Seen and not seen's, recommendations and queries on top films in general.

[EXU]

Cronemberg "CAMERA" is great, one of the best shorts I've ever watched.
I don't know if you people have seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC7YsHWoX5A

And another, "The Nest" I think it's ok, it gave hope to some people that he would return to body horror but it was not the case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odFh5LbTPI4

[bitewerksMTB]

I watch The Dead Zone when I come across it on cable but I never remember that DC directed it. Dead Ringers I'm pretty sure I haven't seen since vhs. I've been wanting to watch The Brood again so may do that tonight. Wouldn't mind seeing Crash again. I'm surprised there isn't a special edition Blu yet.

Last night was Paul Naschy in Count Dracula's Great Love. Second time I've seen it but this time I watched it in Spanish. It's a good one; if you're a PN fan (or a fan of Spanish horror), definitely check out the Vinegar Syndrome release.

[XXX]

Wouldn't mind seeing Crash again. I'm surprised there isn't a special edition Blu yet.

recently had the great luck to see this on a LaserDisc and in a theater within a month of each other. an amazing adaptation on the novel and incredibly well shot with massive attention to detail. really underrated imho & in desperate need of a Blu.

[aububs]

history of violence is fine but compared to the early work it's uninteresting
eastern promises is rote and dull except for the scene with mortensen's dick
dangerous method is one of the worst movies i've ever seen
cosmopolis is boring
haven't seen maps to the stars and it doesn't look like that's gonna change

[EXU]

Well, to each it's own.

Hereditary
Man, what a long series of teasings and unsatisfatory results... Good acting aside it feels so middle of the road, never going too much in the same direction to deliver the goods. The scenarios to me felt too indie cute for the movie to have atmosphere, almost like a Wes Anderson horror movie sometimes (I am exaggerating here, I know). SPOILER I GUESS: The headless spiderman floating doll whatever ending with the James Bond villain explanation really didn't do it for me, even if I am a sucker for satanic bs.
It was kind of entertaining but also so underwhelming on the whole.


Toni Erdmann
What a lovely weird endearing movie. It embraces ankwardness and vagueness beautifully. It's funny in a nervous way, it's subtle and strange and then kind of nonsense but not surreal. Very dramatic moments that are not forced at all, the movie goes along wandering pointlessly feeling alive and poignant, kind of boring cool perhaps but also full of heart. Idk, if I had to describe the cinematic experience and posterior feeling it left me, it's like someone threw the baby from Eraserhead on my lap and it smiled to me. Idk, great movie.

[aububs]

we might disagree on cronenberg but agreed fully on toni erdmann. spectacular movie.

valeska grisebach, who co-wrote toni erdmann, made a movie in 2017 called Western which was one of the best things i saw that year. highly recc that one too.

[ConcreteMascara]

so I liked Argento's Phenomena so much I watched it the following night again. This was under better circumstances, ie everyone around me wasn't talking through it. It's definitely batshit bonkers but it's just ridiculously enjoyable.

Saturday was Emilio Miriglia's The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave which was disappointing. While I really enjoyed the director's subsequent The Red Queen Kills Seven Times this one was a trudge. It's starts off promising with almost immediate nudity and rough sex but then skimps on the gore for basically the whole film. The story is so absurd and the twists are are so unclear at times I had some trouble following it. A lot of attractive women, big titties and cleavage and all of that, plus some killer interior shots, so it's not a total waste. But I wont' be coming back to it anytime soon.

and last night I re-watched the live-action Ghost in the Shell by Rupert Sanders. I saw this one in theaters and wanted to like it so I forgave a lot of the dialogue and the themes generally "origin story" style. watching it more objectively now I felt pretty damn disappointed. the dialogue is almost physically painful, with constants references to ghosts, shells, and souls. The whole story arc felt like a US comic book origin movie. I can't stand Juliette Binoche so automatic negative marks there. It's just fucking dumb. But being a dumb action movie, there's still some pretty good action sequences and there's a nice consistent design to the world that somewhat successfully mixes the gritty with the hi-gloss, hi-tech.

but the best thing of the weekend was watching the first two episodes of season 3 of True Detective. really loved both episodes and I'm totally onboard for this season. I'm pretty hopeful they wont shit the bed.

[rocksoff]

Last night was Argento's Phenomena. It was my first viewing and I watched the new-ish Synapse bluray which looked really good (though I have no comparison point). It was the direct inspiration for the video games Clock Tower and Clock Tower 2 for the SNES and PSX respectively and it was crazy to see how much those Japanese developers lifted straight from the film, main character included. The movie itself was definitely one of Argento's weirder ones, being closer to Suspiria than anything else, but still pretty different from that. It's a little slow and a lot weird, but the dreamier than usual tone really worked to move things along and keep me interested. Happy I finally got to see it.

