Films and Recommendations - The Horror-The Horror 25/10/2009

[voor]

I'm not sure how many of the board members read my column today (and if you haven't I highly recommend you do before continuing) but in the spirit of what I wrote there, I am starting a recommendation topic.

BUT anyone who even mentions one of the gazillion movies that are now well acknowledged by the public will be shot.

To clarify:

THESE ARE THE RULES THAT I AM SETTING. If you don't like them, please just post your recommendation elsewhere. Don't read. Don't bother. This has a specific purpose. And if it sounds a bit choosy and elitist - it is. I am channelling our focus onto one particular place.

1) If it was made in USA and after 2000 - don't bother.
2) If it has over 1000 votes on IMDB, don't bother.
3) If it has won an Oscar, don't bother.
4) If it stars a major, major Hollywood star DURING their glory days, don't bother.
5) If it does not have some amazing, standout quality that you can specifically mention, DON'T BLOODY BOTHER.

However;

1) If it's foreign , espc. from one of the many countries whom we never mention, do bother.
2) If it has cinematic excellence despite budget and resource limitations, do bother.
3) If the acting is uniformly excellent by a cast of unknowns or has-beens, do bother.
4) If it never got a proper release, do bother.
5) If it makes you go giddy with excitement each time you watch it even though you have never found a single person to discuss let alone share the experience with, DO BOTHER TO MENTION THE FILM.


I'll start the ball rolling. 2007. South Korea. Gidam. Here's why: For resurrecting the almost dead anthology format and whilst doing so reminding me and any other viewer that real horror lies not only in ghots and ghouls but in our inability as human beings to cope with very real factors.
As well as showing how beautifully melancholy loneliness can be.

I will post one every day until someone else picks up the mantle and starts posting.

Rise up, people! You have nothing to lose but the shackles of populist cinema!

Sincerely yours

Voorheves

[Team Banzai]

MAD FOXES

ISLAND OF DEATH

KILLINK IST ISTANBUL

and errr..

THE APPLE

xxx

[ChrisA]

VIY (Russia 1967)

Despite it's age, Georgi Kropachyov & Konstantin Yershov's film still has the power to haunt. A gothic gem in the mould of early Bava and highly recommended.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062453/

[voor]

Lovely job, fellas - onwards with the mission!

Incidentally I'm desperate to see the remake of Viy which has been waiting on the shelf for nearly two years now!

The Last Witness (1980) - a lost and recently remastered classic of Korean cinema: a trip into the darkest recesses of human nature - a true pioneer without which we'd neither have Bong Joon-Ho's brilliant 'Memories Of Murder' nor Hong-Jin Na's exciting 'The Chaser'.

[giles edwards]

Great thread, Mr!

I threw a less obscure bunch of these into my Halloween write up but I'll weigh in with a couple both US and non-US:

* The Last Embrace -- which I'm guessing is almost Jonathan Demme's least seen picture and probably the least seen picture starring either Christopher Walken (although The Anderson Tapes or All American Murder run close second there) or Roy Scheider. This is *the best* picture that Brian De Palma never made. An hysterical, loving homage to all things Hitchockian from 1979 with a killer Miklos Rosza score. It’s never been on DVD, which is a crime.

* Just Another Love Story – (yes, yes, Rawshark will be delighted) this truly mesmerizing 2007 noir/psycho-thriller from Denmark’s Ole Bornedal is unlike anything mainstream US thriller would ever dare do. It’s got more in common with Park Chan-wook than anyone the other side of the Atlantic/Pacific. A dark, pulsating blast of cinematic energy.

I’ve also caught up with some classic French crime cinema recently, specifically gritty the Belmondo poliziotteschi Fear In The City which is utterly entrancing.

I’d also echo voor’s recommendation of Next Of Kin. This thing is wild; wild like Donald Cammell is wild; wild like Johnnie To is wild; wild like Kim Ji-woon.

[Team Banzai]

some good choices..

here's a REAL obscurity that i often pull out of the bag at house screenings to gob smacked results..

