, talking nonsense, is fascinating to me.

 

10/08/2022 6:41 pm  #302


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10/08/2022 6:43 pm  #303


Re: Recently Seen

I'm going to try to focus tonight on the All the Haunts films that I haven't seen yet, includng the Woodland Dark doc.  This Prime/Shudder menu is not making it easy to find precise titles though.

Anyone seen this Screams of a Winter Night?
 


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10/08/2022 6:46 pm  #304


Re: Recently Seen

Jinnistan wrote:



I've been fighting the urge to just do a bunch of rewatches, and sticking to only first-time views.  As can be seen, this can be a hit-or-miss proposition.

I took the time out to rewatch Tombs of the Blind Dead anyway, first of all because I saw it on a not-too-good Youtube clip, but also because I've noticed that it's frequently been cited as the weakest of the original four de Ossorio Blind Dead films, and while that may be true it isn't saying much because I like all of them just fine.  Tombs is the first, and more than an adequete introduction.  I'm also not sure if the youtube version I saw was the edited American version (I think it was dubbed), but in any case this one - the uncut 101 minute original - is quite satisfying as a stand-alone.  Sure, you could say that more was done with the concept in better sequels like Night of the Seagulls and The Ghost Galleon, but why should we hold this one against those?

The "Blind Dead" are medieval Knights Templar who engaged in satanic rites and were blinded and executed by the Spanish Inquisition, only to rise again every....I dunno, full moon?  It's not entirely clear or important.  What is important is the visage of these hooded decrepit skeletons in moonlit slow-motion horseback against the backdrop of smokey medieval Spanish ruined castles.  Those are the kinds of images that make this optimal Halloween viewing, in my humble opinion, and gives it a unique, original spin on what was already becoming a stale zombie genre.

7.5/10
 

I watched that one and one of the sequels, I think Night of the Seagulls. I loved the Blind Dead, but found the movies around them pretty dull.

Last edited by Rock (10/08/2022 6:47 pm)


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10/08/2022 8:33 pm  #305


Re: Recently Seen

Jinnistan wrote:

Rampop II wrote:

I was going to ask you guys' opinion on that one.

Well, I wrote a review on the prior page.

I know. I quoted you. 

 

10/09/2022 11:01 am  #306


Re: Recently Seen


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10/09/2022 2:20 pm  #307


Re: Recently Seen

YES!!!!! 

You know when you have a circle of friends, online or otherwise, and you seemingly share mutual cinematic interests, and it turns out one of you hasn’t seen a certain movie that everyone else is very enthusiastic about, and the reaction is collective incredulity followed by rigorous peer pressure? 

Well done, lads!!!! 




"Those hoes are fuckin' with me!"

 

10/09/2022 11:16 pm  #308


Re: Recently Seen

Rock wrote:

Frankenhooker

About damn time.

(*bullying*)


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10/10/2022 12:26 am  #309


Re: Recently Seen

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched

I mentioned when the All the Haunts Be Ours box set came out that the term "folk horror" seemed way too diffuse a designation to be very helpful.  After all, if we take the term at all seriously, then it would appear to encompass a broad swath of the overall horror genre involving vampires, werewolves, zombies, demons, witches and all manner of sprites and familiars with roots in one form of folklore or another which involves that scene in the film where someone has to crack open some dusty old book of arcane knowledge to provide needed exposition.  Let's face it, "folk horror", in one way or another, represents probably a majority of the horror genre.  So it shouldn't be surprising that the documentary on the subject that accompanies the box set runs a fat three hours trying its best to wrestle with the parameters of exactly what it is that folk horror means.  And it also shouldn't be surprising that the term is actually relatively recent (circa 2006, according to this, when adapted as an accepted academic category), despite the fact that it apparently runs so deep throughout the ages of campfire storytelling.  I'm always skeptical of 21st century academics because they do tend to try to keep themselves busy maintaining an industry of inventing new names for old things.

