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436,566 | 9,938,570 | 58,405 | 8 | Nightmare | A teenage girl has an awful recurring nightmare of being trapped in an insane asylum cell with her sick mother who murdered dear old daddy on the poor child's birthday . Janet deeply fears of not only winding up at an asylum like in her nightmares , but the possibility of inheriting mother's murdering ways . Wishing to return home after staying at an all-girls private school , Janet ( Jennie Linden , who is indeed excellent as the traumatized girl ) is haunted by this woman with a slight scar on her face . Always trying to get away from her , this constant image of the woman laid on her back with a knife protruding from the chest lies at the heart of Janet's slow descent into madness . It all leads to the death of Janet's doctor , Henry's ( David Knight ) wife when she is a spitting image of the woman that haunts her nightmares . There's much more to this story than meets the eye , however , as we see that someone close to Janet was using her trauma as a weapon . Through Freddie Francis ' startlingly eerie , moody B & W photography , we see the nightmarish realm Janet's trapped in . It doesn't end there as the film takes a detour that can be a bit jarring at first , but comes together by the end . " Nightmare " is one of those films which starts out one place then takes the viewer into a totally different direction . This film is a lot of fun . |
436,354 | 9,938,570 | 58,403 | 8 | William Castle's The Night Walker | Howard Trent ( Hayden Rorke ) , hideous face with creepy white eyes , whose cane taps the floor loudly wherever he walks , suspects his wife , Irene ( Barbara Stanwyck ) of adultery due to her " sleep-talking " embracing her gentleman caller within the realm of blissful fantasy . He suspects that his attorney , and confident , Barry Moreland ( the dashing Robert Taylor , always the kind of leading man with the ability to conceal whether he's trustworthy or carrying malicious intent ) of being her lover . The third party of the story is private investigator George Fuller , hired by the insanely jealous Howard to follow Irene . When Howard dies in an explosion within his private laboratory , Irene is haunted by dreams / nightmares depicting her dream love ( Lloyd Bochner ) , Howard's interference on her encounters with him and various places that she is taken by her fantasy-man which feel so incredibly & vividly real . With Trent's hesitant assistance ( he carries a look of concern for Irene as if wondering whether or not she should see a shrink ) , Irene seeks answers to the riddles of her dreams and does indeed find that places she was taken to by her dream lover are real , but unlike the way she saw them the night before . Does Irene truly experience real encounters with a real man , or is she truly completely bonkers ? Through the wizardry of director William Castle and writer Robert Bloch , this wonderfully campy delight runs the gamut of twists and surprises . They use dreams / nightmares as a psychological tool to craft their tale and we follow Irene's journey through the unusual crisis she faces . I thought Rorke's Howard was perfectly sinister . . they really dress him up as a creepy intruder to Irene's serene , while also strange , encounters with her ideal man . Taylor , as I mentioned above , again appears sympathetic to Irene's cause , showing that he would like to believe that what she experiences is true . The third party , Lloyd Bochner has a pivotal role in this flick . . his character is the one who leads Irene through all the bizarre scenarios that occur in the supposed dream-world they inhabit . One particular sequence , my favorite of the film , has Bochner's dream man and Irene associated in an eerie ceremony , in a chapel , where the parties involved ( priest , pianist & witnesses ) are plastic mannequins , interrupted by Howard . The film opens splendidly with a montage of images with the deep resonant voice of the narrator asking us , " What are your dreams " What do they mean ? What do you know about the secret world you visit when you sleep ? " It goes on for minutes and I can imagine the groaning of many having to sit through it . But , I thought it was hokey , well-intentioned fun . Babs ' histrionics might make her devoted fans cringe , and her character is a bit naive , but she's always a pleasure to watch . I've read that many compare this film to Babs to Crawford's final role in TROG , but I think that's way off base . If you love William Castle and know what to expect ( . . gorgeous B & W moody cinematography , a plethora of red herrings piled on each other , schlocky & gimmicky narrative ) , this should be right up your alley . |
436,066 | 9,938,570 | 50,766 | 8 | Curse of the Demon | A skeptical scientist ( Dana Andrews ) , investigating the death of a doctor friend , does not easily accept the fact that a wealthy cultist ( and leader of a Satanic Worship Cult ) has placed a witchcraftian curse on him which , in three days , will bring forth a demon to kill him . Despite warnings from those around him , including the niece of the deceased doctor he was supposed to visit and a séance which yielded the dead spirit of the deceased doctor trying to tell him to cease his impromptu investigation , he'll be shaken from his hardened disbelief in anything supernatural when certain occurrences beyond reality begin to happen . Intelligent and well-acted horror film makes all the right moves showing a realistic man who doesn't believe in things he can not see with his own eyes until those supernatural situations supposed victims of superstition believe do occur forcing him to accept what he has , for so long , disbelieved . You have the typical marvelous B & W cinematography which is a constant in films from Tourneur , not to mention , a pretty creepy demon monster . Fascinating use of Stonehenge in it's depiction of witchcraft lore and how they represent a symbol of the rise of demonic spirits . |
436,032 | 9,938,570 | 47,424 | 8 | Rogue Cop | Cop-on-the-take Sgt Chris Kelvaney ( Robert Taylor ) vows to take down the two mob bosses , Dan Beaumonte ( George Raft ) & Ackerman ( Robert F Simon ) responsible for the death of his straight-arrow beat cop brother Eddie ( Steve Forrest ) . The drama starts when a lowlife named ' Wrinkles ' Fallon ( Peter Brocco ) kills a man in this gaming place . The man responsible for placing the ID on Fallon was Eddie who would receive a commendation for his work in bringing a killer to justice . But , Fallon is a photographer / blackmailer who captured Beaumonte and Ackerman snuffing someone out and he needs to be freed from jail or they take the fall . Beaumonte puts pressure on Chris to convince Eddie it's best not to keep his story on Fallon legit or else . But , Eddie is an honest product of his pop's raising and will not follow in his crooked brother's footsteps . Chris finds out that Eddie's new squeeze Karen ( Janet Leigh ) was once a mobster's moll from Florida and tries to convince her to talk sense into him against remaining loyal to keeping Fallon in prison . With Beaumonte and Ackerman squirmy and nervous about being taken down , they bring a foreign hit-man in to put away Eddie . Beaumonte has a lovely alcoholic moll Nancy ( Anne Francis ) who embarrasses him with her stumbling around and little jokes and cans her out on the street to another gangster for which she opens her mouth about certain things she knows . . Beaumonte now sets his sights on wringing her neck as well . Through it all , Chris will go rogue as his own as his superiors will desire his badge and resignation for his being under the mob's payroll , but not before he finds the man responsible for Eddie's death . He plans to not only take out the hit-man , but the two mob bosses as well in a climactic shootout with assistance of good cop Sidney ( Robert Ellenstein ) who feels resentment from the sergeant for not going the crooked route . Taylor gets a really juicy role as a crooked cop certainly a bit responsible for his brother's death . He has to face the music when it comes to his activities with the mob and this film puts it to him , but Taylor is good at getting sympathy from the viewer despite his nose-thumbing at being the honest , hard-working cop instead of getting paid , no matter who is forking over the extra salary lining your pockets . George Raft also is quite effective as a real scumbag mobster who says what he means , to the point with little in the way of small talk . Janet Leigh doesn't have to stretch too much . . it's her looks this film is aiming for . . that and to poke away at Chris ' heart . She's the one who he can speak to as the world caves in around him . . when both the police and the mob turn their cold shoulders to him . Sure , it's of his own making , but that's what makes the role so juicy for Taylor . . it's not black & white at all , but all sorts of shades of grey . The film is ultimately about redemption , setting things straight , and accepting the life you've lived with all the problems that capsize because of it . Anne Francis gets one of her best roles as a moll who genuinely loved her man and seems damned for pushing him too far . |
436,478 | 9,938,570 | 312,843 | 8 | Suicide Club | A suicide epidemic is sweeping across Tokyo and could very well be related to a girl pop band , Dessert , whose song , Mail Me , might be sending subliminal messages to those who embrace it . Detectives , wary and worn , attempt to find out what is indeed causing so many to end their lives in such harsh ways . Soon Detective Kuroda ( Ryo Ishibashi ) , whose family life seems harmonious , will discover all too well the heartbreak that results from such a fervor . It seems that a duffel bag is found with a roll of stitched flesh around suicide crime scenes . . could very well be the flesh of those who decided to end their lives . A web site directed to Kuroda by a secret caller known as The Bat , features the number of people who are to die . Also , a homicidal , flamboyant , enigmatic figure , Genesis ( Rolly ) who leads a gang of thugs holding hostages ( . . people and animals ! ) in a bowling alley , claims to be the leader of The Suicide Club that has motivated the surge of suicides , hailing himself as the Charles Manson of the Internet Age . Sullen Mitsuko ( Saya Hagiwara ) loses her boyfriend when he decides to leap off a balcony , landing on her ! As a result , Mitsuko herself decides to research what provoked the decision to commit suicide , and soon discovers the reason why . Sion Sono's film is rather difficult for someone looking for easy answers as to what is causing the epidemic of the film . You could look at the society as a whole and recognize the cultural impact of the internet age , bubble gum pop , cell phones , and other devices which have effected relationships with themselves and others . . life rushes by thanks to the technological age we live in , and too often we fail to " connect " with those we love and ourself . I think the film is a complex piece of film-making which speaks philosophically about themes very present in Japan . . and perhaps to us , as well . The suicides are a way of ending this kind of disconnection , I believe , and certainly potently shock . Director Sion Sono really opens with a bang as this large group of school girls plunge in front of a moving train with blood covering those waiting for it . The school balcony suicides , I believe , are even more unsettling because this time we see the genesis of it and how it all comes to an end . Then you get the very unpleasant series of suicides which occur across the city ( . . a woman cutting into her hand while chopping slices of cheese , a comic sticking a knife in his throat in front of a horrified audience , a vendor downing a bottle of pills , a girl putting her head in an oven ) displaying the mania that has taking control of it's citizens . But , packing a major wallop is the fate of Kuroda and his family . . the realization of his neglect leaves a powerful punch to the stomach . The film provides a lot to chew on , and the songs themselves tell a great deal more than your typical pop junk . . the idea of using pop music as a means of story-telling is quite ideal and appropriate considering it's supposedly the " root cause " of the epidemic . Again , the theme of suicidal children will likely disturb some viewers , but the scenes where detectives are watching for potential new " victims " at the train station can get quite suspenseful and nail-biting . |
436,062 | 9,938,570 | 43,117 | 8 | Wagon Master | Travis and Sandy ( Ben Johnson and Harry Carey , Jr . ) are horse traders coerced into selling their animals to a Mormon group and guiding them across the frontier to a settlement . What they do not expect is to encounter the notorious Clegg murderers , with their wounded leader Uncle Shiloh ( Charles Kemper ) . Ward Bond portrays Elder Wiggs , the main voice for the Mormon group moving the wagon train to the Lord's destination . Along the way , they also encounter " Doctor " A Locksley Hall and his " Hoochey Koochey Wagon " and lend them help . Lovingly directed by Ford who pays close attention to detail with realistic problems any group would encounter during a rugged wagon trail . The film has a wonderful cast made up of character actors with nary a true star in the film which is actually a blessing to see , if just not for a change of pace . Young Johnson and Carey , Jr . come off real well , but this is Bond's film to shine as he has the best lines . Johnson is the one who seems to understand ruffians and brutes like Shiloh and will certainly come in handy when certain conflict might develop as the Clegg boys ride along side them a piece . I'd have to say this is one of his best and most least appreciated westerns and seems to flow very well . |
436,417 | 9,938,570 | 80,388 | 8 | The Scarecrow reviews " Atlantic City " | Burt Lancaster plays Lou , a supposed gangster slowly watching his beloved Atlantic City dying a slow death as a new more modern place is on the horizon . He falls in love with Susan Sarandon's Sally , a croupier traveling wannabe whose rotten drug dealing thief decides to bother her again { he is the reason she loses a possible chance in Vegas } . Soon her dead beat lowlife happens upon Lou , who has been yearning for Sally a long time { they are neighbors . . he watches her bath her naked flesh with lemons } , and proposes a partnership of sorts for distributing coke to a rich man . The dead beat husband knocked up Sally's sister , Chrissie ( Hollis McLaren ) who is too impressionable for her own good . You have an amusing turn by Michel Piccoli as Joseph , the man who trains card dealers so that they won't lose focus if a group of con artists try to read and cheat . Soon the dead beat husband ( Robert Joy , who fits the bill ) is murdered when the ones whose cocaine he stole find him . They will soon go after Sally who has no clue that Lou is the man with the dope and money that was to go into her husband's hands . Soon Lou and Sally will fall in love as Lou pays for the dead beat husband's airlift and burial in Canada . The money and coke , though , will be sought after as the hoods who murdered the dead beat husband will probe Sally for what actually belongs to them . The film's seedy drug and money sub-plot is merely a diversion or plot point to set up the meeting between Lou and Sally as they find the spark despite their age gap . Burt Lancaster seems to have found the sad tragedy behind the supposed mob guy . He lives a lie and deceives himself often , only realizing his whole life is a joke in a moment of clarity when the hoods , who find Sally and smack her around for information about the drugs and loot , hold him at bay as he couldn't protect her . The other moment of realization comes when he shoots and kills them as they plan to do Sally harm and end their meetings on a sour note . Kate Reid steals every scene as Grace Pinza , an elderly widow of famed mobster Cookie Pinza , for who she constantly reminds Lou of his failings as a real mobster as he takes care of her . She is pretty much an arthritic head case who doesn't cease to remind Lou where he'd be without her . Underneath all this is a bond they truly have . Lou really does depend on Grace and vice versa . She is another reminder of a past Atlantic City that now is a decaying relic . What Lou and Sally develop over the course of the film is magic . I totally really only thought of their age gap glancingly for they just spark and function on screen so well . There's a great scene where Lou admits to peeping in on Sally's lemon bathing and she seems so turned on by his honesty and in , especially , how Lou describes it in such erotic detail . It's an event in Lou's life , every night , that actually brings feeling . I think that them finding each other brought life back into Lou . As the film closes , we know that Lou and sally was never meant to be . She could leave Atlantic City , but Lou is too much of a fixture . He , in a sense , is Atlantic City , just like Grace and that old decaying building that will soon be driven to the ground giving way to a new more modern age . |
436,549 | 9,938,570 | 424,136 | 8 | Hard Candy | No mistake about it , this film is a daring one to make . We essentially see this 13 year old girl , howbeit a bright , " smart way beyond her years " drug and torture a 33 year old pedophile for an hour and a half or so . This film cleverly dares to show this girl actually out-dueling , psychologically , a man who has wooed quite a few teenagers . To have an entire film set in one general location for most of the way and have these two hold our interest is an amazing feat . This film has something to say and is clearly an indictment on pedophilia and it's damages . For a film to turn the tables in another direction where the predator becomes the prey is quite a challenge . I think this film succeeds . Casting is certainly key . Patrick Wilson really is a perfect choice for the role of Jeff , the photographer who can flash his profession in the face of pretty young things with the throwaway exuberance of those " possible future models " expected . Patrick's frat-boy looks and calm reserve really fit right for this pedophile . He looks like a perfectly normal man who we'd have a hard time believing could be such a monster when all to his lonesome gazing at a computer screen probing away on the internet superhighway for that chance to get that young virginal lay . But , Ellen Page is the revelation here . She absolutely dominates the screen with this allure director David Slade visually captures with his camera . You instantly believe her as " Hayley " and her transformation from what Jeff believes she is to who she REALLY is , this is startling to behold . She is able to toy with him and see through him . Understanding who Jeff really is through carefully studied research makes this film quite fascinating as it develops . She knows all his secrets and he is ultimately at her mercy . What TRULY motivates Hayley's vengeance , and how does it involve a missing girl and Jeff's former lover ? These questions are answered and we see who Jeff really is after Hayley gets done with him . |
