|
|
Post by commond on Oct 2, 2024 8:30:19 GMT -5
I'm only beginning to explore Fulci's films, but I imagine it depends on your preferences -- stylish slasher films or gory supernatural thrillers?
Definitely more to the supernatural thriller side.
I guess the best place to start is his Gates of Hell trilogy, which I believe were adapted into comic books several years back. As a heads up, they're thematically linked as opposed to be direct sequels. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2024 8:39:46 GMT -5
Watched Bloodlust (1961) last night because it was there in my collection and it starred Robert (Mike Brady) Reed. Honestly, it was better than I expected a low budget double feature B film to be, with some decent sets, strong lighting, and competent cinematography. It's essentially a rip-off of The Most Dangerous Game, only with an ensemble cast. The protagonists are thoroughly unlikeable, and the villain is perhaps too cool and restrained to be interesting, but it's got great pacing in the second half and kept me entertained as our band of heroes trekked through the woods in divided groups with no clear indication of who would survive, who wouldn't, and where the big moments would be coming.
5/10
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2024 8:49:42 GMT -5
And the night before, we watched Dr. Renault's Secret (1942): nothing special in terms of visuals, the plot is a simplified blend of Island of Lost Souls (1932) and the misunderstood monster trope that's been around since at least The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), and yet George Zucco and J. Carol Naish act their damn hearts out and make this thing so worthwhile, especially Naish in his slow, sloppy Peter Lorre-like voice as the man-beast at the center of this tragedy. I watch this one a lot, pretty much entirely for that performance.
7/10
|
|
|
|
Post by MWGallaher on Oct 2, 2024 10:13:02 GMT -5
On October 1st, I watched the full length version of Equinox. As a youth, I really wanted to see this thanks to exposure in Famous Monsters of Filmland, but never had the opportunity. I'd finally seen it and the original short version on a Criterion DVD several years ago, and the differences are fun to see. It's low budget, but very creative, and clearly inspired Raimi's Evil Dead. WKRP's John Frank Bonner ("Herb Tarleg") and a lead actor who sounds like he was overdubbed by Robert Reed!
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 2, 2024 11:35:33 GMT -5
On October 1st, I watched the full length version of Equinox. As a youth, I really wanted to see this thanks to exposure in Famous Monsters of Filmland, but never had the opportunity. I'd finally seen it and the original short version on a Criterion DVD several years ago, and the differences are fun to see. It's low budget, but very creative, and clearly inspired Raimi's Evil Dead. WKRP's John Bonner ("Herb Tarleg") and a lead actor who sounds like he was overdubbed by Robert Reed! That's Frank Bonner. I think you have the name confused with Led Zeppelin's John Bonham. |
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Oct 2, 2024 12:05:56 GMT -5
I’m going to reserve a space here. I will probably be watching a few monster movies here and there. As a matter of fact, I started yesterday as I already watched a Roger Corman film. My friend Mark and I watch movies at the same time and text each other commenting on them. A lot of the time, we are really mean. We watched The Terror (1963). We both love it, but we both agree that it’s very easy to be mean to this movie. It’s only 80 minutes. I’m sure I would hate it if it was 86 minutes.