And we get a fuckton of self-impressed academic talking heads in this thing.  For a doc that spends so much time critiquing the "colonialist perspective" there sure are a lot of white people with British accents here.  And all of the strained sociopolitical bullshit is only slightly more agonizing than the Crowley wannabes proselytizing on whatever their own species of woo.  The Anglo-centric orientation is pretty clear from the outset, however hard they eventually try to throw in things like voodoo and Asian animism to give it some flavor later on.  Mostly it's preoccupied with European paganism, and coheres the definition of 'folk horror' roughly around the conflict between paganism and the Christian church.  Therefore films like Witchfinder General and Wicker Man are considered fundamentals to what folk horror is supposed to be all about.  I guess they forgot about Haxan.  Actually, Haxan is eventually mentioned - how could they not? - almost as an after thought, because as far as these folks are concerned, folk horror, as a genre, appears to have only been born in the 1960s.  Why is that?  Well, they spend a lot of time going out of their way not talking about the obvious fact that their particular definition of folk horror is inextricably connected to drug culture and some of the agricultural fixations of utopian hippies.  This is why a film like A Field in England - which isn't in any shape or form in the ballpark of even the most generous definition of a "horror" film - finds its way into this batch, because what it is about is Christian hubris and what we can call 'rustic botony' (aka, psilocybin).  The 1960s was also the time when occult interests and practices became mainstream recreations among Western hipsters.  Such narrow strictures (ironic given the wide berth) may also be why the contemporary film The Devils is never brought up once, despite the fact that it's one of the more brilliant displays of the hysteria of religious superstition, at least on par with Witchfinder and Wicker (much less the completely non-horror Witchhammer, which is actually a straight drama and political allegory), and is as psychologically as potent and subversive as just about any other film being discussed under the folk horror rubric, but in this context the paradigm isn't pagan vs. Christianity but opposing churches (Catholicism vs. Protestantism), so I suppose it doesn't fit the preconceived bill.

Anyway, all of the sputtering muttering aside, as I said about the Haunts boxset, the real prime attraction here is the fact that it collects over a dozen relatively lost and unseen international gems and puts them in one place under however loosely defined concept of occultish kinda-sorta folkish tales curated by the kind of people who probably burn way too many candles.  As an invaluable tour through its messy, sometimes random curriculum of rare horror films, you can sit back and take notes and easily find a few dozen titles of obscure films to seek out once the doc is over, and just tune out the fact that they're actually spending time discussing Children of the Corn (lol) of all things.

7/10; though 9/10 as a helpful index




Leptirica is a Serbian tale, ostensibly a vampire tale but here represented more as a butterfly with teeth.  It's known as Yugoslavia's first horror film, from 1973, and I was a bit surprised that it's almost more of a comedy, a parody of the patriarchal hierarchy among the Serbian folk.  A young man has to win the hand of his love, with her land-owning father's permission obviously, by surviving and subduing the bloodsucking monster butterfly of the namesake which becomes almost a comedy of errors.  But the joke may be on him!  Be careful because the Woodlands Dark doc above spoils the money shot.

7.5/10




A 1983 Polish film about another kinda-vampire, this time a blood-drinking she-wolf who terrorizes and cucks the officers fighting an unnamed war (the January Uprising?  I'm sure I must have missed the mention).  This is a more proper horror film than the above, cold and evocative making the most of its wintery atmosphere, achieves almost a Bava-esque feel at times.

8/10
 

Last edited by Jinnistan (10/10/2022 12:50 am)


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10/10/2022 9:06 pm  #310


Re: Recently Seen

I cracked open my box set, watched Eyes of Fire, and realize that I should give the longer cut a chance before I really pass judgment on it.


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10/10/2022 9:08 pm  #311


Re: Recently Seen


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10/10/2022 9:22 pm  #312


Re: Recently Seen

Guys, I'm going to have to break your heart for a second.



I too assumed for the longest time, based on this poster, that this is Klaus Kinski being mauled alive by a cat.  Unfortunately, watching the film, it's clear that the victim being crudely depicted here is actually Luciano Rossi, the brother not the doctor, who is the blonde guy getting his face cat-scratched.  Disappointing as it is, I felt that I needed to let you all down easy on this.


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10/10/2022 11:29 pm  #313


Re: Recently Seen

I also watched Eyes of Fire last night. It was fine. Those video saturation visual effects were an unfortunate and unnecessary distraction. I went ahead and let that slide, but I'm not letting them get away with pleading "tight budget." Those bad visuals weren't necessitated by limited resources. They are the result of poor decision–making. Those scenes would have worked much better without any visual effects at all. The makeup effects were great, though. I give it a passing grade, but... but... I have something more important to tell you...

 

10/11/2022 12:01 am  #314


Re: Recently Seen

For the past 15 minutes I've been dreaming up ways to drive this point home. But let's keep this simple.





Dudes, this shit is fuk– kin' TERRIFYING. 

I finished it a half–hour ago and I'm still catching my breath. Matter of fact I'm pretty sure I didn't breathe at all for most of it.

It's also flawless cinema in every way. See for yourself if you don't believe me. If I were to go back on my statement of refraining from giving ratings, which I won't, but if I were to do so, I would give it a solid ten without the slightest hesitation. Best not sleep on this one. I do not recommend placing it at the back of the line to wait its turn like all the others. This film deserves the VIP pass.