436,691 | 9,938,570 | 62,827 | 8 | Countdown | A geologist ( James Caan ) working for NASA gets the opportunity of a lifetime . Since US government will not allow perhaps a better candidate ( Robert Duvall ) , an " air-force guy " , to pilot the PILGRIM capsule to the moon , a civilian is needed and Caan is their boy . It's all about beating the Russians to the moon and first-time feature film director Robert Altman takes the helm fashioning it into a matter-of-fact documentary type deal where we see how everything takes place prior to launch . The media swarm , the rivalries ( Duvall's Chiz is indeed screwed out of an opportunity ) , how the families cope , the spent time before that fateful trip , the planning , the testing , the debating on who should be piloting the capsule . . everything is shown to us so that we get a clear picture of what it is like in not only the pilot's life , but also those that worry about the mission themselves . I must say this film is exceptionally well made , with an intelligent approach which tries to explain to us the hullabaloo that surfaces at such a historic event and how that effects Caan and his family along the way . It all comes down to that trip , though , that really provides some suspense . It's a curio piece also considering it features Duvall and Caan in the early stages of their careers as well as seeing the beginning of Altman's reign as an unusual artist with his camera placements and how the characters speak to one another ( there is some moments where people talk over each other during discussions mainly in the sequences where Caan is in the capsule nearing the orbit of the moon ) . |
436,711 | 9,938,570 | 76,590 | 8 | Rabid | After a " successful " skin grafting experimental plastic surgery ( using tissue not only for outside work , but inside as well using skin from the thigh ) , innocent , sweet Rose ( Marilyn Chambers who is actually not bad in a rare dramatic role ; she still looks incredibly sexy and bares her breasts often , however ) has a mysterious appendage that pops out from a " pouch " on her arm pit . This appendage likes to suck blood from unknowing victims and is the only nutritious substance Rose can digestively hold down . Rose has constant cravings and those she attacks become bloodthirsty , stark-raving maniacs whose mouth splatter green pus . Soon the entire city of Montreal , Quebec has reached epidemic-proportions with the military having to step in to control the problem . There seems to be no cure available except death to all that have the " plague " ( after a while , the diseased crazies go into a coma and die ) . Rose's boyfriend Hart ( Frank Moore ) tries to find her once she breaks from the clinic after attacking Dr . Keloid ( Howard Ryshpan ) . . the plastic surgeon who worked on her . Poor Mindy ( Susan Roman ) offers Rose a place to stay , but unknowingly has the very one responsible for the outbreak of madness . You watch wondering when the impulses for blood will take effect leaving Rose with only one alternative and that is to attack her only real friend in the world . Will Mindy survive ? Will Hart find Rose ? The tragic part about the film is that there's really only one way to cease the plague sweeping the city ( . . and before it reaches the entire country ) and that is to eliminate the model source . . the queen bee . . and that is extinguishing Rose . The film is a bit raw ( Cronenberg was still honing his skills ) , but it's clear with this icky epidemic thriller he was on his way to greater things . The unpleasant premise of this thing inside Rose sucking blood might be ridiculous , but , at the same time , it really gets under the skin . It seems like Cronenberg could make these spine-tingling grotesques in his sleep . |
436,570 | 9,938,570 | 492,754 | 8 | Salvage | Teenager " Claire " ( cutie Lauren Currie Lewis ) is continuously haunted by the prolonging image of a supposedly dead psychopath named Duke Desmond ( Chris Ferry ) who worked in a salvage yard . He was shot dead by Detective Miller ( John P Miller ) when attempting the firing of his pistol . Duke is known for hacking up a male teenager . This film applies the oft-used gimmick of looping . . the theme where certain things recur over and over . I'm not giving away nothing because the twist is good fun . Most of the film is poor Claire caught in a disorienting state of fear , often trying to flee from her predator who often appears in the background . We do see Claire having conversations with her boyfriend Jimmy ( Cody Darbe ) as if life is continuing on with the image of Duke just an overwhelming nightmare , but when he starts appearing in reality that's one the real fear starts creeping into her mind . Also , we see her with mother ( Maureen Olander ) a bit also . It does seem like Claire does momentarily awake from her nightmare , only to realize that it all seems to start back up again once she's attacked viciously by Duke . I really liked this flick . A horror sleeper if there ever was one . The film feels like one long continuing nightmare that never ceases . Besides rock music every once in a while calming things a bit , the film uses a particularly effective eerie set of pounding piano strings among other thumping sounds to provide just that extra inch of intensity . A word of warning . . while this flick depends more on suspense than gore , there's a nasty face-peeling , from a curving blade , that might not be recommended for the squeamish . |
436,657 | 9,938,570 | 783,238 | 8 | The Dead Girl | Lives are examined revolving around a dead young woman's corpse laying in a deserted valley in California . The woman that finds her , Arden ( Toni Collette ) is awaken from the morose existence of taking care of her vile , viciously scathing , unappreciative mother ( Piper Laurie who lets loose that nasty streak she always explodes forth so well ) . Arden soon meets a grocery bagger , Rudy ( Giovaani Ribisi ) , a rough-looking fellow with an obsession for serial killer cases , who desires her and which might provide a way out of the life she's stuck in . Leah ( Rose Byrne , whose stunning beauty is so well displayed off such a saddened exterior ) is a young college student who checks corpses for shavings under the nails and such , burdened by the misery of a missing sister ( been missing for around fifteen years ) and the parents who hold onto hope every single day that she'll be found . Taking anti-depressants and sleeping the days away when not at school , Leah believes she has found her missing sister who carries a specific birthmark which her own had in between the fingers . She feels , despite the horrible way the dead girl died , this weight has been lifted from so many years of her mother's ( Mary Steenburgen , doing so much with such a limited role ) constant universe involving the search and find of her daughter . It leads Rudy to the embracing of life accepting an invitation by a classmate , Derek ( James Franco ) to his party and opening the doors to an intimate relationship . There's finally an opportunity here , after closure of finding her sister's body , for feeling other emotions other than despair and grief . But , this girl may not be who Leah was hoping her to be . . Probably the most disturbing vignette has a concerned frustrated wife , Ruth ( Mary Beth Hurt with the best role she has had in ages ) finding that her husband Carl ( Nick Searcy ) may just be the serial killer everyone is looking for when she discovers " trophies " in a dresser located in what was supposed to be an empty storage shed ( they work at a storage business ) . What will she do if her frightening intuitions are correct ? Go to the proper authorities or sit on her hands as he continues to go out for days at a time possibly plotting and committing ghoulish acts of murder towards innocent women . Melora ( Marcia Gay Harden ) has been looking for her runaway daughter for sometime now , but when she does find her it's not exactly the reunion she had hoped . Finding a file with her daughter's police report containing information regarding her whereabouts before the crimes that took her life , Melora discovers a friend / lover , Rosetta ( Kerry Washington , in a stunning performance ) who has seen the cruelties of life first-hand . Melora finds , through Rosetta things about her daughter's unfortunate tough road in LA and the granddaughter she never knew about . We also find out about what caused Melora's daughter to run away . . Finally , we relive the final moments of the dead girl's life , Krista ( Brittany Murphy exposing how gifted an actress she truly is with the right part ) who just wants to get to Norwalk , a location where her daughter lives before the child's birthday commences . First , she's betrayed by a client ( Josh Brolin , looking like a trucker with tattoos covering his arms and such ) who promises to take her after some , umm , compensation . Then she retaliates towards Rosetta's beating at the hands of her pimp by destroying his vehicle and attacking him . But , when a motorcycle she borrows quits on her road back , Krista will need a ride . The ride she receives is with Carl who promises to take her to Norwalk after a stop . . Jarring , powerfully acted drama , potently performed by a great cast who give their all to the characters displaying how cruel and gruelingly emotional life can be . It's incredibly down-beat and depressing , it'll make you want to put a gun in your mouth , but yet so full of truth in a non-pretentious way . There are decisions each make that will change lives forever . The one that shook me up the most was the one with Mary Beth Hurt who almost turns her husband in , but has a change of heart . . what she does with possible evidence is haunting . But , the entire film is gripping even when we know what happens to Krista . |
436,446 | 9,938,570 | 104,782 | 8 | Léolo | A young boy whose birth father is a " contaminated tomato " from Italy he insists , rejects his family and escapes his meager existence into his own thoughts , shelterly painted on his diary . He longs for his paramour Bianca , believes his grandfather is the source of his family's little tragedies amongst other things , and insists of being called Léolo Lazone , instead of his French-Canadian name . This is an indescribable comedy , textured with bizarre characters and unusual observations from the narrator of this film , young Léolo . Witty , bizarre , and completely unique , this film takes some very strange turns along the way as we see how his family life effects him negatively to the point where he feels he doesn't belong anywhere near them . He holds on to what little proper sanity he has left by clutching his yearnings for Bianca . If he loses her , then perhaps the final life-string will be forever severed . This film is beautifully photographed , but despite it's centering around a child's thoughts and meanderings , this deals with very adult material . It can also be hard to watch , though at times the absurd black comedy , done completely straight , is brilliant and realistically accurate . |
436,083 | 9,938,570 | 69,838 | 8 | The Bell from Hell | A psychologically wounded young man is released cautiously from an asylum and we follow his pursuit of manipulative revenge towards his cruel , greedy , paralyzed Aunt Martha ( Viveca Lindfors ) , the one personally responsible for getting him put there , thanks to the help of her daughter Esther ( Maribel Martín ) who falsely accused him of rape . This wounded man's name is John ( Renaud Verley ) , a quietly psychotic young man who likes to play macabre practical jokes on people ( . . such as a neighbor when he removes a pair of fake eyeballs , or when he pretends to have taken sexual advantage of her , after fainting from his " eyeballs gag " , by removing her panties leaving a false note ) . . all he wishes is to break free from the domineering Martha , who has a stranglehold on his late mother's estate and finances ( . . she committed suicide thanks to her hypocritical family's abuse towards her " sinful " ways ) . She will not grant him leave . . a passport . . so that John can leave this whole life behind that has crippled him emotionally , having him even questioning his own sanity . When Martha will not allow him the chance to leave this place of torment , with memories that echo to the depths of his very soul , as he often watches the old reels of life when mother and aunt had picnics with the children , John will seek revenge against her . Another sequence of events has John interfering with a group of hunters ' plans to rape a young teenage girl , whose father lives like a hermit in the woods nearby his palatial estate . A participant willing to rape this girl after pretending to comfort her from his lascivious village pals , is Don Pedro ( Alfredi Mayo ) , John's neighbor and husband to the woman John most covets sexually . John has a secret that Pedro needs silenced thanks to his reputation in town , and this among other elements ( . . such as Martha's schemes to keep her grip on the family finances by having John put away , so that she and her beautiful daughters could live a life of luxury without interference ) exposes the hidden , dormant sexual repression seething under the surface which culminates at the end when John leads an attack on Martha and her daughters , and soon meets his own tragic fate when he couldn't seal the deal . Like a lot of horror / psychological thriller fans , I found out about " The Bells " by word of mouth from Internet users I come to respect . This parable exposing the inner demons of a small village I felt was beautifully realized ( . . lots of stylish camera placements , particularly when John begins to remove his cousin Esther's undergarments and certain ways he shoots characters from unusual angles ) thanks to the over atmosphere of the setting , the sociopathic unveiling of the character John whose mental state unravels as Martha's threatenings take shape over him , and the way he uses both a bloody , disturbing slaughterhouse John works in temporarily and a bell shown throughout traveling by mules to the village , give this film a distinct power . I really liked it . The cast is attractive enough for such a place as the village ; the cold wilderness and sea which give the film a certain resonance . The ending , when Don Pedro goes to investigate the possible appearance of someone that should be dead , adds a nice little wink to the proceedings . |
436,179 | 9,938,570 | 84,516 | 8 | Poltergeist | I remember catching a special inside look to the making of POLTERGEIST in one of those 15 minutes clips introduced from Turner Classic Movie's vault and you could get an idea how involved Producer Steven Spielberg was in the overall production of the movie . After watching it again , POLTERGEIST is distinctly a Steven Spielberg picture , just without his name under the director's credit . I feel bad for Tobe Hooper . . it's the THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD all over again with Hooper taking the Nyby credit , not leaving an indelible mark that defines his style at almost any point ( . . perhaps the face peeling away to reveal a skull or the graves bursting at the end were partially his , but I figure if this were his film , the family wouldn't have escaped intact ) . Despite that tiresome debate , I felt that what excels in this movie is the superb acting from about as good a cast as you could ask for . From top to bottom , the cast is uniformly excellent . . the film establishes a family you can identify with , and the suburbia backdrop is ideal for the fantastic twist at the end . It's perfectly 80's as , at one point , you see Realtor Craig T Nelson reading a Ronald Reagan biography while wife Jobeth Williams spokes a dooby . The supporting cast is simply divine with particular work from Beatrice Straight and Zelda Rubinstein adding an incredible amount of value to the film . Straight's work opposite Jobeth Williams is impeccable . The plot is infinitely Spielberg . . a middle class family discover that their home is being invaded by poltergeists who kidnap daughter Heather O'Rourke holding her due to the spirits wishing not to depart into the light . The reason the spirits are restless is uncovered at the very end in quite a hair-raising finale as the bodies of buried dead rise from the earth " seeking revenge " . James Karen's limited role is of vital importance in that he represents corporate greed , lacking any kind of conscious in his decisions on starting neighborhood projects on " hallowed ground . " Zelda Rubinstein , of course , bursts onto the scene in an unforgettable portrayal of a " paranormal house cleaner " . Beatrice Straight is a psychologist who operates a small paranormal group whose interest lies in helping those who are supposedly haunted ( . . or to prove if clients are making bogus requests ) . I can not praise the performance of Straight enough and her character so emotionally invests in this victimized family , there's such warmth in her moments on screen with Williams . . you believe this woman genuinely cares for them . O'Rourke is adorable in her iconic performance as Carol Anne , just a beautiful girl who stirs your heart which is important for the plot because you need to wish for her safe return from the place between the world of life and death . Richard Endlund's team really provide some stunning set-pieces with what were state-of-the-art effects at the time as we witness the series of paranormal activity which plague the Freeling family . Wonderful melodic score from the late great Jerry Goldsmith . Some terrific supernatural monsters , wonderful light effects , and great use of skeletons all provide visual eye candy . Some thrilling sequences include the tree which wishes to swallow Oliver Robbins ( . . as well as the scene with the creepy clown doll which attempts to strangle him with it's arms ) , Jobeth Williams being pulled across the walls unwillingly , and O'Rourke's room being sucked into the closet where a vortex exists . Dominique Dunne ( RIP ) has a minor part as the older sister in the Freeling family , but makes the best of it with such an independent attitude , a cynicism that is expressed in scenes like when O'Rourke buries her dead bird and when she flips off construction workers ogling her . |