____________________
October 1 - The Terror (1963)
October 2 - The Passenger (2023)
October 3 - The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997)
October 4 - The Day of Destruction (2020)
Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)
October 9 - The Unknown (1927)
October 11 - Closed Circuit (1978)
Freaks (1932)
October 13 - Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
October 14 - Children of the Corn (1984)
October 16 - The Deadly Mantis (1957)
October 25 - The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
October 26 - Trick ‘r Treat (2007)
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)
October 28 - Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
October 29 - I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
October 30 - Frogs (1972)
October 31 - Eyes Without a Face (1960)
|
|
|
|
Post by MRPs_Missives on Oct 2, 2024 13:32:31 GMT -5
Zombie Lake - 1981 - French resistance fighters killed a bunch of Nazi soldiers and dumped their bodies in the local lake. Now they're back. Technically this was directed by Jean Rollin, who has done a few films I really like, including The Iron Rose, one of my all-time favorite movies of all-time. But it turns out he was called in at the last minute to direct this one after Jesus Franco bailed, but before he saw the script, which he apparently didn't like. And someone else directed parts of it anyway. But what the hell, I figured I'd give it a chance. But this is not a good film. The zombie make-ups are weak, mainly green skin with an occasional scar or missing eye, and the attacks are not convincing. During one attack, the zombie is clearly just licking the victim's throat over and over. Not really scary. The acting is not great either, and some scenes are pointless, dull and go on way too long. Even the sex scene. There's a reporter nosing around (before any killings occur) who's just there to give the audience an exposition dump, in the form of a long, long flashback. And a couple of detectives show up, but they don't accomplish anything before being killed. There is a fair bit of nudity; both Franco and Rollin went on to do straight porn, so that's not surprising. Now, I don't mind nudity in film. When a young lady goes skinny-dipping to open the movie, that's fine. The sex scene, sure. A girl taking a bath in a corn field, I guess. But when a girl's volleyball team shows up and they all decide to go skinny-dipping, that's pushing it a bit, guys. There is one potentially interesting sub-plot. One of the Nazis had an encounter with a village girl, and she had a baby. Now the zombie somehow recognizes his daughter, and they bond. It was an attempt at an emotional arc that most zombie movies don't go for, and if it had been better handled it could've elevated this film some. But the relationship between the solder and the village girl is perfunctory, with one line of dialogue between them. And the kid accepts her dad instantly, not bothered at all by the green skin or the whole being undead thing. Dad defending his daughter against the other zombies should have been the emotional climax of the movie, the culmination of the arc. But it's just another slow, dull fight scene. And the end, when the little girl lures the zombies into a trap, has some emotional impact, but it should've been much more powerful. Yeah, I can see why Jean Rollin denied having directed this one for years. I've never seen the full film, but saw several clips from it at the Alan Smithee Awards, what used to be an annual event at the Origins Gaming Convention in Columbus, OH celebrating the ridiculousness of bad movies. Zombie Lake won several Smithees that year. -M |
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Oct 2, 2024 14:24:11 GMT -5
On October 1st, I watched the full length version of Equinox. As a youth, I really wanted to see this thanks to exposure in Famous Monsters of Filmland, but never had the opportunity. I'd finally seen it and the original short version on a Criterion DVD several years ago, and the differences are fun to see. It's low budget, but very creative, and clearly inspired Raimi's Evil Dead. WKRP's John Bonner ("Herb Tarleg") and a lead actor who sounds like he was overdubbed by Robert Reed! After looking it up, I'm mostly curious about the stop-motion animation. I don't know if I'll get to it this year or not but it's definitely going on my list. |
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Oct 2, 2024 14:31:06 GMT -5
Finished my other movie for today: Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter (Reasonable Rates!), ... Glad you mentioned this, I might try to add it to my Hallowe'en viewing this year too if I get into some 70s stuff. |
|
|
|
Post by Jeddak on Oct 2, 2024 17:25:54 GMT -5
Scars of Dracula - 1970 - Definitely my least favorite installment in the franchise. Felt like a totally different genre, and not in a fun way like the final film. Don't think I've ever heard anyone call Satanic Rites of Dracula 'fun' before . . . |
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Oct 2, 2024 17:45:38 GMT -5
Definitely my least favorite installment in the franchise. Felt like a totally different genre, and not in a fun way like the final film. Don't think I've ever heard anyone call Satanic Rites of Dracula 'fun' before . . .