I have no fear of raising anyone's expectations too high. There is no overselling this one. I can gush all I want to. The Innocents fucking delivers. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go clean myself up. 

Last edited by Rampop II (10/11/2022 12:14 am)

 

10/11/2022 7:03 pm  #315


Re: Recently Seen



Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is an old school spook-fest about a Japanese orphan taken into an affluent family home only to suffer from late-night apparitions of a mysterious snake-fanged girl (possibly her step-sister?) and an old witch in the attic who likes dropping live snakes on her while she sleeps.  Some of the make-up is ridiculous, some of it is supposed to be ridiculous, but the film's claustrophobic tone and bizarre nightmarish sequences are a lot of fun in classic B&W horror mode, and little Yachie Matsui is such a doll.

8/10




George Romero's "lost" 1973 mini-film, shown once and forgotten for over 40 years when a 16mm print was discovered and restored (in the roughest sense of that word).  The film is an interesting unfinished experiement that might have played like an extended Twilight Zone episode, a surreal morality allegory of modern culture's alienation of older people.  The filmmaking is crude, apparently shot and assembled quickly at an amusement park with apparently the same 20 people walking by in every shot.  The restoration must have been a bitch, because it still looks like rusty hot ass.  And the film, as short as it is at 54 minutes, would have ultimately been more effective without the superfluous bookended explanatory monologues by someone without Rod Serling's eloquence who insists on hitting us over the head with its theme like we're idiots.  I guess this was intended to be a PSA for elder abuse?  Whatever.  Not Romero's worst film or anything, but definitely much weaker than his other domestic allegories of the time like Season of the Witch and Martin.

6/10




This early slasher has some cult cachet, but I found it pretty derivative and inexplicably silly, not really in an amusing way, and honestly the primary point of my interest was mostly around how much hotter Tanya Roberts was as a brunette. 

5.5/10
 


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10/11/2022 7:07 pm  #316


Re: Recently Seen

I see that’s from the same director as Crawlspace. Will give that one a recommendation for fans of creepy Kinski.


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10/11/2022 7:13 pm  #317


Re: Recently Seen

Rock wrote:

I see that’s from the same director as Crawlspace. Will give that one a recommendation for fans of creepy Kinski.

Yeah, Crawlspace is pretty good.  I guess Kinski is a better match for the director's tone than Chuck Conners.  But looking at the rest of his films, eh.  The Seduction is awful, and then he did a lot of Full Moon stuff.  (Tourist Trap is also a Charles Band production).  Puppet Master is one of the better Full Moon films, I guess, of the ones not made by Stuart Gordon.


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10/11/2022 10:51 pm  #318


Re: Recently Seen

Re: The Carnival
I'm glad you saved me the trouble of writing this one up, JJ.  A couple of factoids on that one:
You guessed right, pretty much: it was "commissioned by the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania as an educational film about elder abuse and ageism, but was shelved after completion."
Contrary to cinephile lore, it was never actually "lost." It was merely shelved and forgotten. Romero himself didn't think much of it, considering it nothing more than a forgettable three–day work–for–hire. 

As JJ has informed us, it is indeed an allegorical bludgeoning for how much it sucks to be old in America. There are no surprises to be had, nor are any intended. It's not as surreal as the promo material suggests, but surreal nonetheless. Carnival–style organ music is interlaced with ominous oscillator sounds reminiscent of NOTLD in contrast to the cheerful cotton candy ambience. Lincoln Maazel's acting does ultimately culminate into something heartbreaking. 

I'm glad to see the write–up of The Snake Girl and the Silver–Haired Witch. I was looking forward to your opinion about that one. 

My free trial of Full Moon expires tomorrow and I've gotten all I care to out of it. Charles Band seems like one colorful character, though. Stories abound about his acquisitive m.o., stories consistent with Rock's tale of that exorbitant shipping fee.

A couple of Full Moon titles I can actually strongly recommend: Head of the Family and Shrunken Heads. JJ can back me up on the latter.

Head of the Family is full–on Full Moon craziness at its best, well–produced and very much worth checking out, and if for no other reason than for the very generous, frequently full–frontal nude performance by the lovely Jacqueline Lovell.

A rare and precious gem is an actress who is both willing to do egregious full nudity and who can actually act. And bless her sexy little heart for it. She's also incidentally one of the best things about Hideous!

 Head of the Family is widely considered one of the crown jewels of the Charles Band/Full Moon canon, and I'm glad I was able to find out why. It's good to the last frame, which is a very good frame indeed. I definitely recommend giving that one a spin:




And again, for those who don't know, Shrunken Heads, with score by Danny Elfman, directed by his brother Richard Elfman (also featuring a cameo by momma and poppa Elfman), and featuring the show–stealing Julius Harris as Mister Sumatra of the Haitian Tonton Macoute, is another indisputable crown jewel.