435,825 | 9,938,570 | 71,519 | 8 | Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell | Surgeon and Frankenstein loyalist , Simon Helder ( Shane Briant ) is sent to an asylum for practicing methods similar to his inspiration , having received bodies dug from a grave robber . Inside the asylum , Simon realizes that Baron Victor Frankenstein ( Peter Cushing , in perhaps his finest performance as the mad scientist ) is actually running things as the director ( John Stratton , playing him with twitches , almost as loony as the patients under him , overcome by his vices for drink and sex ) sits idly by allowing him to secretly have almost total control . You see the Baron has incriminating evidence regarding the director's rape of his daughter , a lovely mute inmate , Sarah ( Madeline Smith , saying nothing for nearly the whole film yet capturing the viewer's heart just like her fellow " prisoners " ) who assists him in his " research . " Soon Simon , replacing the Baron on the daily activities for the inmates , discovers what the Baron has been up to . . continuing his experiments . Through their own suicidal decisions , Baron uses body parts from his inmates to continue his work to create a man . Using the shell of a man born with primitive features ( . . and animalistic homicidal tendencies ) , Baron needs an assistant with capable hands since his are burned and Simon is only eager to help since he is a master surgeon . When a mathematical genius , with a musical talent as well , hangs himself in his cell ( . . motivated perhaps by a sheet appropriately left there ruling him incurable by Baron ) , Frankenstein and Simon will remove his brain , transplanting it into the body of the brute ( . . with the attached hands of a craftsman who also offed himself ) . When the results appear successful , Baron and Simon are optimistic that this will finally prove once and for all that Frankenstein's ravings of reanimating life weren't sorcery , but a breakthrough in science . But , as always is the case , Baron will encounter complications . . this time in how the body parts " mesh " with each other . Baron believes that perhaps if the beast mates with Sarah , he can recover from his " deteriorating " state . Simon , realizing that his mentor's inability to divorce science from a moral sense of right and wrong , will attempt to release the weighted burdens of being a monster from Frankenstein's bastard child with devastating results . I feel that if there was one area where Hammer didn't benefit from reviving the classic Universal monster movies , it was the make-up effects work during the Frankenstein franchise . Jack Pierce's genius and Universal's financial status to deliver top-notch creatures is absent from the Hammer Frankenstein films . I think if any Frankenstein film looked the cheapest , it was this one . The primitive monster in this particular film is terrible , looks like a costume in every way which is a shame , because I thought the dialogue was clever and wonderfully dark . Cushing , perhaps understanding that this was his final time as the diabolical Frankenstein , plays him to the hilt . There's even one time where he joyously glimmers when Sarah brings the Baron kidneys . There are moments where he sinks in misery before our eyes , perhaps realizing that his dreams may never come true , when his new creation begins to falter , after showing such promise . I really enjoyed how dedicated the Baron was , watching very observantly ( . . and impatiently ) as Simon was performing surgery . The setting , which is poetry on celluloid ( . . where better should a madman continue his work than an asylum ? ) , at the asylum is perfect for such a franchise , as the Frankenstein series , to inhabit . Briant is a more reserved , clinical assistant . Like the Baron , he eyes the future of science differently than the medical ( . . and moral ) community . . but , he doesn't adhere to the methods of retrieving proper specimens as his mentor . I think the film masterfully balances the black-as-coal humor with sad empathy for the professor whose brain is stuck in such a grotesque body . I also felt that the film gains our sympathy for the " casualties " inside the asylum , while also playfully displaying their problems sometime for laughs ( . . such as the inmate who thinks he's God ) . . I felt Fisher and company achieve a proper balance without the results ever veering off too unevenly . There are some grisly moments such as a brain removal ( . . showing the cutting away of the professor's upper skull before seeing Simon's extraction of the brain ) and the monster's attack on Sarah's father . As the final hurrah for Fisher and Cushing regarding the Hammer Frankenstein franchise , I think the ending works well enough , showing that , despite always failing , the mad doctor journeys onward with a positive outlook . Oh , and the hair helmet Cushing was stuck with might earn a few chuckles . . . I actually have greater respect for Cushing because it must've been extremely difficult to keep the viewer's mind away from that wig and on the character and performance . |
436,084 | 9,938,570 | 71,535 | 8 | Loreley's Grasp | According to the legend of the seven moons , Loreley will come out of the river in the form of a filthy beast to devour human hearts that will return her to her sleep of centuries . The film opens with a scaly monster exploding through the windows of a bride-to-be ripping her flesh with it's claws in gory splendor . . making no bones about it director Amando de Ossorio sets the viewer up with what his film has in store for those who continue watching . A mythic beast , who takes shape from the Amazonian goddess Helga Liné ( wearing nothing but a lizard green bikini the entire time on screen , which was fine by me ) , rises from the river to rip the hearts from victims to feed on while an all-girl's school calls on the skills of master-hunter Sigurd ( Tony Kendall ) to protect them while trying to find and kill it . What eventually occurs is that Sigurd falls in love with the beast in female form , Loreley , as well as the school lovely Professor , Elke ( Silvia Tortosa , one of the most beautiful women I've ever laid eyes on ) , an uptight and proper disciplinarian . Elke , at first , resists her attraction of Sigurd , but eventually lets her hair down . But , Loreley is a jealous " Siren of the Rhine " , which will put Elke in jeopardy as Sigurd begins to express his feelings for the professor . Meanwhile , a scientist ( Ángel Menéndez ) has studied the myth of Loreley and understands her " condition " from a completely realistic way . . with a " radioactive " blade , the doc hopes to " destroy Loreley's cellular mutations and send her back to the dark night of legend from which she has emerged . " When Loreley begins attacking in the village nearby the girl's school , the citizens pick up their lighted torches and rifles ready for action . But , under the river is an underground cavernous dwelling which houses the " Treasure of the Nibelungs " , taken by Loreley's father Wotan for her to guard . Loreley has plans for Sigurd . . he will live with her eternally . Sigurd is torn between killing the beast responsible for mutilated bodies left in it's wake and the love he has for the woman behind the monstrous shell . John Stanley , behind the horror review book CREATURE FEATURES , proclaims that Ossorio utilizes the " kitchen sink " theory in " Loreley's Grasp " , which actually is what appeals to me . Plucking elements from various horror films and mythological tales , Ossorio creates this smörgåsbord of ideas packed in 80 minutes . Filled with eye candy ( . . lots of lovely ladies to feast our eyes on , including three water nympths who live with Loreley and her guardian grunt , Alberic , portrayed by Franco vet Luis Barboo ) and nasty flesh ripping ( . . including the removal of hearts from torn wounds ) Ossorio knew the crowd he was catering to , and delivers a fun exploitation flick using fantasy and the supernatural in a sexy , bold , graphically violent way . Might appeal to fans of " Humanoids of the Deep . " The monster is rubber suited , but Ossorio wisely uses mostly point-of-view shots allowing the camera to be it's eyes , only showing the creeping reptilian clawed hands as they prepare to strike their victims . |
435,933 | 9,938,570 | 60,228 | 8 | Chamber of Horrors | An aristocratic , sociopathic strangler , Cravatte ( Patrick O'Neal , evoking the spirit of Vincent Price with his quietly mad psychopath and demented eyes ) in Baltimore ( . . who removes his handcuffed hand , which was locked to a steel wheel , with an ax after escaping from a train into the sea below a bridge ) hides out in New Orleans under a different name , choosing a stunning streetwalker to assist ( . . unknown to her ; she thinks it's a blackmailing scam ) him in a series of vengeful crimes retaliating on the key figures who planned to send the killer to the gallows . The true motivation , besides his insanity , that provides him with the desire to kill is the loss of his hand for which he blames the ones who caught him , for being " responsible " for his trauma . The detective team of the debonair , sophisticated sleuth Anthony Draco ( Cesare Danova , with his Italian looks and charm ) and his protégé , the cerebral criminologist Harold Blount ( the delightful , incredibly likable , unflappable Wilfrid Hyde-White ) , along with side-kick dwarf assistant Pepe ( José René Ruiz ) , will join forces with local law enforcers Inspector Matthew Strudwick ( Philip Bourneuf ) , at first resisting them as mere amateurs until they help capture the killer at the insistence of Cravatte's blustery , cigar chomping Mrs . Perryman ( Jeanette Nolan , chewing scenery as a wealthy multi-married voice of authority , whose monetary contributions and prestigious name certainly carry an influence ) , and Sgt . Jim Albertson ( Wayne Rogers ) . What makes this Holmes / Watson type sleuthing team so unique is , when they aren't helping their peers solve crimes , that they run a wax museum whose exhibits are based on notorious murderers , their victims & devices . If you want a proper description of what the film looks and feels like , imagine if William Castle directed a Hammer film . Baltimore is akin to the fog-infested , cobble-stone streets of London . With macabre humor , some lurid elements regarding Cravatte's dwelling places and selection of " adventuress " women , the deranged methods for which the killer does in his victims ( . . Cravatte uses an assortment of weapons , such as a meat cleaver , surgical knife , and gun , hooked on to a device he ordered connecting to where his missing hand use to be ) , the House of Wax setting which never gets old , and a spirited cast who add extra fun to the sordid atmosphere of the premise . For a film made for a television audience , this is a good looking production . . . . great sets , costumes , use of shadow , and professional camera-work . Director Hy Averback might be looked at as a hack , because his film seems so similar to other directors and companies churning out these type of films at the time but his smörgåsbord of ideas and styles impressed the hell out of me . I think a lot of horror aficionado / buffs will have fun with this one . I think some might penalize this for not being too original . The " House of Wax " setting , which I've always been a fan of , really provides some very amusing bits not to mention the final showdown between our hero and the killer , especially in how Cravatte meets his end . But , the setting has been used before . The killer's affliction , by his own hand , and how he murders folks , has been seen before . . the idea of a hook-handed killer doesn't exactly seem fresh , even at that time in 1966 . And , many might find the two gimmicks of the " fear flash " and " horror horn " , which were all the rage back then , rather hokey . I dunno . . I find these gimmicks an amusing part of a cinema from yesteryear . While the story is indeed a wicked one , it's still a film made with a television's audience in mind , so sadly the violent elements are tame , off-screen stuff . Marie Windsor , as a brothel's Madame who lends her place to Cravatte as a hideout because he pays well , and Tony Curtis as a card-playing client in the Red Light District , have small roles . |
436,281 | 9,938,570 | 71,523 | 8 | Frightmare | Twisted little tale from Pete Walker with the theme being pathological cannibalism . Jackie , a make-up artist for a TV station , is the unfortunate daughter of cannibal mother , Dorothy . Daddy Edmund , by now a wreck who can not control his wife's homicidal urges , who covers up for the woman he loves despite the fact that this is becoming quite a weary activity too difficult to keep hidden . The fact of the matter is Dorothy was put in an asylum for 15 years , along with Edmund who was protecting a murderess , but eventually ruled as cured even though she's anything but . Jackie's professional and personal life have been affected by her mother's desire for parcels she believes are dead human beings ( . . this idea was brought to Jackie by Edmund ) and talks with mother to try and keep her sanity under control . What makes matters worse for Jackie is her sister Debbie , who has a nasty streak all her own . Debbie is being probed by police for being involved in a disappearance of a beaten barman ( Debbie presses her boyfriend and his biker gang into a massive attack on the disco bartender just because he wouldn't serve the underage girl drinks ! ) . It turns out that Debbie killed the barman which only fuels the idea that she might be as evil as her mother . Dorothy is a tarot card reader by occupation who uses this as a way of selecting victims to eat . Her meat-lust is unhinged and as the film continues , we see that she is one sick individual . What's worse is that Debbie , who is said to have never even met her parents , has been a part of Mommy's killing ways for some time . . actually just as soon as Debbie left her orphanage and Dorothy left the asylum . Now , Debbie wishes for Edmund to kill Jackie so that their murderous ways will go on without anyone standing in the way . Jackie's only ally is her psychiatrist boyfriend Graham , who has done some research on his lover's family and soon realizes that they aren't your typical , average couple . Definitely not for all tastes . |
435,985 | 9,938,570 | 62,185 | 8 | Reflections in a Golden Eye | Major Weldon Penderton ( Marlon Brando ) is grappling with buried homosexuality that awakens lustfully when he becomes enamored with an enlisted soldier ( Robert Forster ) working as a stable-hand for his horses . Penderton is bottled in an unhappy marriage to Leonora ( Liz Taylor , great as always ) who can be loud and overbearing , not to mention grating . Leonora has been having a sexual affair with Lt . Col . Morris Langdon ( Brian Keith ) while they ride off on horseback . Morris is also in an unhappy marriage to deeply troubled , fragile Alison ( Julie Harris ) still having a hard time coming to terms with the death of her child shortly after birth . She passes her sad days with Anacleto ( Zorro David ) , her servant boy who certainly represents a joke to the Army men around the area for it's obvious he's homosexual ( he dances around a room to classical music and paints with watercolors ) , but incredibly devoted to Alison . Alison has known for some time that her husband is cheating , but it takes courage to finally threaten a divorce . Morris clearly loves her , but the passion in their marriage has been gone for some time and Leonora fills that void . Meanwhile , the stable-boy Private has become obsessed with Leonora every since seeing her naked body as he stared through the window outside . The Private is indeed a voyeur who seems fixated on the Penderton's home , and he takes chances of being caught as he sneaks into Leonora's room at night smelling her perfume , staring longingly at her , and going through her underclothes . But , through all of this film , it's Weldon himself who is busting at the seams , showing the imprisoned torture his silence regarding his sexuality causes . The film balances all this drama rather effectively in an absolutely fascinating stew that shows how relationships begin to crumble when everyone hides buried iniquities from each other . Each character longs for someone else , yet inside the prison of military pride and honor , every secret goes unheard despite what everyone truly feels . Death ( as rumored at the start of the film ) will certainly occur in an act of violence that seems to be one things to the outside world , but inside that person behind it knows exactly why those shots will be fired . The film , through all the circumstances and betrayals that occur , is certainly set-up for tragedy because no one can follow how they really feel repressing their passions in " quiet " which will only boil over eventually . |
436,487 | 9,938,570 | 64,106 | 8 | Le Boucher | A young accomplished headmistress of a Parisian village , Miss Helen ( Stéphane Audran ) , is in a conundrum . . she's in love with a serial killer , Paul ( Jean Yanne ) , the local butcher , who has been stabbing young females in the surrounding area with a knife , leaving bloody corpses . Stumped Police Inspector Grumbach ( Roger Rudel ) questions Helen after a second murder of a local girl married to a teacher she knows , Leon ( Mario Beccara ) , bleeds upon the head of a student after a field trip into a cavern looking at prehistoric paintings . Helen confiscates a key piece of evidence linking Paul to the crime . . a cigarette lighter she gave him for his birthday . What started as a blossoming romance between two people soon darkens as Helen must fear that Paul's homicidal tendencies could endanger her own well being . My first Claude Chabrol thriller was a nice surprise . It's really more of a character study , a kind of " opposites attract " romance develops regarding how two completely different people find a mutual growing friendship and love for one another despite their glaring differences . Audran is a revelation , completely believable , as this elegant , refined , sophisticated lady who is absolutely realistic as the headmistress . Yanne looks like your typical working-class butcher , walking with a slouch , often discussing the horrors of war , but very mannered , guarded as to not say too much , yet appealing in a quiet way . I like how they find this pleasant rapport with each other . I think the decision to shoot in such a minimalist manner , from the performances to the style , enhances the film . . like a good Hitchcock thriller , Chabrol is even able to create a type of McGuffen regarding the first murder as we follow Helen and Paul's bonding , the way they meet each other ( . . stopping by each other's place of employment as they work ) , spending time together , disregarding the village uproar about the vicious slaying , acknowledging it in a subdued way . I think that's perhaps the most interesting aspect of the thriller . . the way neither Helen or Paul dwell on the murder until they have no other choice . For a while the only way you could tell it was a potential thriller was the very moody , rather chilling score . I think another aspect which worked for me was the idea that a killer was close by and that Helen was the main focus of the film . . Chabrol never leaves her , and the threat towards her life was quite vivid . I appreciate Chabrol's unpretentious direction . . he doesn't call attention to himself , allowing the characters and story to grip you instead . |
436,352 | 9,938,570 | 69,341 | 8 | Tales from the Crypt | Who's next ? Perhaps . . YOU ? Ralph Richardson , under a cloak , prophetically releases five people into their possible future fates as we watch each tale one by one . The first tale has the perfect murder spoiled . Joanne Clayton ( Joan Collins , cold and calculatingly evil , but quite stunningly beautiful ) faces quite a dilemma . . she has murdered her husband ( . . for cold , hard cash , of course . . during Christmas Eve , no less , as her daughter rests in bed up stairs ! ) , but finds that a nut case , disguised as Old Saint Nick , has escaped an asylum and is snooping around her house . She would normally call the cops , of course , but there's the dead corpse in her living room . But , daughter is upstairs waiting for Santa with bated breath , as mommy cleans up her mess . What's a little girl to do when she knows that the one she's been waiting for is just outside . . The second tale depicts the events that transpire to Carl Maitland ( Ian Hendry ) who decides to kiss his wife and kids goodbye , leaving them for another women and finds that a car crash will change his plans forever . . The third tale shows what pure greed and class disregard fuels when James Elliot ( Robin Phillips ) , longing for the property of kindly Arthur Edward Grimsdyke ( Peter Cushing ) who is beloved by children ( . . he finds trashed toys in the rubbish heap , fixing them for the kiddies ) and often speaks with his late-departed wife through a Ouija board . Elliot , for kicks & out of scorn , begins manipulating certain folks ( . . like city officials and the children's parents ) which slowly ruins Grimsdyke's life . His dogs are removed , the children are told to stay away , and he is sent cruel Valentine's Day cards which ultimately end his life with a broken heart . Yet , Elliot hasn't heard the last of Grimsdyke . . . The fourth tale is a gleefully sadistic variation on THE MONKEY'S PAW in regards to a businessman whose finances have hit the skids . Faced with having to sell his prized possessions , Ralph Jason ( Richard Greene ) and his wife Enid ( Barbara Murray ) try their luck with a statuette that grants wishes they picked up in Hong Kong . . with horrifying results . The fifth tale has a group of blind men , who live together in a government-functioned home , revolting against their selfish director , Maj William Rogers ( Nigel Patrick ) , for bad living conditions , little to eat , and the death of one of their own . Rogers is the kind of bloke who sticks his nose up at the blind under his watch deeming them inferior and living with all the refinements they lack . Along with his trusty dog , the blind , whose leader is George Carter ( Patrick Magee ) , subdue Rogers , placing both in closed rooms down in the home's basement . . they begin construction and Rogers will find himself confined having without ( . . and his trusty dog won't be so loving to it's master ) . Each tale has it's macabre elements , but you'll notice that the protagonists whose fates are beheld before them were responsible for misdeeds against their fellow man . And , the fun is seeing Richardson damning them . I personally love the last two , because they end so magnificently . . although , I found it a bit far-fetched that the blind men could construct such an elaborate prison for Rogers . The fourth one is particularly ghoulish because wishes granted , if committed to satisfy avarice carelessly , can lead to dire consequences . That and we get to see guts . Love the " poetic justice " for Elliot and seeing Cushing rise from the grave is the most memorable image I take away from this particular Amicus anthology . |
