Forgot about Stakeout, but Dreyfuss received top billing on that one and the sequel bombed.


DISTANT VOICES STILL LIVES:



One of the greatest British films ever made, and one of the best films ever to reflect on the relationship between time and memory. The entire film is loosely structured around the memories and recollections of the director of his youth in working class Liverpool during the 40's and 50's, but despite its very singular recreation of time and place, it has a universal meaning to it that transcends the historical period it's depicting. In short, it doesn't matter whether you are English, Greek or Japanese, its meaning crosses cultural boundaries because most of us can relate to the family situations it presents, especially as we age (weddings, funerals, the passing of time, the disappearance of a certain way of life etc).

It's a film very much driven by images and sound. There isn't much of a plot to speak of, but that's its strength because it enables short scenes to carry a meaning and significance that a more plot driven film wouldn't have been capable of. For example, the opening scene where the camera lingers on an empty room with disembodied voices really captures the essence of what it's about; that it's a journey into memory, into a bygone era, into lives once lived and lost. The style itself may initially seem too mannered and formalist, but a faster film with more cuts and camera moves would have broken the spell.

It only runs for around 80 mins (sans credits), but it feels genuinely epic in scope, even though it only focuses on a single family and fragments of their daily lives captured over a period of a few decades.

There is also a lot of singing in the film. Old pop songs mostly, sung in pubs and living rooms that bring people together, resulting in shared experience. It's almost a musical, and the singing is a definite sore point for some. Admittedly I would have preferred less singing, but a lot of character information is conveyed through them, so they definitely serve a purpose, as well as offering a glimpse into now antiquated forms of entertainment.

Overall, the film has stood up beautifully because it isn't a typical example of an 80's film or a British film, despite its themes of domestic violence and elements of kitchen sink drama. It isn't presented like those films though, so it has little in common with them. It also isn't trying to be 'realistic'. It's a hazy recollection of the past. That's why it works.

8.5/10

On the poster, Dreyfuss's name is first, giving him the main billing, but Estevez's is right alongside it. And yes, Another Stakeout was shit.


NEW YORK RIPPER
(1982)



Don't let the fact that Lucio (Zombie flesh Eaters) Fulci's New York Ripper never actually made it onto the DPP's notorious 'Video Nasties' list fool you. Such was the amount of sexualised violence included in the film, it was banned outright in this country before it even had the chance to be submitted properly. The BBFC took one look at it, and informed the distributors they would be prosecuted if they even tried selling it. In fact it still remained illegal all the way up until 2002 when it was finally re-submitted with lengthy cuts.

So, was NYR worthy of the level of panic and revulsion it caused? Back then, yes, probably. By today's standards, not really, although the sequence involving a razor blade bisecting the nipple of a terrified woman bound to a bed still has to be removed from any Blu ray or DVD released in this country.

As for the plot, it's all very simple. A maniac is going around New York, slicing up prostitutes and women of low virtue. Taunting the police, the killer phones the detective in charge of the case, bizarrely using the voice of a duck. Thankfully, there is an explanation for this, but it's hurriedly explained in the last couple of minutes like a bad TV detective show and doesn't have any real impact. The final scene, however, featuring the cries of the killer's young daughter being drowned out by the sounds of the city does leave quite a mark.

None of the characters are that likeable or fleshed out. The detective in charge regularly sleeps with a prostitute (you just know that isn't going to end well), there are random bad guys and creeps, plus one particularly dirty lady who gets herself off at live sex shows, and whose sole purpose seems to be to get turned on by absolutely anything.

Well made for the most part, the acting obviously leaves a lot to be desired, but it's the amount of nudity, and the make-up effects which do the business.

3 Fists

Never liked New York Ripper. Would rather watch The Beyond or House By The Cemetary.

Agreed. Both are better.
Still, tits though.

Mandy: Step aside Refn. You have been eclipsed. Cage's best since Bad Lieutenant. Very atmospheric revenge film with neat set pieces and an unusual dreamlike rhythm. Made more sense on second viewing. Seemed less self consciously retro this time and more like an honest distillation of past influences twisted and contorted into imaginative shapes and forms. Cage goes nuts in spectacular fashion, but there is a sadness to his character that's impossible to forget, and the soundtrack mixes post rock, dark ambient and doom metal with incredible effectiveness.

