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Island of Terror

Peter Cushing horror movie, in which a remote Scottish island starts to become overrun by creatures that eat your Skellington, that were made in a secret government lab on the island.

I first saw this many years ago, and fell in love with it immediately. The creatures aren’t exactly sophisticated effects, but they work well enough looking entirely alien.

But what I really enjoy is the mystery angle, as the islanders band together to tackle the problem, and eventually find a solution, by applying the scientific method. Well. Kinda. As much as a low budget 1966 creature feature horror might allow.

The whole shebang would make for a terrific short run RPG, for something like World of Darkness.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:


The Fremen ambushes on the Spice Harvesters make little sense. All the close up infantry stuff occurs. They do relatively little to the Harvesters - certainly no sign of shields being knocked out. Then the Laser Dudes pop up and absolutely muller the Harvester and its Carry All. Which begs the question “what was the point of the close up infantry stuff?”

I get the Lynch one takes often outrageous liberties with the source. But it’s still the better, and more entertaining, movie.

Literally all of this is explained in the movie. The harvesters don't have shields because they attract the worms. The infantry engage to bring down the air support so that the guys with the lasers don't get mowed down instantly when they fire.

Le Samourai

Can a stylish hitman in 60's Paris escape both a dogged police inspector and a ruthless ex-employer?

A film very heavily skewed towards style over substance, it looks good but the very minimalist plot and storytelling gets a little odd at times (It's never really explained how Jef ended up on the polices radar in the first place, and the sheer amount of resources the inspector can throw at pursuing his hunch is a tad unrealistic to say the least!).

It makes for an entertaining watch, but is perhaps a bit disappointing if you were after something a bit meatier.

It's Halloween. Time to watch some thematic fare.

Last Action Hero (1993)

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Hamlet, there's a lot of death, then there's actual Death, and a dude called the Ripper. I'm pretty sure it's a horror movie.

So I guess a bunch of folks were confused by it at the time, but thirty years later I think it can rightly be called a classic. Fun movie start to finish.

The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

The name made it sound like a horror movie, but it turned out to be a comedy about Vinnie Jones doing Vinnie Jones things while making a Vinnie Jones face. Also some subplot about a crazy vegetarian photographer going off the deep end for no apparent reason with a bit of slapstick on the side.

Well, so it might have been intended to be a horror movie, but I laughed. A lot. It was good fun. But probably not in the way the makers wanted. I don't know.

I really liked Midnight Meat Train. Vinnie Jones is OK for the role (but possibly a bit too much Vinnie Jones for it too, but I like to see Vinnie Jones in films). It also convinced me that Bradley Cooper works well as a protagonist. (pretty sure I've seen it after Limitless, but I have a HUGE disliike for that film). I went into the film knowing nothing, enjoyed the ride

Also fun to see Ted Raimi splatted again.

He’s always good value as a character there to be splatted.

 Sigur wrote:
I really liked Midnight Meat Train. Vinnie Jones is OK for the role (but possibly a bit too much Vinnie Jones for it too, but I like to see Vinnie Jones in films). It also convinced me that Bradley Cooper works well as a protagonist. (pretty sure I've seen it after Limitless, but I have a HUGE disliike for that film). I went into the film knowing nothing, enjoyed the ride

Spoiler:

and it doesn't happen too often that films go all out Lovecraft on us in the end.

I like Vinnie Jones, but I think he played a British gangster one too many times for me to accept him in a different role. Which this one definitely is.

Agreed on the spoiler. I think that was well done.

It's my partner's birthday so we went out and saw Frankenstien. Amazing film, just absolutely great.

All of the actors were perfect in their roles and Del Toro delivered a really well paced, gripping film.I especially liked Christopher Waltz, he really had this intriguing but creepy air that fit his character.

Spoiler for a little bit near the end:

IT, The mini-series

Like Dune, not as pretty as the modern remake. But like Dune? Still the superior take for my money.

Mostly because Tim Curry is objectively the superior Pennywise. He doesn’t need fancy effects to be terrifying.

I fell asleep watching Rogue.

Megan Fox is a mercenary trying to extract kidnapped white school girls in Africa.

When I woke up from my nap, she was fighting lions.

Yes. Lions.

I'm not sure what plot point I missed, but it was a pleasant surprise.

I watched End of Days. Outside the impeccable casting of Gabriel Byrne as Satan, a by the numbers end of the 90s Arnie vehicle. That is to say, not very good, and with some bad CG effects.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:
I watched End of Days. Outside the impeccable casting of Gabriel Byrne as Satan, a by the numbers end of the 90s Arnie vehicle. That is to say, not very good, and with some bad CG effects.

It did have a very un-Arnie ending though.

+1 point for that at least?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
IT, The mini-series

Like Dune, not as pretty as the modern remake. But like Dune? Still the superior take for my money.

Mostly because Tim Curry is objectively the superior Pennywise. He doesn’t need fancy effects to be terrifying.

He also gets that the point of the clown was to lure children in. The new Pennywise is pants-ruiningly creepy even when he’s trying to look friendly. Curry sells Pennywise as a more successful predator.

 ScarletRose wrote:
It's my partner's birthday so we went out and saw Frankenstien. Amazing film, just absolutely great.

All of the actors were perfect in their roles and Del Toro delivered a really well paced, gripping film.I especially liked Christopher Waltz, he really had this intriguing but creepy air that fit his character.

Spoiler for a little bit near the end:

Spoiler:

I audibly snorted when his brother was dying and said "Victor, you are the monster".