435,770 | 9,938,570 | 69,343 | 8 | Black Belly of the Tarantula | A burned out detective , Inspector Tellini ( Giancarlo Giannini ) contemplating the thought of turning in his resignation , resides over the bloody investigation where a psychopath , donning tan skin-tight gloves , a large hat and overcoat , is paralyzing female victims by throttling an acupuncture needle into the back of their necks having them experience the agony of death alive and awake . These murders are linked to a black-mailing scam regarding a stud under the employ of the boss of a health spa who convinces clientèle to sleep with him while another takes photographs . When the husband of his murdered nympho wife goes after her adulterous lover , Tellini will have to find both of them before it gets really out of hand . Who is the murderer of the female clientèle photographed and certain women who are involved heavily in the black-mailing scam ? If that wasn't enough to burden Tellini , he finds that the killer had videotaped him making love to his wife in the bedroom of their apartment . . which insures the detective that his wife's life could be in danger . Well paced , excitingly photographed giallo entry has an interesting enough premise especially in how the killer murders his victims with them well aware of what is happening to them and who it is doing them in . The plot unfolds nicely even if the end result is strictly so-so . Giannini is quite good as the worn-out cop beaten down by the case he's working on . Some lovely ladies in the cast including Barbara Bouchet ( as the nympho / first victim ) , Barbara Bach ( as an employee at the spa knee-deep in trouble for her involvement in the black-mailing scam ) , Stefania Sandrelli ( as the detective's beautiful and loyal wife ) & Claudine Auger ( as the main culprit of the black-mailing scam and boss who runs the health spa ) . The film's main problem is the twist regarding the identity isn't too difficult to figure out once certain suspects are eliminated earlier on . The murders , in this case , are quite potent and shocking , especially in how the killer likes to plunge his knife into the torsos of the victims after they are paralyzed . The title refers to the method a wasp commits when it paralyzes and disembowels a tarantula as it relates to the psycho's killing style . |
436,740 | 9,938,570 | 71,431 | 8 | Let Sleeping Corpses Lie | London art dealer , George ( Ray Lovelock ) unexpectedly finds himself in a problem . . a traveler backs over his motorcycle , damaging it . Awaiting repairs which would take over a weekend , George " commandeers " Edna's ( Cristina Galbó ) car , since she run it over and he needs to be at a specified location hoping to purchase a country house . Instead , folding to Edna's begging , George drives her to a desired location to meet a drug-addicted sister , finding themselves knee-deep in the walking dead , who have awakened from their slumber thanks to an agricultural machine which uses radioactive waves that kill insects . Following her sister's boyfriend's murder , Edna and George find themselves suspects , thanks to a racist Inspector ( Arthur Kennedy ) who almost instantly considers them the most likely ones responsible for the crime . They become fugitives when the Inspector's cop , sent to tail them , winds up dead thanks to zombies from a cemetery crypt who attack him , and it seems that there's no hope for their being cleared due to the incredible nature of how this occurred . George will attempt to put an end to the machine behind the zombie outbreak and find heavy resistance from an Inspector who wants him in prison , or , better yet , dead . Since the DVD revolution has led to obscure and foreign horror films being re-released in finer quality formats , re-awakening a new generation to titles they may never had seen otherwise , " The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue " I believe is one of those that has benefited greatly . As a zombie film , I've often read from admirers of the beloved sub-genre that director Jorge Grau's picture is mentioned with the likes of " Night of the Living Dead " . I think Grau deserves praise for ably displaying a zombie film , with depth and atmosphere , while also serving up the flesh-eating , scary walking dead , and effective gore genre fans crave . It doesn't hurt that Grau also gets solid lead performances from Ray Lovelock ( . . as the London art dealer who supposedly represents a " long-haired , faggot-clothed , police-hating " generation of despised hippies , who are vocal and resistant to the establishment ) and the always lovely Cristina Galbó ( . . as an emotionally fragile Edna , worried sick about her heroine-addict sister to the point of exhaustion ; in her opening scene , when she accidentally backs into Lovelock's car , we can see that her Edna is worse for wear ) . I think one must pay more attention to Arthur Kennedy's performance and character , less towards his terrible dubbing . I think the dubbing also takes away from Lovelock's performance . I think one must recognize that Kennedy portrays the type of curmudgeon whose racism is easily recognizable in how he responds to Lovelock when they first meet , and this only adds to the richness of the film's underlying sub-text . . no matter how true Lovelock might be , he's got a bullseye thanks to the way he looks . It doesn't help that Lovelock doesn't receive orders well , and Kennedy's Inspector's blind hatred for " his kind " creates the tragedy towards the end . A domino effect is almost immediate on their first meeting . . we can see right after they first meet that only complications will continue to rise because these two are from different worlds . Like any great zombie film , Grau allows mankind to damage itself . We have created our own mess , and are so blind with progress that the world is doomed to reap horror . Like films from the past using themes playing out at the time ( war and the use of atomic radiation ) , " The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue " deals with how we are creating zombies through scientific progress in killing insects through radioactive waves which drive " lower life-forms " such as infants to bite nurses , and awaken the corpses of the recently dead . . through trying to make things easier , we're causing more damage than we realize . Grau cleverly opens the film with ways London is polluting the environment , through industry and overpopulation . Right away we see that mankind is about to receive payback for how we have treated this world . So Grau's film works on multiple levels . What I found stunning was how Grau was able to incorporate atmosphere . . the crypt sequence , where Edna and George are trying to escape , is about as good a claustrophobic scene as you could ask for . And , how he is able to create such dread and photographs the zombies so effectively , Grau shows his capabilities as a director . Using the locations so well , Grau builds the tension as the film continues , with the walking dead appearing from the background and darkness , with effective make-up , and this eerie moaning ( . . and creepy musical accompaniment ) that gets under the skin . I didn't care for the ending , displaying Kennedy's fate , but it's certainly to please those who desire for his comeuppance . I do agree with the majority that this film deserves it's mention alongside the very best the zombie sub-genre has to offer . |
436,491 | 9,938,570 | 67,116 | 8 | The French Connection | Narcotics cops Popeye Doyle ( Gene Hackman ) and Buddy Russo ( Roy Scheider ) find themselves in a major sting operation of a major drug shakedown when it's discovered Sal Bocca ( Tony Lo Bianco ) , a drug-dealing virgin has formed a major coup with French drug-lord Alain Charnier ( Fernando Rey ) . In a sneaky trick , Charnier suckers a struggling actor , Henri Devereaux ( Frédéric de Pasquale ) into smuggling the heroine load in his car into New York . The film shows the extremely hard work Popeye and Buddy put in taking down this big operation . Yet , despite all the intense hard work and constant running around the city , Popeye sees the one he really wants , Chanier , slipping through his fingers . Powerful acting from Hackman with fine support by Scheider as his partner . Known , ad nauseum , for the car chase as Popeye drives through traffic ( . . and almost through innocent people , like a woman pushing a baby carriage ) to catch up with Charnier's right-hand assassin who almost sniper-kills him from a rooftop . The assassin takes over a subway car which Popeye must catch up to if he will not let the killer get away without paying for the death of an innocent woman standing in the way of a bullet meant for him . The location work in NYC gives the film a terrific authenticity that goes well with the narcotics sting taking place within . |
435,882 | 9,938,570 | 88,944 | 8 | Commando | The Schwarzenegger answer to Stallone's Rambo is John Matrix , an ex-commando ( . . the best there is , of course ) , retired under a new name living comfortably with his daughter Jenny ( Alyssa Milano , adorably cute as his kid ) , forced back into service when an ex-partner , Bennett ( Vernon Wells , wonderfully over-the-top and slimy ; the perfect antithesis to Schwarzenegger ) betrays him for kicking him off his unit for uncontrollably bloodthirsty behavior in the field . Bennett assists a sadistic and cruel overthrown political leader ( . . in some unnamed Latin country , of which doesn't matter ) , Arius ( Dan Hedaya , perfectly malicious ) in finding John's whereabouts , proposing that he must kill the established figurehead who replaced him or Jenny will be " sent to him in pieces " . Those responsible for this operation are in for a world of hurt as Matrix , boarding the plane towards the destination of the ordered murder , will establish his own grand plan to eliminate each member of this scheme , understanding that he has only a number of hours to get to Jenny before Bennett kills her . That so begins the body count . Of course , these movies have a co-starring female civilian who gets caught in the mix , and that role went to Rae Dawn Chong , as Cindy , a flight attendant Sully ( David Patrick Kelly , cleaned up , but still a scumbag ) , one of the crooks working for Arius in the states , takes a shine to . Matrix only plans to gain her assistance in keeping Sully busy until he can get information to where Arius and Bennett are located , but , of course , things get out of hand and she's flung into the developing operation . Cindy even helps out Matrix later because of her " skills " ( . . she's taking flight school ) as an amateur pilot . Heck , during Matrix's " shopping spree " commandeering weapons and arsenal from a gun store , Cindy actually rescues him from potential prison time thanks to a rocket launcher ! Bill Duke has a small role as Cooke , a heavy Matrix battles in hand-to-hand combat who also works for Arius in the states and knows where Jenny is located . One by one all associated to Arius will meet their doom at the hands of Matrix as he heads for the fiends heavily guarded fortress , with weapons and arsenal , prepared for war . James Olson is Major General Franklin Kirby , essentially fulfilling the Colonel Trautman role from Rambo , as the man who trained Matrix and knows his capabilities as a soldier . Cartoonish , ridiculous action film I'm sure repelled critics at the time because Matrix is an absolute killing machine . No one that attempts aggression against him lasts very long . The hysterical mall sequence where Matrix chases after Sully will have you in ribbons it's so unbelievable ( . . he literally lifts up a phone booth with Sully in it , hurling it in the air and to the floor , while also wiping out a group of policemen and mall security ) as is the climax where he's successfully able to gun down and blow to smithereens an army of heavily equipped baddies shooting non-stop . Explosions galore and many a man is dropped by gunfire and knives to their torsos . In a startlingly violent sequence , Matrix , inside a tool shed , stabs a soldier in the chest with a rake , cuts an arm off with a machete , and takes the top of another's head off with a thrown saw blade ! The pace blazes by because of Matrix hasn't got but hours to figure out where his daughter is and to get to her . Rae Dawn Chong has some very realistic responses to the madness and violence around her , and her zingers are just as funny as the usual Arnie one-liners once destroying a foe . Perfectly 80's , there's a clear definition of who is the hero and villains . Arnie's role is larger than life . . a muscular Adonis whose immune to bullets no matter how many people are shooting at him . And , he's equipped with supernatural power , with an ability to carry a large log on his shoulder , can rip doors off hinges , and break apart locked chains . . as does Bennett , who , in a very amusing scene throws his body through a wood-padded wall right after Jenny had removed a portion of it ( . . this obviously , for her , took a while ) with a door knob . If you are to like an action film such as this , you positively have to suspend disbelief , because it operates without real logic . . and I love this movie for that . |
436,484 | 9,938,570 | 1,020,530 | 8 | Eden Lake | Freckled , radiant red-head , schoolteacher Jenny ( Kelly Reilly , luminous before her life becomes a living hell ) and her handsome yuppie boyfriend Steve ( Michael Fassbender ) take a trip to an idyllic quarry on the verge of being turned into a gated community , who fall prey to a menacing group of local kids , a gang of aggravating brutes with nothing better to do than provoke trouble with this innocent couple , simply wishing to enjoy their camping trip in peace . Their tranquility is shattered when a heated confrontation spirals out of control as the antagonist leader , Brett ( Jack O'Connell , always wearing a sneer or growl as he orders his cronies to his bidding ) and his goons steal their vehicle and certain items belonging to Steve , the result of an accidental stabbing of a girl dog . This death escalates a traumatizing series of events which lead to Brett and his posse's sadistic torture of Steve after his attempt to drive Jenny to safety results in a crash . Jenny , on her own , must somehow save Steve , get help , and evade Brett and his gang running for her very life in the unfamiliar wilderness of Eden Lake . A survivalist thriller using the " yuppies in danger " theme with the kids causing our hearts to flutter and our nerves to quiver . Brett is obviously unhinged , with rage issues that only fuel his egotistical desire to harm . The dog's death only provided a reason for him to inflict damage . I applaud Reilly's physically demanding performance . . not just exhausting it must've been to run , run , run , but also to bear the burden of such a tormented soul . The graphic violence is unsettling , particularly when Steve is tortured and a scene where a kid ( . . the youngest who tried everything he could not to harm Steve ) is stabbed in the neck with a shard of glass . Oftentimes , it's the ones pushed into an unwarranted situation who suffer as the real brute is able to get away . James Watkins shoots a lot of from afar , breathtaking aerial photography over the wilderness of Black Park , in England . Once the chase begins , you can barely catch your breath . The ending is debatable . Some will find it hogwash , how it all is carried out , while others will embrace it because it doesn't allow for the usual satisfying ending . Like many enraged viewers , I had to examine myself because , truthfully , I wanted Jenny to drive that truck right over Brett , that loathsome scumbag . The film is actually an examination on how far certain kids have deteriorated morally and psychologically . The lasting image of Brett is quite potent and chilling , leaving a bad taste in your mouth , but it does confront a scary truth . . some kids are pure evil and must not be allowed to walk the streets with opportunity to harm innocent people . I think this movie will incite a host of negative feelings , but that's the point . . to cull from the viewer a feeling of disbelief and anger at injustice . |
436,461 | 9,938,570 | 64,208 | 8 | Death Rides a Horse | Bill ( John Phillip Law , fashioned in a Clint Eastwood type of role ) watched as his father , mother and daughter were killed by a nasty band of vile criminals led by Walcott ( . . giallo and spaghetti western veteran , Luigi Pistilli ) . Ryan ( Lee Van Cleef ) has served a fifteen year prison sentence and is finally released , vowing revenge against his former partners in crime who betrayed him . Walcott and Burt Cavanaugh ( Anthony Dawson ) had sent paid guns to kill Ryan , but he was prepared for them . Seeking monetary funds for their betrayal , Ryan's plans are thwarted by Bill , now a skilled young gunslinger , who discovers where his enemies are . A reluctant partnership is forged between the two , each with their own agenda , often getting in the other's way , both with the same goal in mind . . making Walcott and his posse pay , and dearly . Of course , it won't be easy because Walcott is a wily , cunning bastard who has reborn himself a popular political figure in a small town , a ruse to steal a million dollars from their bank . One by one , Bill stares down his foes ( . . recognizing certain signs from memory , each member carrying something identifiable : a familiar face , a scar , an earring , a skull necklace , chest tattoo of four aces ) , the painful memory of his family's attack burning bright , the result being a gunfight which often doesn't end well for the opponents . Ryan , however , is the type of gunslinger with eyes in the back of his head , and understands the behavior of thieves and murderers . . his knowledge also derives from a life of crime . Before it's all said and done , Ryan can redeem himself for the part his gang played in the murders of Bill's family by helping the man square off with Walcott and the remaining hired guns in a showdown within the confines of Spanish village , engulfed in a dust storm . Lee Van Cleef , the western icon Hollywood gave up on , rides tall in the saddle once again , as the wise sharpshooting gunfighter who never misses and almost always outwits his foes . DEATH RIDES A HORSE is tailor made for Van Cleef , his squinty eyes always focused all around him . John Phillip Law receives a star-making role similar to Franco Nero , but his dubbed voice sounds as if he's attempting to evoke John Wayne . . to me , it never worked , and came off as very stiff . He's a talented gunfighter with marksman skill , but Bill often plays the patsy to Ryan whose experience gives him an edge . Director Giulio Petroni often mimics Sergio Leone's style , pulling the camera tight into faces , with accurately timed edits during shootouts . The zoom lens is used marvelously during the open slaughter of Bill's family , and the way Petroni's camera captures the items that he memorizes splendidly sets up the eventual showdowns with his enemies . The climactic gun battle between Bill and Ryan against Walcott and his men is well staged and action packed . The revenge story isn't anything new , but the vibrant direction makes up for any familiarity regarding a young man avenging the senseless murder of his entire family . And , the chemistry of Van Cleef and John Phillip Law is a valuable asset to the film , as they always seem to save the other's hide during key moments in the film . Leone standout Luigi Pistilli makes a memorable villain with his menacing face , a treacherous scoundrel you love to hate . Ennio Morricone provides yet another rousing , harmonious score that builds action / dramatic scenes majestically . |