This is a metal film, 100%, and one of the absolute standout films of 2018.

4 fucking fists!

Batman: Gotham By Gaslight.

Set in Gotham City in the 1880's, it reimagines Bruce Wayne/Batman and other characters from that franchise in that era. Batman is hunting Jack The Ripper. Based on a comic (or 'graphic novel' if you prefer that term) that came out a while back, it was one of the better efforts from DC's "Elseworlds" series which took existing characters and put them into one-shot scenarios), it has some nice animation and voice acting, but the twist and ending are a bit pants. 2 Fists.

Like the film commentary disclaimer, my comments are not the opinions of Terrorizer.

I'm surprised you like it so much.

I just felt like once you get past the (admittedly superb) aesthetic, nob all actually happens. The first hour is like a 20 minute film dragged out to an hour; and the second half justs seems to be a basic revenge movie, but with no resistance. He just casually moves from A to B to C and so on. I didn't feel like there was any drama to it. He just seemed to go though the motions.

Maybe its just that revenge films aren't my bag, but I felt disappointed when it finished, despite the fleeting moments of brilliance along the way.

So am I.





So did I.

A second viewing changed all that.

Mandy is mental but ace.


THE RIFT
aka Endless Descent
(1990)



A rescue mission to recover the crew of a lost submarine takes a monstery turn when the crew discover some nasty mutant creatures and flesh-hungry vegetation living in a big air bubble at the edge of a huge undersea rift.

Arriving late to the party, after other deep sea themed films Leviathan, Deepstar Six, and The Abyss had all been and gone, cheap cash-in The Rift tries its best with what it has, but in the end, thanks to some seriously dodgy science, resembles something which in all likelihood began life as a deep space adventure. When the death of a diver, swimming at crushing depths of 23,000ft, is attributed to a "tear in his suit", you do get the feeling that this was originally meant to be an interplanetary disaster movie rather than an aquatic one, but in their haste to release it, forgot to adapt the script.

Submarine captain R Lee Ermey spends most of his time trying not to be Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket again, Ray Wise from Robocop is the worst disguised "secret villain" ever, there's a completely pointless romantic interest for our wooden-as-fuck, hairy hero type, and the rest of the crew are literally just there to be munched, melted, dissolved, or crushed to death at the whim of the director.

The first half of the film is interminably slow with next to nothing happening, and featuring lots of bad dialogue which sounds fancy but explains nothing more than we already know, but the second part is actually quite enjoyable. Bad acting, more cliches than you can shake a stick at, and cheap and shitty special effects aside, it's fast-paced and finally becomes comfortable enough to revel in its own stupidity.
2.5 Fists


Macabre
aka Macabro
(1980)



The first official movie to be directed by Lamberto (Demons, Demons 2) Bava (he'd actually co-directed 1977's 'Shock' with his father, Mario, but remained uncredited), Macabre really does live up to its name.

While a wealthy, sexy wife has an afternoon of naughtiness with her lover, her eldest daughter decides to drown her little brother in the bath tub. After hearing about her son's death, the milfy type (the very English Bernice Stegers from 'Xtro' putting on a terrible southern US accent) and her bit on the side race back to her house but get involved in an accident on the way, which results her mustachioed boyfriend being deprived of his head.

Cut to a year later and the wayward wife has been kicked out of her house by her rich husband so she goes to stay in the apartment where her lover used to live. The building is owned by a blind thirty-something who fancies Stegers, but all he can hear at night is her entertaining a mysterious guest and having what appears to be some dirty, noisy sex. The odd thing there, however, is that she moans and screams out her dead lover's name during the act.

It doesn't take long to figure out what's going on and why Stegers always keeps her freezer locked with a padlock. Yup, she's gone bonkers and keeps her dead boyfriend's head in the fridge, having sex with it when she gets lonely.

By this point, the part of the story about the eldest daughter killing her little brother has all but been forgotten, but returns to the main plot in a quite ridiculous ending which involves a severed head, a fridge, a blind guy stumbling around a lot, and Stegers losing any remaining plot she might have still possessed by trying to kill her daughter.
3 Fists

Lamberto isn't a patch on his father. Not even close in terms of talent.