Ha, I recently revisited Phenomena after playing those Clock Tower games for the first time. I decided to go with the Italian audio since some of the dialogue/acting for that one is painful even by Italian horror standards, but definitely a fun watch. I even checked out the Creepers cut later which is a strange viewing experience. Scenes are truncated so heavily that it feels like you're watching a "Last time on ... " TV show montage.

[DSOL]

Humanoids from the Deep- alright early 80's Sci-Fi/horror movie. the monsters were decent, the kills were gory and some decent 80's nudity - it's on Prime

[FallOfNature]

The Night Comes for Us
Been recommended this many times recently, didn't disappoint. Hyper violent and lots of gore and fast paced.

Blood Diner
Goofy 80's horror about some serial killer guys and an ancient goddess of some sort who has a giant toothed vagina in her stomach. Does the trick if you want to switch your mind off.

976-EVIL
More 80's horror, but sits firmly on a few shelves above Blood Diner mentioned above. Good.

Gutterballs
Seen this a handful of times before so nothing new discovered here. Nasty, sleazy, mean spirited modern horror - but a fun watch rather than pointless sadism or boring fake snuff. Ryan Nicholson's best from what I've seen.

Wolf Creek series S2
Watched the entire season beating the 40 degree heat outside. If you've seen the movies - you know what to expect. Thought this was better than the second film but not as bleak as the first film or first season of the series. Some silly story turns and annoying characters (the utterly useless German tourists) but enjoyable regardless.

[DSOL]

stuck in a blizzard for almost 3 days with sub-zero temperatures

The Thing- come on, this is the exact movie you should be watching when those are the weather conditions you're dealing with

From Dusk till Dawn- love that Cheech Marin plays 3 different characters. over the top kills, great special effects and the vampires are pretty cool looking, not enough Salma Hayek

Fist of the North Star- not super into anime/manga, but this is one that I like. post apocalyptic violence is always good

The Burbs- just a classic

[FallOfNature]

In the last week or so...been getting through a few to possibly sell off and clear some shelf space

Revenge of the Creature
Sequel to Creature From The Black Lagoon, which is my favourite Universal Monsters flick. Of course not as good as the first, but still great in my eyes.

Mountaintop Motel Massacre
80's slasher fare, but a slightly more original concept. Not bad, but far from great.

Collar
More Ryan Nicholson nastiness. Felt like an incomplete movie. Shame as the concept was ok and it seemed more serious than his others I've seen.

Video Violence 1 & 2
I love a good SOV as much as the next masochist but these fell flat on the arse in both instances. Far too slow, minimal gore, and not very imaginative. Sold the DVD immediately after.

Curtains
Shit slasher, only redeeming feature was the killer's mask. Can't understand the hype on this at all. Another immediately into the sale pile.

True Grit
Coen brothers, and it's a western that gets pretty violent in places. Not bad. Had a certain light-heartedness that I could've done without.

Creepshow
Always a winner.

Going to binge on some actual good stuff this weekend if the temps are too high.

[deutscheasphalt]

but the best thing of the weekend was watching the first two episodes of season 3 of True Detective. really loved both episodes and I'm totally onboard for this season. I'm pretty hopeful they wont shit the bed.

Might be biased here but after watching the first few episode it seems like they were desperately trying to recreate the first season. A lot of similar ideas but not executed as well. It's very hard to follow up on a season with that much substance in characters and philosophy. That's why I enjoyed the second season for being entirely different. With that said I would advise anyone to watch the seasons in anti-chronological order.

[bitewerksMTB]

The Collection, which, kind of looks like where City Hunter gets their slasher art ideas from, maybe? Has some decent scenes of gore. I wouldn't want to own it. Caught it on a cable channel. The climax turns into an action movie & there's a rather nasty arm-breaking scene.

Scorpion Releasing's new Blu release of Rituals is worth the upgrade from dvd. The color correction looks nice & as multiple prints rather than the OCN were used, you get speckling & damage lines, which, I like seeing every now & then.  Rituals is a damn good, obscure Canadian backwoods horror flick. Great location, some decent cheap gore. Makes a great double-feature with Just Before Dawn.

[moozz]

Beyond The Black Rainbow
It looks and sounds great..... but it didn't grab me in any way. The first 70 minutes or so are a trippy fever dream with hazy visuals and not much dialogue. Very slow. In the last half an hour it gets more coherent and faster paced but it all leaves me unmoved. On paper it all seems like a movie I would like but no. Good to watch for the visuals in the first half but I don't find anything interesting enough to warrant a second viewing.