436,737 | 9,938,570 | 49,429 | 8 | I Vampiri | This may have Ricardo Freda's name in the credits as director , but to me this is a Mario Bava film . His stylistic and thematic signatures which make his films so wonderfully unique are on display from start to finish . The camera work and how massive spaces are shot with characters within the middle of the frame and the way modern stories exist within Gothic trappings . The giallo characteristics are also here in how an amateur sleuth ( . . in this case the heroic investigator who doggedly pursues the truth putting his life and career in possible risk is a journalist ) hits the streets trying to find the killer / kidnapper of young teenagers left dumped in the Siene , their blood drained . Paris is the setting for this chiller instead of Rome which is usually the location where these stories often take place . Although I'm sure many will feel duped by the film not adhering to the traditional vampiristic themes horror fans are accustomed to , I felt the film features enough atmospheric and macabre flourishes to entertain . I'm afraid , though , many will become bored with the detective side of this movie because the pursuit is given as much credence to the plot as the ghoulish acts performed on innocent people in order for an elderly duchess , Giselle du Grand ( Gianna Maria Canale , yet another absolutely beautiful Italian , proving that something must've been in the water during this time to produce so many glamorous , striking women ) consumed with retrieving her beauty so she can get her hands on a second generation of Lantin ( Dario Michaelis , the sleuth Pierre often at odds with his superior at the newspaper and the police operating the case ) , to keep her youth . The duchess , who loses her beauty returning to the old woman she really is after the experiments providing such vitality wear off , uses the love of brilliant scientist , Dr . Julien du Grand ( Antoine Balpêtré ) who adores her to the point he'd do anything for her , as a means to regain her youth . It's an obsession with repercussions , of course , as continuing to supply her with youth means kidnapping teenagers off the street , extracting their blood , and opening the possibility of getting caught in the act sooner or later . Unfortunate for Gisele ( . . a created niece of the true Duchess who masquerades as this alias to trick everyone ) Pierre loathes high society types and the aristocracy , resisting her advances at every turn . His partner , photographer Ronals Fontaine ( Angelo Galassi ) , however , worships her , he's quite transfixed to the point where he would stare at her from behind her windows , almost a stalking peeper . He ultimately comes to a tragic end when he sees who Gisele really is after attempting to seduce her despite constant rejections . Pierre's true motivation for pursuing the case , besides the publicity it brings his newspaper and himself , is a kidnapped schoolgirl , Lorrette ( Wandisa Guida ) , a friend of the murdered girl in the Sienne he had questioned and become friendly with . Paul Muller , a Jess Franco vet , has an important supporting role as junkie Joseph Signoret whose habit is used against him when ordered by his supplier , Dr . Julien du Grand , to kidnap girls . His fate is sealed when he threatens to expose du Grand and the duchess , strangled by the scientist's assistant . The scientist makes a devastating mistake when he uses Signoret's dead corpse as a guinea pig for " life reviving " experiments , hoping to restore vitality to a body that is dead and inert . The consequences for this decision really come back to haunt them . Carlo D'Angelo portrays Inspector Chantal who becomes increasingly agitated at Pierre who seems to be leading them on a wild goose chase , and are critical of his techniques and desire for creating publicity . This has certain aspects often associated with early Bava I love . The duchess ' castle is sprawling with a giant family crest that rests above the fireplace ( . . which has a secret passageway leading to the family chapel ) , a chapel containing decorative skulls-n-bones above the supposed crypt of scientist du Grand who faked his death so that he could work in secret and specifically for the duchess , a spiral staircase , curtains that are always in motion by the wind , and a superb shot of light splintering through trees as a car pulls up ( . . there's also a great silhouetted shot of du Grand and his scientist working from the outside of his lab as a frightened Signoret awaits them ) . As expected , Bava also has inspired ways of shooting faces using interesting camera techniques not often seen at this time . Quite an unheralded sleeper which might gain an enthusiastic following through it's release on DVD . The superb age-changing sequences where you can not actually see the dissolve as in times past are simply a splendor to behold . This is a real gem worth pursuing if you are a fan of classic Italian horror . |
436,060 | 9,938,570 | 375,920 | 8 | I'm 33 years old . . and I'm dying . | The Earl of Rochester ( Johnny Depp , in his finest performance I believe ) is invited back from being banished in the country by Charles II ( Malkovich , very effective as the long-nosed King ) to London where he begins where he left off . . embellishing himself with women , wine , and the theater . Charles allows the burden of such a troubled genius because of his intellect and amusing banter when it doesn't sink it's fangs too deep . Unfortunately , his willingness to submerge himself into depravity will destroy him . He really isn't a very happy man and his pleasuring purge is a way of drowning out such sorrow . When he takes on an understudy , Lizzy ( Samantha Morton , a bit too theatrical ) to show her the proper way to exude her true talents in her performances on stage , Earl falls madly in love with her . It awakens something within , a passion for life that isn't there when he is home with his gorgeous wife , Elizabeth ( Rosamund Pike ) . When he pulls one prank too many ( a hilariously perverse play for a French man of great importance that Charles wishes to impress for money his country has a lack of consisting of dildo's and the Earl himself dressed to the nines exactly as his King in a form of mockery ) his life descends into disease and poverty . His body ravaged with pox and his face overwhelmed with horrible diseased scarring . . his nose needs a silver covering while he can barely walk , hobbling everywhere he goes . He would lie dead , a shell of what he once was , at age 33 . The film doesn't judge John Wilmot , but certainly shows who he was and the film is frank in dialogue how he spoke . He followed the wants of the flesh despite the feelings of his God-fearing mother or his dutiful wife who took and took without anything given back to her . Wilmot was kept by Charles because of his abilities , but even those become futile as he slowly washes out reality with the alcohol he consumes . Though , the film is fascinating to me because of Johnny Depp's performance . Depp is enigmatic and Rochester . . he held my interest the entire time . The film is directed by a hand-held which may drive purists batty who are used to period pieces being lensed in a slick pattern . The director here seems to what to bring an ugliness and poverty-stricken feel to Charles ' land at this point and time . . by having the camera move , even at times where the camera seems to be held by some amateur using his camcorder taping live events from the 1800's , we feel like we're actually nearby watching Rochester ruin his life as a voyeur . I always felt that is why directors of today like to binge on the hand-helds . They want to bring a personal feel to the viewer as if we are placed right within the action of that moment . I liked the use of this device in this film , not to mention the " dirty " cinematography so many critics fussed about . I like that the film shows the period as ugly and deformed as Rochester becomes . But , without Depp's giving his all to this character , showing him with all the faults and loss , the film wouldn't be as successful as I thought it was . |
436,182 | 9,938,570 | 51,622 | 8 | The Fly | Returning to THE FLY for the first time in a while , I'm fascinated with the film's structure in story-telling . How the film introduces us to a distraught wife of a man killed under a press , his head and hand crushed . We are , at the off-set , told the tragic end of a scientist , yet I found myself completely gripped in the film anyway . Quite an achievement , I think . The science of the story might not hold up to scrutiny , and the costumed fly head and arm may seem less realistic by way of modern cinematic means , but there's still this rather shocking , unnerving quality THE FLY has that I totally bought into . Inspector Charas ( Herbert Marshall ) is investigating the case of why Helene Delambre ( Patricia Owens ) would purposely cause a press to smash her husband's body . At first unwilling to talk , Helene is finally coerced into telling the true story by her brother-in-law , François ( Vincent Price ) , as to why she committed such an act of violence . Her brilliant scientist husband , Andre ( David Hedison ) had developed a transport device which could teleport an object from one place to another by disintegrating the atoms , with them reintegrating back together . . such a method of travel would be of such importance and benefit mankind in so many different ways . But , in using the machine to transport himself from one machine to another , a common fly enters the chamber with him , causing horrifying results . I was amazed at how invested I was in the film , obviously knowing that only tragedy would result as Helene and her son , Philippe ( Charles Herbert ) try desperately to find the fly which had Andre's human head and arm . And , I could see why François and Inspector Charas would find the story so hard to fathom . While perhaps unconvincing unlike in it's heyday , the reveal of the fly head still packs a wallop ( . . that is if you are gripped by the story and care about the plight of the loving couple , the complications that result from tampering with the laws of nature ) , and further more the POV shot through the eye sight of Andre as Helene screams in horror is as effective as ever . Top notch cast with Price receiving lesser billing ( . . he still displays a range of emotions thanks to such a unsettling series of events , his character admitting his being in love with Helene ) , but still benefactor of being a part of yet another classic sci-fi horror film . Price's role here is for Helene's moral support during such a traumatic moment , having to bear the burden of Andre's loss , a decent and good man who fell victim to experimenting with the unexplored . . engaging in a science dealing with the very atoms that make everything what they are is obviously a dangerous path to take if something were to go wrong . And , THE FLY shows the aftermath of man's desire to explore the seemingly impossible . The scene where the fly is caught in the web of a spider drawing in to eat it really remains rather unsettling , but rescues poor Helene about to be sent off to the loony bin . HELP ME ! HELP ME ! |
436,464 | 9,938,570 | 870,958 | 8 | Bloody Reunion | This was one hell of a reunion ! What is supposed to be a celebration for a dying teacher turns out to be far more sinister , bloody , violent , and painful . A group of adults return to reunite with their school teacher and we discover that each member of her class have grown with boulder-sized chips on their shoulders , their lives deeply effected by her mistreatment of them . The teacher's husband hung himself after she gave birth to a male child with a hideously deformed face . Keeping him in her basement , several of the school kids ( . . appropriately those gathered at the reunion ) often mock him , while one younger boy is kind to him . . the film sets up that this particular child ( . . who was actually criticized by the teacher for talking to her son ! ) is perhaps the young adult who begins sadistically attacking the characters of the reunion , one by one , surprising them when they are preoccupied , finishing them off in the basement where the deformed kid was kept away from the outside world . The film shows the deteriorating mindset of those who have gathered with their teacher , their emotional outbursts , confronting her on how she has misshapen their lives for the worse . Shortly afterward , however , most of them meet a grisly fate . I will say that BLOODY REUNION isn't your typical slasher . . this is a film with something to say . It is chock full with anger , pint-up animosity , buried hostility that is surfacing ( . . and had built over the years ) , and the reunion provides an opportunity to aggressively seek answers for the torment that has lingered due to the improper upbringing by a teacher who was supposed to nurture her students , not belittle and criticize them . The film has a whopper of a twist which many might compare loosely to HIGH TENSION , but BLOODY REUNION does it in a very effective way that works rather well and isn't riddled with plot holes . Almost completely told from the point of view of Jung-won ( Seong-won Jang ) , sadly slumped over the bedside of her mentor , to a detective attempting to piece together the sequence of events that led to the slaughter , the school teacher's indictment is brought to light over the course of the film . It is far from a pretty picture . The teacher is made to look as if she held a disregard for the poor , often ridiculed those with weaknesses ( . . one's nonathletic ability , another's weight issues ) , and even possibly molested her attractive male student ( . . which has turned him into a pill-popping wreck ) . At a very sickly state where she's confined to a wheel chair and can not control her bowels , the teacher is at her most vulnerable and weakest . Her punishment , the bad karma which is returning the favor , should be enough , but these former students , fueled by years of self-loathing , social rejects with buried contempt for the very one they sought approval ( . . always wanting to please her ) , have a chance to unleash the vitriolic rage held inside for far too long . The violence can get pretty unsettling as one is a victim of a vicious razor blade attack ( . . after bound to a chair , he's fed broken razors and water to wash them down ! ) , one's eyelids are stapled , another is pummeled with a bat ( . . before the final crushing blows , we watch as ants enter his orifices and bleeding wounds . . yuck ! ) , with eyes gouged , and a neck stabbed , blood squirting from the hole . The teacher's life is threatened multiple times when students approach her with violent intent , but each time she is spared in the nick of time . The very fact that they have such hate for her and are dying so horribly is enough punishment . . because she realizes that she's the real mastermind behind everything . Now , I will not reveal the twist , but before the bellyachers lay claim that it makes the film a waste of time . . I beg to differ . The teacher is still responsible for those under her care , and their obligations to those under her is of great importance . The mentor and role model , the teacher can shape minds , and motivate her students to be the best they can be . It can work both ways , and even if what we witness may not totally be accurate , the same negative feelings still exist and the behavior of an adult towards a student she has distaste for can ultimately bring about such dire consequences . This is a slasher with a potent punch . Care given to the characters and the twist isn't something merely thrown in there to foil the viewer , but comes from a dark place . Slasher fans definitely should give this one a shot . . it's a winner . |
435,956 | 9,938,570 | 89,034 | 8 | The Doctor and the Devils | Up the alley and down the street Fallon and Broom sell bones and meat . Fallon's a butcher and Broom's a thief . And Rock's the boy that buys the beef . At the film's closing , Dr . Thomas Rock ( Timothy Dalton ) proclaims that he has become a ghost story that frightens children and questioned how it had gotten so far . A revisionist take on " The Body Snatcher " ( . . a marvelous film produced by Val Lewton ) , this film has Dalton portraying a scientist whose skills in anatomy are unsurpassed thanks to his intense study of dead bodies . The law prohibits Rock from using fresh corpses for his research so all he has to use are rotted corpses brought in by grave robbers or criminals hung or animals . He soon enlists the aid of graverobbers Fallon and Broom ( Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea ) to bring him fresh bodies for proper research not knowing they are supplying him with victims they murder . Julian Sands plays Dr . Murray , Rock's assistant , who falls in love with a prostitute named Jennie ( Twiggy ) and discovers when he goes to see her how Broom and Fallon get their corpses so fresh . The whole business of delivered bodies provides a special moral dilemma within the story ( . . which worked quite well in " The Body Snatcher " ) . Also , the film is quite an indictment on the plight of impoverished " squalor " who lie slowly dying in the streets and alleyways or drift slowly into the abyss of alcoholism . Director Fisher's camera doesn't shy away from the less fortunate as the film seems to show us first-hand their suffering . Dalton's doctor is actually the sympathetic figure in the film in regards to his recognizing the poverty that his colleagues and peers seem to either ignore or just care not to acknowledge . He honestly desires fresh bodies so that he can make a difference in the advancement of the medical profession moving it from the dark Ages to the 19th Century . It's just unfortunate he has to resort to paying graverobbers for specimens . But , the film does recognize ( . . like in " The Body Snatcher " ) that Rock knew very well that some of his specimens may've been attained beyond reasonable means . Thomas ' sister provides a detrimental problem to the furtherance of his work as she believes his ways are the works of the devil . His wife is also seen as immoral by the sister for she artistically portraits anatomical charts of the human body . Others question Thomas ' work as well , specifically Prof . Macklin ( Patrick Stewart , whose role and character is underwritten ) who wishes for his unusual methods to be grounds for dismissal . The major moral crisis , though , comes when a deranged Fallon attempts to murder Jennie and is sought after by Dr . Murray where Rock's illegal researching in accepting bodies murdered might soon be discovered . While he only wishes to advance anatomy to save lives , his accepting murdered bodies is indeed considered immoral and unlawful . While the material of the film might seem familiar , considering it just really feels like a remake of " The Body Snatcher " and is just difficult not to think of the previous film while watching " The Doctor and the Devils " , Fisher's marvelous direction makes up for it . Unlike his Hammer years , Fisher doesn't have to hold back . He isn't held down by restrictions and can display the cruel realities of life such as the squalor in the streets as the epidemic it was . The period cinematography feels fresh and completely genuine . It is quite grim and bleak which might put off many with no hope seemingly in sight for many in this film . Fisher keeps the film , for most of the way , on the dreaded streets so that we have a hard time looking away from the truth . |
