FrightFest

Watched SOUTHLAND TALES the other night. And while it is infuriating, messy, very pretentious and all the other things the critics said, I also found it wildly ambitious, often funny and frequently intelligent. It’s a drastic edit clearly, and heavily reliant on a voiceover from Justin Timberlake th...

The Blue Underground Region One DVD of The Prowler is pretty good. The trailer is hilarious, it contains pretty much EVERY gore sequence from the film. Always had a soft spot for My Bloody Valentine too - that hideous old CIC video cover with the gasmask used to scare the s*it out of me as a kid, pe...

Naschy's puppies are probably the largest on display in the film, frankly. His bath-time 'love scene', complete with discarded cigar stub (euchh) is one of the films many offensive visual 'treats', alongside the films relentlessly vulgar interior design (wood pannelling and garish flock wallpaper in...

Both those were a hoot. Phantom of Death , despite the longeurs (mostly long talky scenes clearly filmed in various Euro producers’ opulent Italian mansions) is actually great entertainment. Pleasance, as Giles said, leans on everything , clearly exhausted, including hilariously throwing his arms ar...

Three Quid? Superb. I shall replace my battered ol VHS accordingly.. It's a unique take on the 'last people on earth' story, and well worth anyone's time. The first half is very quirky, hippy cod-philosophical stuff full of unusual images and moments. The second half is less effective but it’s defin...

b]Cloverfield[/b] is certainly gripping stuff, and I was surprised at just how grim it was overall, almost no humour or brevity, just straight ahead, relentless action after the opening. The shakycam work is certainly effective in places, but frequently became nauseating for me rather than frighteni...

Aren’t we all accomplices in some way as horror fans/obsessives? As much as I really enjoy being invited to test myself in terms of screen violence, sometimes, just occasionally, I do question why I enjoy it so much. I'm familiar with Haneke’s “Anyone who leaves the cinema doesn't need the film quot...

Haneke isn't for everyone, but there is no question that he is a masterful, exacting filmmaker, one of the great auteurs of the modern age. I’m frequently surprised at the vehemence with which many dismiss his work, but he is a provocateur at heart (like Von Trier, although they are very different f...

Yeah, good shout. That Tate Italian Bs season was magnificent , truly exceptional. They were showing stuff like Di Leo's Mister Scarface with Jack Palance, Solange and the other gems you mention. Unbeleivable !! The fact that it was free was even more remarkable.. The always insightful Mr Cox has al...

[quote="giles edwards"] I though I'd brought a crappy VHS of The Big Gundown from ebay but it turned out to be The Big Showdown , aka The Grand Duel . Still, looks like great stuff (and I bought Day Of Anger at the same time. Giles man, you've got a good un' there, dont fret. IL GRANDE DUE...

Totally agree with you Giles about Davies’s shtick in Rescue Dawn –he’s so mannered it’s painful. However Bale’s performance in the film is seriously variable too. At the beginning I couldn’t work out whether Dengler was some kind of idiot savant as Bale starts off essaying him as a demented buffoon...

Totally agree with you Giles about Davies’s shtick in Rescue Dawn –he’s so mannered it’s painful. However Bale’s performance in the film is seriously variable too. At the beginning I couldn’t work out whether Dengler was some kind of idiot savant as Bale starts off essaying him as a demented buffoon...

Night Of The Generals for 56p ? A Dickensian premium, really! My most recent purchases are; Blade Runner (Blu-Ray), O’ Lucky Man (bloody magnificent) and season one and two of jet black BBC comedy series Nighty Night (fiver each from HMV). Is it just me or is Julia Davis seriously arousing in that ...

Just saw Juno, which is just...the sh*t, basically. A beautiful, funny and gently moving flick that starts off in typical Sundance Indie super-hip comic mode, complete with quotable wise-ass dialogue, it gently transforms into a film that totally engages and surprises you. Forget Knocked Up – this i...