I wouldn't exactly call the following clip a spoiler, though it is a scene from the movie; it just beats the shitty trailer by a mile, so, click at your own risk:





The Full Moon production of Pit and the Pendulum is reportedly another one held in high regard by Band fans but I don't think I'll be getting around to it. Ditto for Subspecies. I'm holding off on Netherworld because the only print to be found currently is one of those shitty 4:3 VHS transfers, but we can reasonably expect it will eventually get its turn receiving the restoration treatment along with the other Band classics. I'm still interested in seeing Dark Angel: The Ascent and Lurking Fear (both of which were not included in the Full Moon subscription as I noted earlier), and with that we're nearing the bottom of the barrel imo. Having been pleasantly surprised back in the day by the insanity of Dollman vs Demonic Toys (cheaply made but still entertaining DTV starring Tim Thomerson, one of Full Moon's more valuable assets) I tried some of the other installments in those respective franchises but found absolutely nothing worthy of mention. I felt the same way about the Puppet Master installments, tbh. They're ok. I'm also gonna go ahead and skip Tourist Trap as per JJ's review. 

Browsing the Full Moon channel has been a nostalgic trip down the memory lanes lined with old video store shelves, and while it was a novel momentary thrill to finally have a second chance to see what really lay behind some of those crazy–looking VHS boxes I passed up back in the day (eg. Mutant Hunt, Bronx Warriors, Creepazoids), the trailers were enough to convince me I had been right to pass them up the first time. 

I will give a little honorable mention to Piranha Women episodes 1 and 2, especially Episode 2, which actually works better on its own. At a mere half–hour each, let's just say they do Teeth one better. Two better, actually, nyuk nyuk. But make no mistake. They are God–awful in most every way aside from the indulgent nudity and the freak–out factor of some truly crazy visuals.

Interestingly the Full Moon channel is also trafficking in a bunch of Laura Gemser (aka Moira Chen, aka Emmanuelle) sexploitation flicks... all of which have the sex scenes censored out! I'm guessing Rock might know about these flicks, given that 70s porn is one of his areas of expertise. These Gemser flicks are basically softcore porn encased in absolute shit crime–thriller plots of the most dreadfully boring variety, set to insufferably cheezy music, all of which serve as mere delivery mechanism for the copious copulation scenes. In other words, these movies are rendered 100% pointless by the censoring of all the fun parts, leaving only the torturous turd tartar filler, which an unwitting viewer might needlessly suffer through before finally beginning to suspect that something must be up. I've learned the telltale sign: the runtime. If you find a 1970s sexploitation flick on Prime with a runtime of ~1hr, you've found one. I first discovered one during a Jack Palance dive several months back (after a "long spoon" of yuks with JJ following his revisiting of... dammit what was that movie, JJ?)...  I came across a one–hour print of Black Cobra Woman, co–starring Palance. I later found the uncut version on YouTube, ironically, which helped me rinse the turd taste from my tongue. 

I never did see Crawlspace. One of these days, perhaps. Looks plenty creepy and pervy.

But on a more serious note, fun and jokes and Full Moons aside, I'll say it again because this bears repeating:

The Innocents is a fucking terrifying masterpiece. 

.

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Last edited by Rampop II (10/11/2022 11:06 pm)

 

10/11/2022 10:53 pm  #319


Re: Recently Seen

Rampop II wrote:

For the past 15 minutes I've been dreaming up ways to drive this point home. But let's keep this simple.





Dudes, this shit is fuk– kin' TERRIFYING. 

I finished it a half–hour ago and I'm still catching my breath. Matter of fact I'm pretty sure I didn't breathe at all for most of it.

It's also flawless cinema in every way. See for yourself if you don't believe me. If I were to go back on my statement of refraining from giving ratings, which I won't, but if I were to do so, I would give it a solid ten without the slightest hesitation. Best not sleep on this one. I do not recommend placing it at the back of the line to wait its turn like all the others. This film deserves the VIP pass.

I have no fear of raising anyone's expectations too high. There is no overselling this one. I can gush all I want to. The Innocents fucking delivers. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go clean myself up. 

I'm in.

 

10/11/2022 11:19 pm  #320


Re: Recently Seen

Rampop II wrote:

I first discovered one during a Jack Palance dive several months back (after a "long spoon" of yuks with JJ following his revisiting of... dammit what was that movie, JJ?)

If you want to dine with the devil, you'll need a loooong spooon.

(Around 1:20)


 


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