436,494 | 9,938,570 | 84,698 | 8 | Smithereens | Terrific poverty-row character study about Wren ( Susan Berman ) a young woman who reckons herself a possible punk-rock manager , desperately latching onto Eric ( Richard Hell ) , a supposed rock " star " who she sees as a future success in the making . Paul ( Brad Rijn ) , a kind-hearted portrait artist from Oklahoma , living out of his van , leaves his " home " ( . . and heart ) open to Wren . Wren has always been the type to use those willing to treat her with kindness , and Paul only realizes this all too well when she often takes his treatment towards her for granted often retreating back to him when Eric rejects her advances . Wren sees an opportunity ( . . basically in her own naive mind ) to represent Eric when he mentions possibly heading for LA with the goal of rock stardom seemingly in reach . But , as we see through this little film , dreams are just that . . dreams . I think this film gets it's point across well with director Susan Seidelman's camera sticking it's nose into the ugly , garbage streets of Greenwich village where dreams go to die . Wren is a casualty of her own making . . she sees a bright future which , sadly , will never be because her head's in the clouds instead of reality . How long would Paul put up with her antics , using his many good traits ( . . especially his van ) because she has nowhere else to go . Wren has no prolonging wish to go back to where she came , New Jersey , because that would ultimately mean failure . There are others , besides Paul , she tries manipulating for the betterment of her own condition . . a family member for money and a pal for a place to stay ( she's often confessing that Paul's van is a bummer to sleep in ) . She is primarily an intruder , she only swarms into the lives of others when they can benefit one person . . Wren herself . Some interesting things occur to Paul , an outsider , such as a hooker who offers him a sandwich and a pimp who really wants his van . Paul has designs on leaving New York as this just isn't his kind of place . Where will Wren retreat to ( . . and , better yet , what will she resort to ) if Paul leaves and Eric rejects her once and for all ? The ending freezes the screen with Wren confronted with a question by some stranger looking for a good time . . with nothing at all , what would be her answer ? There's an element of sadness and bleakness to this slice-of-life that I think makes it a really great gem for discovery . . you add the very low budget camera work right on the streets and this film feels all too real . |
435,862 | 9,938,570 | 82,509 | 8 | Heavy Metal | Series of sci-fi animated tales revolving around a powerful evil green orb named Loc-Nar ( who serves as narrator to a young female earthling it plans to possess ) . Set to a rock soundtrack with many ( if not most ) of the tales loaded with profanity , sex & graphic violence . Lots of animated boobage . There's even alien drug use ( a cocaine type drug called Nyborg , we actually witness the hallucinations the aliens have while driving their ship to a space station ) ! Perfect entertainment for the Midnite Movie crowd , but could be offensive to women and of a moral authority . Quite lurid and grotesque at times . . this is not for all tastes . Tales include a New York City cabbie of the future , with a disintegrating beam loaded in his car for anyone who tries an attempt to harm or rob him , who gets mixed up with a mysterious dame holding the orb and gangsters desiring to possess it , a young boy transformed into a muscular warrior who must defend a blond dame against a seemingly unkillable king and evil witch both vying for the orb , a navy crew being turned into creepy skeleton monsters by the orb during WWII while the fighter captain must abort for a spot on Earth where other ships have wrecked not knowing what lies in wait for him , a crew of aliens responsible for human mutations thanks to the orb in their possession with a robotic captain who kidnaps a Jewish hottie hoping to marry her , and a battle between orb infected human monsters and a female warrior from an ancient race . Some really great animation , especially in the final tale . |
436,095 | 9,938,570 | 67,434 | 8 | My Dear Killer | An insurance investigator is decapitated by someone operating a dredger near a polluted quarry . Inspector Luca Peretti ( George Hilton , in fine form ) and partner Chief Marò ( Salvo Randone ) are on the case and soon discover that his death , that of Vincenzo Paradisi ( Francesco Di Federico ) , is tied to the kidnapping of a little girl ( . . the Moroni case ) , and the horrifying double murder that resulted shortly afterward . Peretti must exhaust every lead , even the most minute detail , trying to uncover Vincenzo's past ( . . his investigation of the Moroni family ) if he wishes to discover the killer . Director Tonino Valerii crafts a very difficult , complex story that wields some very unsettling , unnerving truths about the Moroni family and the sadistic lengths a killer will go to remove key evidence linking him / her to the murder of Paradisi . Particularly disturbing is the discovery of a sculptor / artist who spent " abnormal " amounts of time with the deceased girl , Stefania , and it's subtly implied that he's an obvious pedophile . Clues develop that might shed light on just who was responsible for the murder of Stefania and her father . . an artistic rendering of a specific house , drawn by Stefania , and a mirror of such great importance that someone is willing to kill viciously for it . Other potential victims , such as Vincenzo's girlfriend ( Helga Liné ) , a school teacher ( Patty Shepard ) , and a belligerent penniless brute , Mattia ( Dante Maggio ) who lives in a shack located near the quarry where Paradisi was murdered ( . . also involved , is Mattia's live-in girlfriend , Adele , portrayed by Lola Gaos ) . Mattia collects various items left in garbage cans or nearby the quarry and he attains a key piece of evidence that makes him a target . The school teacher is involved because Stefania was in her class and the art book in her possession contains a left-over piece of a drawing ripped from it ( . . the larger piece of the drawing was in possession of Vincenzo's female companion , who was strangled shortly after removing it from a safe deposit box ) . The film shows that the killer stays one step ahead of Peretti almost every step of the way . . as soon as the Inspector figures out a potential detail ( . . or character ) detrimental to solving the case , almost always the killer gets to it or them first . There were several people involved with this film's complicated , exceptionally convoluted story-line and it unfolds with one hell of a revelation ( . . the girl , Stefania , was bright enough to implicate her killer while her hands and feet were bound by wire , using a mirror she rolled down a hill for another to discover ) . The finale has Peretti confronting all suspects , using a mirror to reflect each person's face . . it's a nifty indictment of each person who perhaps were responsible , in one way or another , in the result of Stefania's left to starve next to her dead beloved father's body ! Tullio Valli is the one-armed brother of the murdered Moroni , Oliviero and his estranged wife , Carla , is portrayed by Mónica Randall . William Berger is Giorgio Canavese , under suspicion for perhaps assisting in the kidnapping operation , who runs a shipping business , and is involved with trafficking drugs . While not particularly gory , the violence is still potent and shocking enough ( . . one's head is cracked over the head with a statuette , another is attacked with a Black and Decker saw , with the opening decapitation quite stunning way of opening this giallo ) and there is some nudity ( . . both Shepard and Marilù Tolo as Peretti's girl , remove their shirts displaying their breasts ) to keep giallo fans satisfied . It was neat watching Hilton is a rare detective role , sporting a mustache , but his life away from the investigation ( . . his strained relationship with Marilù Tolo ) serves as nothing more than filler , an attempt at giving his character a backstory regarding how his work interferes with his love-life . Eerie , spine-tingling score by composer Ennio Morricone . Fans of Helga Liné will be severely disappointed because her role is of no real depth . . basically a victim role , whose character is bumped off due to a drawing , clinched tight in her dead hand . Alfred Maya is especially creepy as the pedophile whose studio is used as a place where he brings naked girls ( . . one such scene is shown as Peretti is questioning him , with a nude girl interrupting their conversation ) . |
436,503 | 9,938,570 | 40,427 | 8 | He Walked by Night | A thief and psychopath named Martin ( portrayed with diabolical accuracy by an excellent Richard Basehart ) , murders a cop without compassion when caught breaking into a store . This sets off a massive investigation to find Martin and it hits pitfalls along the way as their suspect is crafty and intelligent . What makes it especially hard for police and detectives is Martin hasn't any prior convictions and has a keen ability to stay very well to himself . His mistake was trying to sell a certain specific piece of equipment to an electronics man and then his attempt to exhort moneys from him later on . After paralyzing a detective who was staking out the electronic man's place of business , Martin begins holding up several establishments such as liquor stores for cash . Despite various disguises , the police assemble the people robbed together and are able to put their suspect's face to paper which helps the investigative team search more properly . Sgt . Marty Brennan ( Scott Brady ) is removed from the case by his Captain , but begins working undercover to sniff out the possible past of his suspect trying to find that key lead that will cause a domino effect leading to the capture of the murderer . The film is a matter-of-fact thriller , shot is gritty black and white , very dependent on narration for supplying us with questions on why this man would commit his evil crimes and how he could react with such little remorse for those he harmed . The narrative device also serves as a tool for explaining key elements in the plot . We get both sides : the point of view from both Martin and how he prepares & the law enforcement procedure at trying to get him . I believe a key to the film's success is the " boy-next-door " youthfulness of Basehart who doesn't have a face of a cold blooded killer until it twists in rage and we the unmasking of the true monster . But , the film is most importantly a study in how to catch a man who is so elusive that it takes much heartache and headache to catch him . The film's presentation is as cold as ice , like the killer , but is fascinating to see unfold over the duration . The final chase through the sewers is very reminiscent of Carol Reed's " The Third Man " , but was actually made a year prior to that famous film . " He Walked by Night " is a fine film brought to life by a good filmmaker . |
436,257 | 9,938,570 | 82,869 | 8 | Outland | Often this is regarded as HIGH NOON in space , and to a point it is very western flavored not to mention has elements one might could possibly claim as lifted from that classic Zinnemann film . First , Connery as the marshal of this mining outpost is the only one with enough integrity to stand up against corruption in the name of general manager Peter Boyle on Io , a moon with precious resources near Jupiter . As Cooper was in HIGH NOON , Connery will seek help and find none . The only one willing to stick their neck out is a woman . Sternhagen is the woman here as Kelly was in HIGH NOON for Cooper . Sternhagen ( a wonderfully underrated actress ; has the best lines in the film and is a joy to watch . . the perfect Howard Hawks ' archetype ) portrays a doctor who tends to everyone who gets hurt and knows how the entire outpost functions . She is there for Connery when no one else will stand up . Connery discovers that Boyle , through two drug suppliers , has been selling amphetamines to labor workers so that they can pull extra hours in order to break productivity records and make big dollars . Boyle is quite a shady character ; his reputation is so notorious no one on the outpost dares cross him . Those who offer help are executed . . such as one officer under Connery who was taking pay from Boyle to look the other way , but gained guilt and turned to the right side . This was a warning to Connery just how dangerous Boyle could be . When an attempt to kill Connery fails , the marshal discovers where the drugs are hidden and dumps them . Boyle , furious at the money he lost because of this , sends for bounty hunters to execute Connery . The final twenty or so harrowing minutes shows Connery having to find various ways to escape certain harm as the killers arrive and seek him out . The cat and mouse ensues but Connery will have assistance in Sternhagen . This film doesn't show off fancy effects but instead makes this outpost ugly , grimy , and very junk-metallic . I felt the film desires to show you a blue-collar future where workers look like people who actually operate oil-rigs and work in factories . The film utilizes Connery's abilities especially as he waits out the arrival of those killers , his dogged determination to take down corruption , his inner loneliness and longing to be back with his family , and especially his weariness of doing his job the right way with no one appreciating his efforts . |
435,752 | 9,938,570 | 865,496 | 8 | Diary | The Pang Brothers really outdid themselves this time . . what a powerful experience DIARY was . It's truly a tragic insider's look into the tormented mind and soul of a paranoid schizo woman ( Isabella Leong ) who sees horrors that haunt her , as well as reliving traumatic memories of a relationship that went sour , and a friendship that seems suspect . What makes DIARY so extraordinary is how the Pang Brothers ably create a disorienting nightmare we experience along with Leong . The twist at the end throws you for a loop because we come to a realization as to just how devastated Leong's state of mental well being really is . What we do know is that Leong is a good cook , writes her thoughts and actions in a diary , and crafts puppets she talks to . The characters of her life are Shawn Yue ( . . as both Seth , her long lost love who left her , and Ray , who looks identical to him ) and Charlene Choi ( . . as Leong's influential pal , and the one who may've took Seth away from her ) . The Pang Brothers highlight examples of Leong's schizophrenia such as the moment a thundercloud moves through her window into the living room , a chair moves on it's own when Leong and Yue are eating supper , and how the whole house trembles as the floor cracks open . Reliving certain situations which truly never cease to remind her of the separation , Leong is incredible at conveying the confusion , sadness , loss , and fear confronting her conflicted and sick character . It's a kind of disturbing poetry , performance and direction deftly portraying a character in turmoil . Shades of REPULSION , as this woman often isolates herself from the world , participating in a delusion she considers real . The Pang Brothers really throw some curveballs our direction as well , as we often relive situations two , three times , in certain ways , challenging us to figure out what is real and what is a fictitious creation of a disturbed mind . You could say we are like puppets on a string , manipulated often . |
436,205 | 9,938,570 | 465,602 | 8 | Shoot ' Em Up | Basically " Shoot'Em Up " is an 80's film using today's modern technology . Replace Arnie or Bruce Willis with Clive Owen and baby in tow and you have this film . Owen's carrot fixation is even put to good use pulling triggers and stabbing the villains in the eyeball or through the mouth and out the back of their necks . See how Owen kills special ops assassins while having sex with " hooker with a heart of gold " Monica Belluci ( . . she even climaxes as he blows one of these heavily equipped villains through a window ) . There are a great many stunts where Owen is allowed to create on his feet using his artistry with guns . There's a neon sign he uses to tell arch-nemesis Paul Giammati F-U . Just watch how Owen uses his gun to keep his baby protected on a merry-go-round . Or , when he's in a weapons factory , with Owen elaborately creating a method using strings to develop a labyrinthine maze where baddies carrying machine guns fall prey to gun fire when they turn corners ( . . even if this is the most ludicrous action sequence ever designed , it's a dream come true for action fans ) . And , the greatest trick of all . . pulling off an anti-gun message in such an insanely violent action film ! The way the film finds escapes for Owen is a thing of cinematic genius . . no matter how many times we roll our eyes at such absolute nonsense . The plot , if it truly matters , is about a man minding his own business who can not sit on his street bench and watch a pregnant woman get assassinated . This decision will cause a ton of complications as he assists the lady into giving birth . His name is Smith , and the head-honcho who wants the lady and her child dead is Hertz ( Giammatti ) . When a bullet through the forehead leaves this woman dead , Smith will have to find shelter for the infant while dodging constant gun-fire . Thanks to his uncanny use with an assassin's gun ( . . there was a reason why he didn't have a gun on his person even though he is a skilled marksman ) , Smith evades his pursuers sending a great many villains to early graves ( . . or , as chief businessman Hammerson , played by a scarily skinny Stephen McHattie , would say , a " dirt nap " ) . Hoping for a hooker's ( Bellucci ) help , whose specialty is feeding her breast-milk to wealthy clientèle with that kinky fetish , he will hope to provide the infant with a temporary home ( . . in a brothel ! ) . But , Hertz targets her so this hooker will join up with Smith and the baby on their own forming one very unique union . With Hertz undaunted despite heavy losses when several operations to kill Smith fail miserably , he will keep coming until our hero can discover why these murderers want such a precious child dead . Soon the story yields some wacky results like a bone-marrow transplant for an ill senator who wishes to pursue the presidency ( . . and has a strict policy against guns which would threaten Hammerson's business ) as the child is the key to his health and recovery , and an airplane meeting between Smith and who he thought were his allies ( . . this soon produces a parachute exit and shoot-out in the sky for the ages ) . And , to top it all off , watch how Smith , with broken fingers , uses a scalpel to evade certain doom . It's all tongue-in-cheek and unpretentious fare , gory escapist fodder for fanboys who love their constant shoot ' em ups with bullet-ridden bodies & colorful villains and dialogue . Outrageous , tricky ways a gun can kill people are on full display . And , this flick rarely takes a breath . Not a critical darling AT ALL , even hated by many , but I dug the hell out of it . Oh , and the use of a tank ( . . and how Owen provides a way for Bellucci and babe to enter in ) for the use of protection so that the baby can remain safe , is just priceless . |