Compulsion (1959)

The ending of this movie was rather predictable and I could have done without this speech that ended the movie pretty much, but otherwise this was a good crime/drama. Definitely felt a bit ahead of its time and the acting was top notch.

I love Demons and Demons 2, and even have a soft spot for Devouring Waves, but yes, his old man was infinitely better.




You Might Be the Killer
(2018)



During a summer camp massacre, a survivor called Sam (Fran Kranz from The Cabin in the Woods, and Dollhouse) stumbles through the woods and into the relative safety of a cabin. Inside, he uses his mobile phone to call for help. After leaving a voicemail message with the local Sheriff, he calls a friend of his called Chuck (Alyson Hannigan from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and American Pie), a woman who works at a local video store and who just so happens to be an expert on horror movies.

Suffering from blackouts, Sam is unable to remember virtually anything of any use at first, but over the phone, Chuck slowly helps him recall the events of earlier that evening and ultimately theorises (using some amusing title cards and surprisingly gory death scenes) - as the film's title suggests - that he is quite probably the killer.

Fast-paced, witty and extremely bloody, You Might Be the Killer is a clever little throwback to '80s summer camp slashers and never takes itself seriously, happily messing with the rules and inherent cliches of slasher films by both mocking them but playing up to them at the same time. Kranz is likeable as the hapless victim, and although Hannigan quite literally phones in her performance, is still lots of fun even if she's really starting to show her age now.

4 Fists

The Meg: Tame as fuck! Shitty Chinese actors. 4.5/10

The Predator: Too many characters and locations and an overload of moronic machismo that is only occasionally funny. Some cool violence, but it lacks a strong sense of style. Passes the time though 5.5/10

Happytime Murders: Meh. 4.5/10

The Bellboy: Creative visual comedy that makes the best case for Lewis' greatness. Perhaps the French are right after all. 7.5/10

STAR CRYSTAL
(1986)



Astronauts on a deep space mission discover a crystal and take it back to their ship. After half an hour of watching a largely untalented cast wandering around corridors, chatting about nothing, and generally padding out time, a tentacled alien monster thing comes out of the crystal and starts killing everyone.

With only two crew members left to fight the unstoppable sloppy rubber creature, all seems lost until the alien suddenly decides it wants to be friends. After playing a fun board game with its new found besties, it eventually bids them a sad, teary farewell to the sound of the most mawkish song in the entire universe, sung by Indira Stefanianna, the original Daphne from Scooby-Doo.

Take the story of alien, add bits of the monster from The Thing, the hippy sentiment of Silent Running, and the heart-string tugging of of E.T. and you'll have an idea what kind of mess you're dealing with here. A misunderstood gelatinous killing machine with a heart of gold.

Er... yeah. Okay.
2 Fists

Oh, and you really have to hear that song.

BlacKkKlansman: Overrated as hell. Has none of Spike's usual energy that characterizes his more incendiary work. Should have been played as a farce. Some well crafted scenes, but the ending with news footage from right wing hatemongers and Donald Trump was manipulative and vulgar. 5/10

I've not posted what I've watched for a while now, so since mid October I've seen

In the Eye of the Hurricane
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
My Darling Clementine
The 10th Victim
Short Night of Glass Dolls
Witness for the Prosecution
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
The Bloodstained Butterfly
Peterloo
The Other Side of the Wind
The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail
Out of the Past
Bohemian Rhapsody
Suspiria (2018)
Suspiria (1977)
The Dreamers
Mandy
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave
Force of Evil
The Holiday
A Matter of Loaf and Death
Summer of 84
Miracle on 34th Street
Eighth Grade
Skate Kitchen
Roma
Sierra Burgess Is a Loser

Halloween (2018): People honestly thought this rhythmless crap was well made? Yeh there are some long shots, but none of them are good. Jamie Lee Curtis is OK, but the material she was given is complete garbage. Reads like a bad first draft. It picks up in the final act, but overall it is a really poor effort, and the fact that it has drawn so many favourable comparisons to Carpenter's original merely confirms my suspicion that his classic remains insufficiently appreciated (formally). Several of the sequels this ignores are actually superior, ironically enough. e.g 2, 4 and H20. Zombie's films were also better.

4/10

Halfway through this before discovering its 'one-take'!

I saw this pop up on a list of long takes. Seemed like it could be interesting or very drab. How is it?