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Overall, the Phibes films encapsulate everything I love about that era of British Horror.

They’re examples of how to do quite a lot not only on a tight budget, but also in the face of strict censorship. Mostly by focussing on charismatic actors (especially your lead villain) and overall atmosphere.

I dunno if I’m particularly alone in this, but when you’ve a strong lead, solid supporting cast and bags of atmosphere, I’m much more forgiving of silliness. Like Death By Fruitbat, the first kill of the Phibes films. It’s almost like there’s an agreement whereby the Film Makers do the absolute best they can, and the audience accepts any wonk and goof is a matter of necessary compromise, and not laziness.

Like early Dr Who. When the maximum effort is made using limited resources, my willingness to suspend disbelief is greatly enhanced.

Aliens Romulus Only saw this yesterday. Pretty good. Sensible folk, some neat if slightly dodgy ideas (e.g. things automatically floating when the anti-grav went off)

My only issue was how quickly the last hybrid gained mass, but that's always been an issue what with just watching the films.

Then Underwater Really needs a healthy swig from the Potion of Suspension of Disbelief. It was okay.

 Souleater wrote:
Aliens Romulus Only saw this yesterday. Pretty good. Sensible folk, some neat if slightly dodgy ideas (e.g. things automatically floating when the anti-grav went off)

My only issue was how quickly the last hybrid gained mass, but that's always been an issue what with just watching the films.

Then Underwater Really needs a healthy swig from the Potion of Suspension of Disbelief. It was okay.

Underwater, to me, was really enjoyable... until the monsters show up.

Auto float could be explained by the station’s decaying orbit?

Granted I’m not entirely sure that works if everything is falling in concert and at so at the same rate? Like, when the gravity is on, everything is being pulled to the centre of mass at a uniform rate, unless there’s another force acting upon it (such as buoyancy). Once switched off, unless there’s again another force acting upon a given object, it’s all still falling toward the planet’s centre of mass at the same rate.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:

 Souleater wrote:
Aliens Romulus Only saw this yesterday. Pretty good. Sensible folk, some neat if slightly dodgy ideas (e.g. things automatically floating when the anti-grav went off)

My only issue was how quickly the last hybrid gained mass, but that's always been an issue what with just watching the films.

Then Underwater Really needs a healthy swig from the Potion of Suspension of Disbelief. It was okay.

Underwater, to me, was really enjoyable... until the monsters show up.

Somehow, Cthulhu returned...

Killer’s Moon

Once upon a time, this slasher was X Rated in the UK.

Premise is four loonies have escaped, and are fleeing across the countryside.

Of arguable interest here is that each has a different, preferred victim and psychosis. It doesn’t exactly make it a good film, but it does add a bit depth, as we the audience don’t know who’s who, or who may or may not be safe.

First is a child killer, second is a homosexual offender, third is a religious maniac who considers others to be the devil. All have been undergoing experimental therapy using LSD. and yes, that works out exactly as well as we might expect. On another bright side, it’s made clear those responsible for that experiment are consider Bloody Idiots.

There’s good atmosphere here, and whilst I don’t think any slasher by their very nature will ever be cinematic masterpieces as such? This is a superior example of the genre, even if some scenes are unpleasant.

 Ahtman wrote:

 Lathe Biosas wrote:

 Souleater wrote:
Aliens Romulus Only saw this yesterday. Pretty good. Sensible folk, some neat if slightly dodgy ideas (e.g. things automatically floating when the anti-grav went off)

My only issue was how quickly the last hybrid gained mass, but that's always been an issue what with just watching the films.

Then Underwater Really needs a healthy swig from the Potion of Suspension of Disbelief. It was okay.

Underwater, to me, was really enjoyable... until the monsters show up.

Somehow, Cthulhu returned...

The movie also works as a prequel to Pacific Rim.

That was the first Kaiju. The second one made it to shore.

Princess Mononoke

Was on at a nearby cinema, in IMAX format.

Classic movie is classic. But this was my first time seeing it subbed, rather than dubbed. And it brings a lot of context to things.

So a rare Anime I get on with, elevated further. Lovely stuff.

The Howling (1981)

The last word in Werewolf movies but it might be a bit too dark for some to enjoy. Other films in the genre have some element of tragic sympathy for their werewolves, but The Howling stands out as being notably sinister with a wicked sense of humour, which was much needed at the time as the genre had become somewhat ridiculed.

And yes, Rob Bottin delivers a transformation sequence that really is the stuff of nightmares!

I would probably recommend An American Werewolf In London if unsure about how far someone else is willing to go with horror films, as it's clearly a comedy and the beast in question has more in common with the over-the-top antics of The Killer Rabbit and ED-209, than the terrors of a John Carpenter movie.

But otherwise The Howling has yet to equaled, and after 40-odd long years, we're long over due a new werewolf movie that takes the genre to the next level...

Ever watched a movie and thought, "Oh man, the first movie was so good... and this one is so bad. Who directed this crap?"

And then the credits start and its directed by the same guy.

Yes. I just watched The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Which was directed by Stephen Spielberg.

Oh. And the plot would later be watered down and regurgitated into Jurassic Word: Fallen Expectations Kingdom (except Spielberg avoided the cloned children nonsense).

SamusDrake wrote:
The Howling (1981)

The last word in Werewolf movies but it might be a bit too dark for some to enjoy. Other films in the genre have some element of tragic sympathy for their werewolves, but The Howling stands out as being notably sinister with a wicked sense of humour, which was much needed at the time as the genre had become somewhat ridiculed.