435,855 | 9,938,570 | 443,543 | 8 | The Illusionist | I'm not sure I buy the end result ( an illusionary twist which depends on an awful lot of coincidence ) , but it's a lot of fun getting there . Visually dazzling and well executed drama about an illusionist named Eisenheim ( Edward Norton who is quite spellbinding in a very mysterious role ) who ruffles the feathers of Crown Prince Leopold ( Rufus Sewell at his nasty , slimy best ; he's just so menacing in these juicy roles as hot-tempered aristocrats who will not be made fool of in crowds as long as he has power ) with a trick ( a humdinger of irony ; it's an Excaliber trick which really pokes fun at Leopold ) . Torn away from his beloved Sophie ( he a son of a peasant cabinet-maker , she a duchess ) , Eisenheim once again meets her on stage only to find out she's possibly to marry Leopold . But , that flame burns as bright as ever , and Leopold uses his patsy of a police inspector , Uhl ( Paul Giamatti , who is very , very good ) to find dirt on Eisenheim to shut his illusion act down . Imagine the fury inside Leopold when he finds out from Uhl that Sophie and Eisenheim may be plotting a getaway . Leopold is not a man to be trifled with , and Sophie is a major factor for him to gain favor with the Hungarians . When Sophie informs Leopold that it is Eisenheim she wants , it appears that he may've stabbed her with his withdrawn sword . Her body is found with a gaping wound which seems to show signs of being stabbed through the neck . . gems from a certain sword may prove Leopold's guilt . This throws Eisenheim's life in a whole new direction as he finds an old theater and begins performing what appear to be resurrections of ghosts which shock and awe audience-goers . Uhl begins to notice a following and Leopold himself even attends a show under guise when Eisenheim shocks everyone in attendance by " resurrecting Sophie's ghost " ! Leopold is certainly enraged now and wants Eisenheim stopped at all costs because there are now vocal Vienna folk claiming the Prince as being a murderer ( his past murder of another girl he pushed off a balcony doesn't help his case any ) . The ending is a doozy ( the final illusion on stage and a little twist that occurs once we see Leopold's fate ) and really had my jaw dropped to the floor in amazement . The film offers many cool illusions performed on stage by Eisenheim , but it's also Norton's mysterious performer who holds you at a distance wondering just how truly gifted he really is . That mystery he has is vital to the strength of the film I believe . We don't need to see how he does the tricks he accomplishes because just wondering what kind of powers he really has a hold on not just the audience watching him perform . . but us as well . |
436,351 | 9,938,570 | 129,332 | 8 | Ravenous | The man eats the flesh of another . He steals his strength . He absorbs the other man's spirit . Deemed a coward by his commanding officer ( " You're no hero . I want you as far away from my troop as possible . " ) , despite decorating him with a medal for his supposed heroism for somehow surviving an attack during a battle in the Mexican-American civil war ( . . collapsing in a heap of bad nerves & fear , he was considered dead and buried underneath his fallen comrades only to drink the blood of his commanding officer , and hence gaining a peculiar strength which led to his capture of opposing soldiers ) which left his entire company dead , Captain John Boyd ( Guy Pearce ) is sent to an isolated outpost in the dead of winter , located at the California outpost of Fort Spencer ( " This place thrives of tedium " ) . The stations commanding officer is Colonel Hart ( Jeffrey Jones , in one of his best roles ) , a man quite easy to like , with manners to match an unwavering wit , who leads a motley crew of misfits which includes two Indians ( " . . who came with the place . " ) , George ( Joseph Runningfox ) & Martha ( Sheila Tousey ) , a pot-smoking private , Cleaves ( David Arquette ) , a very serious , intimidating & aggressive military man , Reich ( Neal McDonough ) , a quietly mumbling priest , Toffler ( Jeremy Davies , a method acting wannabee , who never ceases to annoy me ) , and a drunk doc , Knox ( Stephen Spinella ) . A mysterious man ( Robert Carlyle ) , calling himself Colqhoun , arrives at their camp nearly dead from the cold and starvation who talks about a group he'd traveled with succumbing to the harsh climate and cannibalism . When Colqhoun brings to light the possibility that two of his group might still be alive , Hart instantly rises to lead an expedition to the cave where they were last seen . What the group doesn't realize is that there's more to Colqhoun that meets the eye . Through director Antonia Bird , cannibalism is explored with grisly delight . . this is indeed both a dark comedy and a full-blooded horror tale . I found a joy operating within the film's darkness . I do think the film will be divided between those who buy into the supernatural ingredient , which enables those who eat human flesh to literally become superhuman , and those who'll consider the premise rubbish , rolling their eyes at what transpires as the film continues . I think specifically the " battle of the titans " conclusion will definitely have certain viewers shaking their heads in disbelief . I didn't realize that the film would actually be heading in that supernatural direction , but it seemed fitting since the overall tone embellished such wickedly morbid humor through the macabre elements of the story . I found the dialogue particularly amusing , and there's a relish in the story-telling regarding cannibalism and it's " powers . I found the excuse to eat human flesh through quotes from Ben Franklin ( " Eat to live . . don't live to eat . " & " Waste not . . want not . " ) . . in a lip-smacking " dinner sequence " . . quite humorous in a sick , twisted manner . The film , for me , remains a jolly good time , as poor Boyd must convince others that the group were eaten by a cannibalistic savage , while finding himself in quite a dilemma when the one that ate his fellow men becomes the fort's new colonel ! What makes the overall experience quite memorable for me , besides the unusual premise itself , is the setting in such uncompromising conditions and music which certainly adds to the mood of the film . The film is also quite grisly and unpleasant as we see how the cannibalistic villain embraces his lifestyle and it's " benefits . " There's also a twist towards the end which adds spice to the proceedings . . our hero realizes that his nemesis has a partner ( " It's lonely being a cannibal . Tough making friends . " ) . |
435,836 | 9,938,570 | 67,384 | 8 | Short Night of Glass Dolls | American journalist , Gregory Moore ( Jean Sorel ) is found supposedly dead and when taken to the hospital is pronounced just that . No sign of life is shown , but we the viewer hear his thoughts as he wonders why he can not move . As his body is moved to the morgue , his memory unravels bit by bit , as we often see fragments of unknown faces followed by long passages which show his life before this nightmare of paralysis . Gregory is an unpopular journalist in Prague who finds contempt ( . . and vice versa ) for the police there . When his beloved Mira ( the stunning Barbara Bach ) disappears when he leaves to visit his partner , Gregory decides to investigate and uncovers some sordid , scary things along the way . His former lover , and journalist , Jessica ( Ingrid Thulin ) wishes he would cease his persistent search for the truth as he often finds himself with problems concerning the police who wishes him to halt so that they can do their jobs . Soon , contacts who might have information concerning a certain Klub 99 , ran by Dr . Valinski ( José Quaglio ) the director of the prestigious establishment consisting of old politicians and doctors , are being killed and the police suspect Gregory was behind it . Perhaps something sinister lies within the curtained rooms of Klub 99 , but how can Gregory expose it if laying with the appearance of death on a gurney ? Will Gregory be able to receive any motory function within his body and limbs in time or become a specimen of study for students in an anatomy class ? Well developed , mystery-driven giallo with stunning use of locations . It seems politically motivated as well perhaps making a statement against secret societies doing harm to others . Gialli fans expecting the usual stabbings and ultra-violence may find this dull because it's more story-oriented as we watch a creepy situation unfold . But , the idea of our protagonist's not being able to speak out as his body is being examined because of rigormortis not setting ( nifty idea so that the story can progress also providing hope to the viewer that he might be saved from the mortician's scalpel ) also adds suspense to the already plot-heavy story in Gregory's memory . Add the piercing score which also weighs the extra tension on the viewer and you have an effective thriller . |
436,589 | 9,938,570 | 53,719 | 8 | The Scarecrow reviews " Horror Hotel " | Good " black mass " chiller with naive Stevenson , interested in bringing more depth to her term paper on witchcraft , is given directions by " Professor of the Black Arts " Lee to Whitewood . . an old village where a witch was burnt at the stake centuries prior . Unknowingly , Stevenson is the chosen victim of a ceremony held by the townsfolk { who are actually the undead living because of their cultic practices } on " Candlemas Eve " . Storeowner St . John is the next possible victim in keeping their eternal stay . It's up to Stevenson's brother Lotis and boyfriend Naylor to stop the evil Jessel who is the proprietor of " The Raven's Nest " , a hotel residing right above where the witch Elizabeth Selwyn was burnt to the stake . Plays like a full length Twilight Zone feature and works surprisingly well . The threat of the witch and the city of the dead and how it is photographed brings presence and spooks to the proceedings . Despite it's obvious low budget , this film uses fog , light , and shadow thanks in large part to the black and white photography . The atmosphere of the ghost town and how the characters within are framed creates a foreboding once anyone alive walks among them . It has the look of a teleplay , hence the comparisons to The Twilight Zone , but I couldn't be complimenting it more for making such relations between this creepy film and that great show . The essential elements of exploring witchcraft , and those who adhere to it , is perhaps what makes the film a really great find for horror buffs looking for certain gems out there that rarely get discussed . A great ending in a graveyard as the final battle between good and evil takes place only heightens an already blast of a movie . |
436,329 | 9,938,570 | 154,683 | 8 | Hell | Various characters descend into a type of Buddhist hell for their multitude of sins . Each individual is judged by the amount of sins they committed and punished accordingly . Film's main focus of tragedy is Shiro ( Shigeru Amachi ) , a student in love with a professor's daughter . His " friend " is Tamura ( Yoichi Numata ) who has an uncanny ability to pop up out of the blue . Tamura is the source of misery for Shiro and seems to be some sort of demonic guide in leading him into constant trouble such as driving over a gang member and a car crash which takes the life of Shiro's beloved Yukiko ( Utako Mitsuya ) . The film shows how Yukiko's death causes a domino effect of further tragedy with Tamura constantly around to smile winkingly as hidden sins come to the surface causing a giant death sequence resulting in a majority going to hell . The mother and sister of the slain gang member plot to kill Shiro and the mistreatment of the elderly at an old folks ' home ran by Shiro's father are main focal points within the plot's structure . But , the film's gimmicky draw is Nobuo Nakagawa's artistic vision of hell . We see Shiri running through the cycles of hell trying to find and save the son he never knew he had as the infant travels on a lotus leaf ! If I'm honest , I found this unintentionally hilarious at times , particularly the theatrics of hell . You just have to see the concoctions Nakagawa comes up with supplying surreal images of several characters suffering torments in hell . A vortex of suffering humans , feet sticking out of the ground like weeds , people imprisoned in head-locking devices , a man being severed in half , etc . It's really a tragicomedy . You can't help but giggle at some of the over-the-top performances in the film . |
435,713 | 9,938,570 | 77,304 | 8 | The Cat and the Canary | Divine little " killer - on - the - loose - inside - the - creepy - mansion " thriller as someone supposedly from an insane asylum will perhaps harm a group of cousins , hoping for an inheritance from dear Cyrus West ( Wilfrid Hyde-White , simply marvelous in his limited screen time ) , who stay the night in his eerie large residence , filled with secret passage-ways . Annabelle West ( Carol Lynley ) is the official heiress to the fortune and mansion because of her being the next in line by name . But , stipulations regarding her getting the money come with receiving the inheritance news . . if she is proved to be insane . . or murdered . . after that night , the next in line to the fortune will get it . When Cyrus ' lawyer , and preparer of the will , Allison Crosby ( Wendy Hiller ; simply wonderful when on screen ) is viciously killed , Annabelle is in fear for her life for anyone amongst them has reason for perhaps using blood shed if it means gaining a fortune . A great cast , macabre sense of humor , and stylish direction really works wonders off of your basic drawing-room , Agatha Christie mystery . The house is a delightfully ominous setting and such spirited , game performances really works wonders in the setting . Edward Fox has a great entrance , through a window no less , as a flamboyant " asylum doctor " who informs the cast of the escaped loony who has fashioned a likeness with a cat , creating claws and such to heighten the effect . Beatrix Lehmann also has a memorable role as the quiet and oddball Mrs . Pleasant , a maid for Cyrus West who often is seen sneaking around corners and entering situations after something important to the plot has taken place . Carol Lynley as the heiress is simply radiant and charming . . also having sparkling chemistry with American cousin , songwriter Paul ( Michael Callan ) who becomes the unlikely hero . Mustn't forget Honor Blackman as the scheming Susan , trying to push Annabelle over the edge while the simply beautiful Olivia Hussey ( it was quite hard for me not to drool she's so lovely ) is perhaps her lover ( it's hinted at mainly when they insist on sharing a room together in such a large place full of empty rooms ) Cicily Young who hopes to possibly inherit the money herself . Daniel Massey is Harry , a man who had gained quite a bit of wealth through corrupt business practices while Peter McEnery is the homosexual bit actor / double Charlie , who was quite " close " to Cyrus and favored by the old man . Some of the ugly stuff ( despicable slow death of Crosby by the killer ( s ) ; possible unsavory activities in one of Cyrus ' secret rooms no one accept a select few knew about ) is subtly hinted at in key moments of dialogue . A ton of fun , colorful , and at times quite spooky . |
435,873 | 9,938,570 | 758,742 | 8 | Death Note | Ultra-slick , ingeniously plotted crime fantasy ( . . based on a popular anime ) stars Tatsuya Fujiwara as a college kid , Light Yagami who gains possession of a " death book " accidentally dropped by the god of death ( . . a computer generated angel of death who carries the appearance of a heavy metal rock star with long , outstretched feathery wings ) who follows directions which teach him methods at killing criminals merely by writing their names down after heavily studying and memorizing their faces ( . . often from news broadcasts or educating himself through entering the police's documented computer files ) . The god of death follows Light from place to place watching him work often questioning his decisions regarding his murderous activities and human choices to die . At first , Light , known to the citizens as Kira , picks out solely criminals of all sorts , having them die by heart attacks , but when the Tokyo's finest work ( . . including Light's own father played by Shunji Fujimura ) with the mysterious ghost agent L ( Ken'ichi Matsuyama ) , begin a task force in stopping Kira from committing his attacks towards victims from all over the city , he'll go rogue , targeting innocents who threaten to expose him . FBI agent Raye ( Shigeki Hosokawa ) is the first , who is following him , targeted as they exchange identities when a bus they are traveling is taken control by a killer-on-the-lam . After Light rids himself of the killer through a brilliant course of action using a sheet of paper torn from his book of death , he will find out the agent's name and soon inherit knowledge of the covert team set to find him . When Raye , along with his FBI associates , is eliminated , his former agent fiancé Naomi Misori ( Asaka Seto ) will set her sights on catching him . When the Tokyo task is depleted due to fear , Light's father and those that remain will meet face-to-face with L and continue their efforts to find Kira . But , Light has a few aces up his sleeve even when L has cameras set up all throughout his room , as part of an operation to study the families of those who might could gain access to specific files and are smart enough to commit such deeds as Kira is continuing . Yu Kashii is Shiori Kashino , Light's love interest who becomes an unfortunate victim caught in the middle of her boyfriend's adventures . I must say that I watched this flick through word of mouth and was pleasantly surprised at how gripping and entertaining it was . A bit far-fetched ( . . of course , we must not forget what inspired it , a comic book tale where intelligent young men duel it out through a cat-and-mouse game while lives are at stake ) so the viewer will have to go out on the limb with the filmmakers as the film stretched credibility quite a bit . It's very much a fantasy with a strong morality tale at the heart of it . . how a man gains control of a power he shouldn't possess , playing judge , executioner and jury until he himself is threatened . Light becomes the very person he executes just to save his own skin . L is quite a creation , a teen prodigy ; a genius who loves candy and has a firm grasp on using the information superhighway , and our current technology , to find criminals good , old police-work can not detect . The addition of Light being the Tokyo task force's main detective's son only heightens the drama . He must watch his son's activities thanks to bug-camera devices planted all throughout the room and house . The god of death , and his addiction to apples , are used as a source of comedy and a voice questioning the reasoning of our killer , whose cold and calculating decisions effect innocent lives and families . There are serious repercussions when Light decides to murder those who threaten to expose him . It doesn't surprise me that Hollywood plans to remake this because " Death Note " is such an imaginative little feature with some very fascinating ideas lacking in our modern fantasies on these shores . |