Probably it was fun for Satan and Dracula, not so much for everyone else.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2024 17:51:13 GMT -5
Definitely my least favorite installment in the franchise. Felt like a totally different genre, and not in a fun way like the final film. Don't think I've ever heard anyone call Satanic Rites of Dracula 'fun' before . . . I meant Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Although, my bad, I do think I was discussing not liking Satanic Rites of Dracula, not Scars of Dracula. Man, those names run together! |
|
|
|
Post by Jeddak on Oct 2, 2024 18:10:21 GMT -5
Don't think I've ever heard anyone call Satanic Rites of Dracula 'fun' before . . . I meant Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Although, my bad, I do think I was discussing not liking Satanic Rites of Dracula, not Scars of Dracula. Man, those names run together! Nope, my bad. I always forget that was part of the Hammer Dracula series. And agreed, 7 Golden Vampires was fun. |
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 2, 2024 20:50:04 GMT -5
I noted it on my initial post, but I’ll post actual thoughts as well. I did a rewatch of… Dracula (1931). I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with this movie. Not for the reasons that shaxper put in his video (which I did watch). My uncle Doug has a life-size poster of Lugosi on his bedroom door when I was growing up. His room was in the basement at the end of a long dark hall past the furnace room. That poster scared the bejeebus out of me as a little kid and I was terrified of vampires, especially Lugosi for a long time. I now like the film quite a lot, recognizing both its limitations (partly because of its age) and its historic importance. A few random thoughts… I don’t think I’d really ever noticed there’s no score. So there’s something Shax pointed out. I don’t think it really bothers me though. Man, that Lucy subplot just gets dropped like a hot potato. I know that the shooting script dealt with it, but the film definitely doesn’t. Honestly, the only interesting character in the film is Renfield. I don’t actually dislike any of the characters, but Renfield is the only one who actually gets an arc. Lugosi is still the quintessential Dracula. |
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 3, 2024 1:39:09 GMT -5
Tonight's entry was Carry On Screaming, that series' spoof of Hammer Horror, particularly the Frankenstein series, with Kenneth Williams as a rather off-kilter Dr Frankenstein (Dr Orlando Watt, which leads to some Abbott and Costello schtick), and his rather sexy Vampira-like sister, Valeria (Fenella Fielding).\ Young lovers Albert Potter (Jim Dale, voice of the Harry Potter American audio books....'cause we can't have Stephen Fry) and Doris Mann (Angela Douglas) are out in the woods, at night (now, none of that!) when Doris gets a fright and claims there is something in the bushes. Albert goes to check and Doris is snatched away by a reject monster, with an even flatter head. Albert reports to the police and enter Detective Sergeant Sidney Bung and Detective Constable Slobotham. their investigation leads to the Bide-A-Wee Rest home, where the servant, Sockett, tells them the master is dead, but he will ask if he will see them. The master is Dr Watt (Doctor Who? No Watt. That's what I said, Doctor What? Third base!) He's not available, but his sister Valeria goes to wake him,....with an electrical charge. It turns out Dr Watt is dead, but restored and is snatching women, then turning them into plastic mannequins, to sell to clothing shops. Hilarity ensues. Well, to be honest, pleasantly amusing ensues; the script never really rises to hilarious; but it is entertaining enough, on a slow night. Kenneth Williams is in his nasally glory (huge nostrils!) and Henry Corbett, as Sgt Bung, is quite fun. Jim Dale is rather bland and I never much warmed to him, especially as a rather tame Spike Milligan, in an adaptation of Milligan's comic memoir Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall, about his service, in North Africa.Joan Simms is Sgt Bung's harpy of a wife (good lines, though) and other series regular, Charles Hawtrey is a Gentleman's Public Convenience attendant (write your own homophobic innuendo here), who used to be a gardner, for Dr Watt. As for Fenella Fielding......whooooaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!  I knew there was something familiar about her (aside from the Vampira/Morticia Addams look)....she provided the voice of the public announcements, within The Village, in The Prisoner. She is sexy as hell in this, without really having to try hard and gets some of the better lines, like in this scene...... It's not as funny as Young Frankenstein or even Love at First Bite, but is is pleasant fun and a decent spoof of the Hammer Style. Look for future Doctor Who (Dr What? No Who. That's what I'm asking, Doctor Who? Third base!) Jon Pertwee, in a silly beard, as a Scottish police surgeon, who runs a current through a dismembered finger and accidentally creates a second monster. Between him, Kenneth Williams, and Bernard Bresslaw, it's hard to choose who has the most distinctive nose. Bresslaw did some of these and also appeared as the cyclops, in 80s fantasy favorite Krull. |
|