And yes, Rob Bottin delivers a transformation sequence that really is the stuff of nightmares!

I would probably recommend An American Werewolf In London if unsure about how far someone else is willing to go with horror films, as it's clearly a comedy and the beast in question has more in common with the over-the-top antics of The Killer Rabbit and ED-209, than the terrors of a John Carpenter movie.

But otherwise The Howling has yet to equaled, and after 40-odd long years, we're long over due a new werewolf movie that takes the genre to the next level...

Last word? Last word in Werewolf movies????

What’s Dog Soldiers then.

Boo! Booooooo to you! And maybe a very mild pox. Like an easily treatable but short term deeply unpleasant outer ear infection, upon you.

Booooooooo!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

SamusDrake wrote:
The Howling (1981)

The last word in Werewolf movies but it might be a bit too dark for some to enjoy. Other films in the genre have some element of tragic sympathy for their werewolves, but The Howling stands out as being notably sinister with a wicked sense of humour, which was much needed at the time as the genre had become somewhat ridiculed.

And yes, Rob Bottin delivers a transformation sequence that really is the stuff of nightmares!

I would probably recommend An American Werewolf In London if unsure about how far someone else is willing to go with horror films, as it's clearly a comedy and the beast in question has more in common with the over-the-top antics of The Killer Rabbit and ED-209, than the terrors of a John Carpenter movie.

But otherwise The Howling has yet to equaled, and after 40-odd long years, we're long over due a new werewolf movie that takes the genre to the next level...

Last word? Last word in Werewolf movies????

What’s Dog Soldiers then.

Boo! Booooooo to you! And maybe a very mild pox. Like an easily treatable but short term deeply unpleasant outer ear infection, upon you.

Booooooooo!

Dog Soldiers is the best Sean Pertwee film.

And it's the only movie I've seen in the theater outside of the fingernail breaking scene in Stir of Echoes, that I've heard 90% of the audience screech in horror at the sound of the sword (thats impailing a werewolf) scraping across the guy's teeth.

Gah! It still bothers me.

I think you’ll find every film with Sean Pertwee is best film ever.

The man is fantastic.

Jumping into the Howling discussion to suggest Bad Moon, or at least the last ten minutes of it. It’s not the classic that The Howling is, but it’s quite enjoyable as a werewolf movie.


As for Dog Soldiers, I consider it more of an action movie like Underworld than a werewolf movie in the mold of The Howling or An American Werewolf In London.

Has anyone seen Ginger Snaps? Is it as good a werewolf movie as I’ve heard?

I feel like Underworld would have been a lot cooler and more high rating if they'd ditched the dark camera style. My recollection of it is a solid film but the kind that you always feel like you want to up the brightness just to easily see everything that is going on.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I think you’ll find every film with Sean Pertwee is best film ever.

The man is fantastic.

Just so we are on the same page...

Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie, is the best film ever?

It has Sean Pertwee.

So yes.

Y’cannat change the laws of physics.

And we agree that the movie Howl is the best Werewolf film?

Or is it tied with Dog Soldiers as the best Werewolf film?

Dog Soldiers, simply for the squaddies being solid, and never giving in.

But they are both Sean Pertwee Werewolf films.

Dog Soldiers.

But Howl is newer, thus better.

Does Howl have a Spoon?

No it does not.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Does Howl have a Spoon?

No it does not.

Does Dog Soldiers have a train?

No. It does not.

Spoon beats Train.

Spoon beats up a Werewolf with a pan.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Pizza ordered, laundry on. It’s time for some movies!

Trilogy of Terror 2

1996 sequel to the original 1975 classic original. This time our repeat victim is Lysette Anthony, who you may recognise as the Princess from Krull.

Like the original this is a Made for TV movie, with three tales. Somewhere between an Amicus Portmanteau (which are cheesy excellence) and American Horror Stories (which are also somewhat cheesy excellence).

Spoon manages to be the best sideways pop culture reference out of the blue possibly ever set to celluloid (hmm. Was everything filmed digitally by Dog Soldiers?)

Screamboat

Oh dear. This might learn me to read the synopsis instead of just choosing by the disc cover.

What I thought to be an 80’s slasher set aboard a boat? Isn’t just a horror version of Steam Boat Willy. But by the same people that singularly failed to impress me with the Terrifier series.

But rules is rules. I bought it, so I watch it. And I give it a fair shake, trying to set aside my known bias.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
About half an hour in.

It’s not just drivel. It’s witless drivel.

The kills are splattery, but nonsense. Oh, and because Writing Interesting Characters Is Hard, a major proportion of the cast are social media influencers. So, very easy to despise. But not as much as I despise the lightweight hacks that brought this nonsense into reality.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Screamboat
...... But not as much as I despise the lightweight hacks that brought this nonsense into reality.

Now, now, let's not get crazy here. Influencers surely are more despicable.

They’re really not in this example.

This is a film with no joy, no effort and just nothing to offer. The kills are gory, but dull. Which is an achievement, of sorts.

If it wasn’t trying to harness the whole “Steamboat Willy is out of copyright” guff level meme? Nobody would even be tempted to see it.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
They’re really not in this example.

This is a film with no joy, no effort and just nothing to offer. The kills are gory, but dull. Which is an achievement, of sorts.

If it wasn’t trying to harness the whole “Steamboat Willy is out of copyright” guff level meme? Nobody would even be tempted to see it.

Which is funny, as copyright never prevented you from making a horror parody of Steamboat Willy. That would be transformative of the original work and therefore fair use.