Like I get this is a film for all levels of media literacy but that was just a little too on the nose.

I had the same reaction. Outside of that stumble, it was very good. Glad I saw it on a big screen, as the set design and cinematography are gorgeous.

The Mummy (2017)

For years I've seen people say how not good this one is. I saw it's up on Disney+ last night and watched it to see for myself how not good it is. Imagine my surprise when I found that it is not good!

The premise is familiar. Naughty princess does naughty stuff, gets mummified alive. What could possibly go wrong? Fast forward a few thousand years, and what do you know, things go wrong. Time for a hero to rise and put the mummy back where she belongs.

I don't know, this one isn't just up against a really good Mummy that's still very much in recent memory (and also available and advertised on Disney+ right next to it) but also does its best not to do anything interesting. Most of the movie is set in inoffensively dark places, so it doesn't have interesting let alone strong visuals. The plot just happens, people go through the motions, they somehow manage to make Russell Crowe feel dull, it's just two hours of one meh thing after another.

Tom Cruise was a mistake, too. I don't have anything against the guy, but his character comes across as a clueless stoner (without the benefit of actual have substance abuse as an excuse). I don't know if that's something Cruise doesn't do very well or if the character is meant to be flat, boring and confused, but for a protagonist he's just, you know, way too flat, boring and confused. Fits the rest of the mehness, I guess.

The few short-lived bits of humor and the underused comic sidekick don't mesh very well either.

Throughout the movie I couldn't shake the impression that the producers wanted The Mummy to start a monsterverse and already had the requisite dollar signs in their eyes at the thought of milking it for years to come. Might have been a good idea to make a good movie first instead of distracting poor folks like me with thoughts of what they might have been thinking and how it's not going to go their way. Then again, it's not like I had anything better to do than to let my mind wander. The movie certainly didn't do much to hold my interest.

Tom Cruise’s character is a right dipstick in that film.

If memory serves, it’s his recklessness that reawakens the Mummy. And he ends up ultimately rewarded for being a numpty.

I may watch it again, I may not.

It's half his fault. Archeology lady is very insistent that the find is too important to leave alone.

But yeah, he's not the brightest...

It was supposed to be a relaunch of the classic Universal Monsters.

Thats why Russel Crowe is playing Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.

The nod to the cinematic perfection that was the two Brendan Fraser Mummy movies just felt like a middle finger.

As if they’re saying “see, we can make good movies. But this isn’t one of them. Shame we’ve got your ticket price already though, sucker”


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Think I might go to the cinema on Friday, catch the new Predator.

It's worth remembering just for being the film where they released a trailer with no score but the sound effects intact. Glorious bit of a disaster that one.

The Mummy?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
It was supposed to be a relaunch of the classic Universal Monsters.

Thats why Russel Crowe is playing Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.

That went well!

Film tanked so hard, it took the “Dark Universe” with it.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Film tanked so hard, it took the “Dark Universe” with it.

There you have it. Tom Cruise destroyed an entire universe. Why doesn't he play a Marvel villain?

It's kind of curious, though. He wasn't exactly young at the time anymore. You'd think if the Universal guys expected the thing to take off, they'd cast someone a little younger for the role who can still convincingly play an action hero ten years and who knows how many films later.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
The Mummy?

Yup. This is the original version of the trailer they put up:

 Geifer wrote:
There you have it. Tom Cruise destroyed an entire universe. Why doesn't he play a Marvel villain?

He is the perfect Condiment King for the Gunn DCU!

 Ahtman wrote:

 Geifer wrote:
There you have it. Tom Cruise destroyed an entire universe. Why doesn't he play a Marvel villain?

He is the perfect Condiment King for the Gunn DCU!

I think he would do better in my greatest idea ever for a film:

The Fate of the Sith. A Old Republic tale about the fall of the Sith Empire, and our two protagonists are Tom Cruise and Jared Leto.

Who do you root for to win?

Borley Rectory, The Awakening

Random Prime find. Haunted house movie, based on the titular real world house, which is reputedly Britain’s most haunted.

Wild cast. Patsy Kensit (inexplicable), Helen Lederer (Naked Video and various other comedy shows of yesteryear) Julian Glover (Indiana Jones, Empire Strikes Back, Game of Thrones) and Vicki Michelle (‘Allo ‘Allo) Mark Wingett (The Bill).

Honestly, I was again expecting a big steaming pile. But this is actually quite well done! It’s period set, and has bags of atmosphere.

The ghost makeup is kinda perfunctory, but the atmosphere is what counts.

If you’re in the mood for a random ghost story? I think this might just scratch that itch. Certainly it’s got more going for it than the Conjuring movies.

Bugonia

“You’re a credit to the human race, Ted.”

Bugonia wears the skin of a psychological thriller film to hide its sinister true form: a dark comedy. It was wildly entertaining with multiple …what is the comedy equivalent of a jump scare? A jump laugh? Even the soundtrack got some great laughs. The cast are great, the cinematography is great, the direction is sharp. The ending epilogue song is stuck in my head…

Watch it!

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Bugonia

“You’re a credit to the human race, Ted.”

Bugonia wears the skin of a psychological thriller film to hide its sinister true form: a dark comedy. It was wildly entertaining with multiple …what is the comedy equivalent of a jump scare? A jump laugh? Even the soundtrack got some great laughs. The cast are great, the cinematography is great, the direction is sharp. The ending epilogue song is stuck in my head…

Watch it!

Do I need to watch the original before seeing the remake to really appreciate it?