ALL THIS AND WORLD WAR 2 - 20th century fox - an INSANE mix of beatles songs set to real WW2 footage, mixed in with 1940's war film footage - add in godawful cover versions by leo sayer, david essex, peter gabriel,rod stewart, the bee gees etc etc.. it's so WRONG on so many levels - but apparently fox thought it was going to be a bigger hit than star wars - but pulled it from release after just a couple of days. it must be seen to be believed!! apparently terry gilliam was gonna direct this monstrosity!

[Team Banzai]

and to redress the sensory balance a truly great film that not many have seen is PRIME CUT... sleazy and fabulous tale - here's a bit from imdb ..

What he finds is a man who is turning a seemingly idyllic town into a seething underbelly of corruption: drugs, bootlegging, and female sexual slavery. The very man responsible for the murders is someone who won't stand down and pay a long standing debt that turned those looking for it, dead. The last unfortunate person to do so was ground into sausage, a nasty business run by that man who specializes in cattle.

and it stars the awesome gene hackman, lee marvin and a young siisy spacek !

[Team Banzai]

WHITE LIGHTNING.... burt reynolds southern fried action...

the SWEATIEST performance in a film ever by mr r... hilarious! and you cannot make out much of the dialogue as the accents are so thick - brilliant!

there was a sequel called GATOR - cool, but not as good!

[ChrisA]

100 DAYS (1991)

Bollywood riff on Fulci's "Sette Note in Nero"

I kid you not....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101244/

[Team Banzai]

good shout chris...

and a snip of a running time at a tight 161 minutes!!!

[ChrisA]

Cheers. Before I go how about...

RAT PFINK A BOO BOO (1966)

The man that is Ray Dennis Steckler directs his 'masterpiece' about super hero Rat Pfink and his sidekick Boo Boo (who's alter ego is no other than Titus Twimbly).
Inept Batman ripoff and I love it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059637/

[Melvin Junko]

ISLAND OF DEATH

Love this movie! Probably the first video nasty I ever saw, still have the origional pre-cert vhs tape of it. Will probably end up on ebay soon as I saw it go for 45 quid.

I'll post a whole list of reccomendations when I've got some more time on my hands and am more sober

[Melvin Junko]

Ok not exactly more sober but here it goes

Cat III:

The 7th curse - Chow yung fat in a Hong Kong cat III horror, some good action, monsters, great stuff.

Ebola Syndrome - one of the funniest movies I've ever seen for all the wrong reasons. Some criminal kills some people in Hong Kong and fleas to south africe,, where he rapes a zulu woman and catches ebola. He goes back to Hong kong (after much much awesomeness) and spreads the disease

Oily Maniac - classic Shaw Brothers horror.

Sweden:

Frostbitten. Before Let the right one in there was this entertaining vampire flick. Just check it it's good.

Thailand:

Ginseng king - insane stuff about a 1000 year old ginseng root creature battling a 3 headed monster. Do not watch sober


Greece:

Evil- to kako - very descent zombie flick with some good gore and nice legs

not horror but great trashy fun:

Anything with Weng Weng

Raw Force

Cripple masters - martial arts with a guy with no arms and a guy with severly deformed legs. Pretty uncomfortably to watch at times but that just makes it great.

Exterminator city - nothing but cheap robots killing topless women. Mental stuff.

[rawshark]

Definitely agree with Prime Cut, Island of Death (I've even got one of the songs on my iPod = "Get the Sword, kill them all!"), anything with Weng Weng and Just Another Love Story (thanks Giles!)...

Received this in the post a couple of days ago - Born of Fire from the wonderful Mondo Macabro label. If you like Jodorowsky, you'll most certainly be intrigued with this...

[voor]

Hey girls and boys;

Great start - let's keep see if we can keep it going.

A few points of note:

Let's put all the titles in bold for others to see - I'm just as responsible for now doing this.

Let's avoid titles that played Frightfest - So, Melvin, I'm sorry to say Frostbitten is OUT - and I have to take away Evil Ta-Kako too as it received a fairly wide release. But all the other recommendations are good.

La Ragazza Di Cortina: Very rare but terrific giallo from Maurizio Vanni with some beautiful imagery and some very violent scenes - the best of it all though that it is an update of a Sergio Martino/Edwige Fenech gialli from earlier!