436,856 | 9,938,570 | 69,495 | 8 | What's Up , Doc ? | Bogdanovich's mad-cap ode to the screwball comedies he so dearly loves from his youth about poor musicologist Ryan O'Neal who has no idea that his life will be turned upside down when feisty Streisand locks eyes on him . She will be a thorn that will change his life forever . She clearly is smitten to the point where she is always around causing mischief , but some of her shenanigans really assist O'Neal in his pursuit to win a grant from Austin Pendleton . His competition is the always entertaining Kenneth Mars ( throwing his hair back constantly as if by habit ) . Madeline Kahn makes her shining screen debut as O'Neal's pushy , loud fiancé who herself will see the wrath of her new competition in Streisand . The film is ridiculous nonsense about four specific plaid suitcases that each feature things that will lead poor O'Neal and Streisand on the run . Michael Murphy has Top Secret governmental papers in one , O'Neal has his " musical rocks " in one , Streisand's clothes are in one , and the prized suitcase many want contain jewels from Mabel Albertson . Bogdanovich shows the influence of those filmmakers he admires and cherishes so well by keeping the film moving at an unbelievable frantic pace while also having Streisand speaking dialogue at warp speed . The leads are irresistible and the film has so many hilarious bits including the disastrous happenings within Pendleton's home ( what occurs with his art is priceless ) , the constant changing of hands regarding suitcases showing the hotel rooms as revolving doors , and the final chase . |
436,367 | 9,938,570 | 47,034 | 8 | Gojira | Clearly more of an outcry against war , nuclear weapons , and violence , GOJIRA really packs an emotional wallop I never saw coming . It gets dead serious when , as Gojira attacks Tokyo , leaving buildings in rubble and the entire city ablaze , this mother nestles her three children in tight proclaiming that they will meet their father soon . If that doesn't grab you , nothing will . But , more importantly , it exposes the lingering effects of the dropped bomb and how that day still carries in the minds of many . With a bomb awakening a prehistoric beast from the Jurassic period , Gojira terrorizes a fishing island village . Soon , Tokyo itself , despite a well-equipped Japanese army blasting away at Gojira , will suffer the monster's wrath in a jaw-dropping rampage which impressed me a lot more than I expected . I was expecting a hokey , fun exercise of mayhem , but never realized that a powerful story lied in wait for me . The Japanese cast is surprisingly good with Akira Kurasawa vet Takashi Shimura ( as paleontologist Kyohei Yamane who wishes not for Gojira's death , but for us , since this is a rare find in the field of science , to examine it . . to test it ) heading it with Akira Takarada and Momoko Kôchi as lovers wishing for Yamane's permission to marry . Akihiko Hirata comes out with the finest performance as a scarred , eye-patched scientist Serizawa who represents the horrifying example of the anguish derived from war . . he is the creator of a potent " Oxygen Destroyer " that can separate oxygen from the atom resulting in the fish in his tank turning into mere skeletal bones . Emiko begs for Serizawa to use his invention to destroy Gojira because after the destruction of much of Tokyo , they need a savior to rid themselves of the seemingly indestructible behemoth . But , understanding the world ( or more importantly , other warring countries seeking the ultimate weapon to hold global power ) he wishes to keep his weapon secret . . he wants good from his work not evil and has lost all faith in mankind . The film really has a loud message against the cruelty of war and I believe Gojira represents that ultimate monster in mankind constantly warring one with another using the atomic bomb as the weapon of choice to expose . As Kyohei says at the end , if we don't stop using the nuclear bombs , what Gojira monsters will be awakened . |
435,942 | 9,938,570 | 38,343 | 8 | Bedlam | Excellent Val Lewton production is far more probing ( . . in dialogue ) than many films of this type . It dares to pit two people , who loathe each other's philosophies , against each other in a psychological duel over how to treat the insane in a period where the upper-class wealth often enjoyed the exploitation of the poor souls for their amusement . Often feeling he's a joke to those of wealth and prestige , Master George Sims ( Boris Karloff , who is both sophisticated , smart , yet one mean , manipulative bastard ) does what he can to please Lord Mortimer ( Billy House ) , a man of well means whose " woman of jest " , Nell Bowen ( Anna Lee , who matched barb with Karloff quite well ) doesn't like his dire treatment towards the unfortunate souls of unsound mind . He beats them , has them sleep without comfort of any kind ( sleeping in a cell , might as well call it that , with straw as the only bit of comfort they have . ) , and often passes them with glee doing what he can to raise fear in their minds to keep the prisoners at his harsh will . Her feelings toward Sims remain dormant until a kindly , well-mannered Quaker , Hannay ( Richard Fraser ) provokes those hidden feelings because he saw a look of horror and compassion on her face as she noticed what the supposed patients were being put through thanks to his awful way of handling their conditions . This begins a psychological duel between the two as Sims attempts to manipulate Mortimer against her and Nell becomes compassionate about ending the suffering of those within Bedlam . Soon , Nell speaks how she really feels about being a servant to amusing Mortimer , for who she deeply detests , thanks to Sims who informs the Lord that his agreeing to her proposal of lending money towards better living conditions in Bedlam would remove cash from his pockets . Nell continues on her journey for righting the wrongs of Sims by poking fun at Mortimer using a pet parrot given to her by the Lord after a showcase of her comic talents in a play . Finally , after much persuasion , Sims is given clearance from Mortimer to place Nell in Bedlam where he could both silence her and continue his psychological mind-games at her expense . What he doesn't predict is how Nell herself changes the atmosphere and conditions for the insane inmates within the cell . This will all lead to a powerful climax where the inmates turn on their harmful master . In a fascinating ending , a silent beauty Sims had poked fun at over the years gets her revenge . The film provides debate between Sims and Nell which is the cornerstone of the film . It's their duel over whether the insane can be treated without steady force , I believe , that provides the film's magic . She proves , through the guidance of Hannay , that these unfortunates deserve more than beatings and whippings in order for their behavior to change in a positive way . We see that having your foot in the door regarding the wealthy can send those without such backing to a place like Bedlam even though it's quite plain that the one sent packing is as sane as you or me . By far one of Karloff's finest hours . . he has a meaty role where he has a chance to use dialogue and express all the emotional elements often not foreseen under the guise of evil , tallish brutes or monsters . Anna Lee , as the fiery dame who is quite intelligent and forward enough to match wits with any one of high esteem , matches Karloff in her performance of Nell . As usual , the film is wonderfully conceived in Black & White photography making the Bedlam asylum quite a creepy place . |
436,065 | 9,938,570 | 25,423 | 8 | The Lost Patrol | A British regiment , lost in the desert after their guide ( who had the location of where they were headed in his mind ) is killed , must fend for themselves against hidden arabs who know the sandy dunes better than they do . They find an oasis surrounded by palm trees and a skeletal shelter . . this will have to be their outpost when the arabs sneak in the night , knifing their young watchman , and sending the horses off . The Sergeant ( played with a commanding performance from Ford vet Victor McLaglen ) watches as his men , one by one , fall prey to bullet-fire from the arabs hidden away , madness , and hysteria . Very good Ford vehicle shows us the suspenseful plight of being isolated in one location not knowing how to escape or where to go . Placing our heroes in a situation where their location for home in uncertain ( . . and never knowing where the enemy is hiding ) provides the viewer with little hope of any survival . Boris Karloff has a flashy scene-stealing role as a bible-thumper succumbing to craziness as he watches those around him dying . |
435,949 | 9,938,570 | 443,496 | 8 | Edmond | David Mamet scripted this existential undertaking directed by horror-meister Stuart Gordon about Edmond's slow journey into an abyss of sadness after leaving his wife . It really is a series of encounters that mold and shape Edmond into the unrecognizable man he'll wind up being by the end of the film . Startling and unpredictable , Edmond's search for truth and meaning in his life yields some very disturbing elements and nearly everyone he meets in the film have their own problems . But , Edmond's mental well being shifts to a dark place for those demons which have festered inside him come out and what we see as they do is quite throttling . . the violence that occurs to him and BY HIM is very potent and surprising because it often comes out of left field and hits us with it's spontaneity . The meandering dialogue is quite fascinating and often we simply listen to Edmond as he speaks from his embittered heart and fragile , cracking mind . There's a moments where he proclaims his life is 40-something years of fog . I think that the fog separates , but what comes from Edmond is not quite pretty , and often baffling . He is definitely yearning for something to hang his hat on and I believe Mamet's story is saying perhaps what he's looking for is there or not . Stunning cast , but Macy is simply amazing . He is in every scene and his character's struggles are quite intriguing to behold . I felt as if we were watching this man's life simply come apart at the very seems . Seeing that can be quite an experience , and this film is . |
436,578 | 9,938,570 | 27,545 | 8 | Dracula's Daughter | The title character is Countess Marya Zaleska played by the stunning Gloria Holden . Edward Van Sloan's Von Helsing has been arrested by the authorities for killing Dracula . Scotland Yard thinks his claims of vampire slaying is preposterous . Von Helsing calls on psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth ( played by Otto Kruger ) to assist him in trying to persuade others that he isn't insane . Soon , at a party where Zaleska ( who paints as a profession ) is invited , she meets Garth and hopes he can cure her of the affliction to drink the blood of victims . Soon , Zaleska desires to have Garth as her undead lover , and will use his secretary Janet ( the feisty , fetching Marguerite Churchill ) as leverage . Zaleska has this hulking brute Sandor ( portrayed by the brooding Irving Pichel ) to assist her . Zaleska wishes to be cured , and tests herself at Garth's command when she gets Sandor to bring a beautiful , down-on-her-luck model to the studio for a painting . In my favorite scene , it's hinted that the Countess might go both ways as she eyeballs the model's smooth , porcelain skin ready to have a drink . It certainly charged my motor , that's for sure . Anyway , soon Garth will have to face off with the Countess at Transylvania in the climax where a rejected and jealous Sandor will seek revenge for being pushed aside by his master . I really , really like this sequel to Dracula , but others might find it slow and uninvolving . I thought it was original and atmospheric . But , Holden is the reason I recommend it . She had this hold on me that's hard to explain . . she cuts the ravishing figure when the camera pulls back on her in a late scene where she requests / demands for Garth to become her lover . Edward Van Sloan only plays a minor part here , more or less , a guide to others about the abilities of vampires . |
436,336 | 9,938,570 | 73,207 | 8 | What a laugh . . Thirty years of madness | This is a glorified , down-beat & grim " biopic " of a Yakuza madman named Ishikawa ( Tetsuya Watari , who plays him as a quiet calm before the tornadic release ) who has this mentally unstable nasty streak that comes out in a fiendish explosion when others stand in his way . He almost causes a clan war when he attacks a rival Yakuza lord from another city . This causes a downward spiral for him as his seemingly uncontrollable path of violence and death leads to a vicious attack on his own Kawada Yakuza Godfather and a banishment from all clans for ten years , which is part of the code . After a brief stint in prison he's ordered to stay in Osaka for the remaining ten and would be allowed back once he served his time . After only a year , Ishikawa returns to cause havoc once again . While in Osaka he developed a drug habit which would lead him down an even more violent path for he would find those in possession of what he needed and threaten their very lives if they wouldn't fork over product to stick in his arm . His only real ally is a tragic geisha , Chieko ( Yumi Takigawa ) , who is slowly dying . . but , even she suffered rape from Ishikawa showing that he has no real respect for anyone when it comes to getting his own degree of satisfaction by any means necessary . When he attacks the godfather of the Imai clan , no real avenue of escape will ever be available again . He often seems unkillable as attempts on his life are frequent , though he is often cunning through his hiding ( . . and also not so cunning when he appears in public at gambling houses ) . When he kills the Imai Godfather , his life expectancy shrinks considerably . The film is told in a documentary form with narration depicting a specific tumultuous time in the late forties when clans operated almost like little governments dictating business within the city of Shinjuku . Each has their turf and tries to remain loyal to each other hoping to escape any means of war . All Japanese loathe a specific group of foreigners nicknamed " the thirds " making up mostly Korean , Taiwanese , & Chinese who seem to try to live within the city but are treated as the plague of the country . We also see how the loss to America in the World War seems to have created a child without it's parents as this massive collective of people frequent the streets in droves . The Yakuza clans do seem to be the only means of parent-ship available to those without a home or identity . The film is ultimately a blitzkrieg of gang wars , prostituting whores , " black-market " elections , gambling , drugs , and Ishikawa is immersed within the frenzied structure . . he's certainly a doomed creature because how can such a crazed heathen as he ever survive ? The film has wildly imaginative camera-work which seems to show an unbalanced world through the gaze of Ishikawa . It has visual verve and is certainly loaded with bloody carnage . |
436,844 | 9,938,570 | 77,485 | 8 | Effects | A cinematographer / special effects man ( Joseph Polito , Capt . Rhodes of Romero's " Day of the Dead " ) finds himself caught in a real snuff film , a tragic example of life imitating art . A demanding director , Lacey ( John Harrison ) secretly puts in motion a planned real snuff film , having his camera and f / x pro Dominic ( Pilato ) and gaffer , Celeste ( Susan Chapek ) a major part of the central horror . Dominic believes he's finally arrived in film-making having taken the position with his director as they currently work on a slasher film . We see how the cast and crew participate behind-the-scenes as they prepare for various scenes in the film they're working on . A troubled married couple , Barney ( Bernard McKenna ) and his wife , and the supposed star , Rita ( Debra Gordon ) portray the couple on the film and we see how their relationship off-camera is crumbling . Dominic believes he has a chance at romance with Celeste , but has no clue that she is portraying a role . Dominic is indeed the tragic character of the film for he's completely in the closet about the REAL movie being made . He brings up a point to his director about slasher films . . he complements his director yet complains that in order for the film to really capture an audience there must be a chase scene . He doesn't even have an idea that he would be a part of that exact argument . We bare witness as the director has a hidden film crew operating in a secret room within the house they're shooting . The director even has his effects man ( . . and true star ) Dominic watch a snuff film reel he claims he made himself as a film student . . this is both macabre and clever for the director openly admits , in a way , to having made the film , with Dominic shell-shocked at it's realism . Lacey has shown Dominic an example of what he's capable of creating . . in a grand sense of irony , Dominic will be the part of a snuff film , only on a much larger stage . I have to respectfully disagree with others who have commented on " Effects " , a small independently produced , acted & directed horror flick from Pittsburgh talent , that it should've stayed lost . I personally thought it was a nifty , well crafted take on " guerrilla " film-making . The closing scene at the end , the name of the real movie being made , adds a nice little sick twist to the proceedings . I think many will indeed , as some user comments attest to , find this film a laborious , often confusing , film to sit through , but I think everything comes together quite neatly by the end . I also thought it was exceptionally photographed . . this explains that independent films can have cameras which don't shake like crazy giving their audiences nausea . The opening of " Effects " pleased me because I'm a movie buff , and I was truly satisfied as the whole film , from director Dusty Nelson , comes together explaining certain odd actions ( . . and behavior ) from our director , not to mention , why Dominic and Celeste were being shot in blue hidden from within the woods , and how it spies on them . Little moments Nelson provides us informing the viewer that something completely sinister is amiss . This might work for Backwoods horror fans , specifically the ending as poor Dominic runs for his life having no clue that there are cameras everywhere capturing / covering every move he makes , except inside one particular house . The most creepiest scene for me is the reveal of Lacey's snuff film to Dominic . . it's quite masterfully staged ( . . a hint as to who the masked man cutting the tied female might be can be seen at the BBQ camp fire , by recognizing how the person sticks the knife into the floor ) in B & W with the film stock quite shoddy displaying scars and jumps . There's a unique film score put to the film , by actor Harrison on piano he dubs " neo-classic " , along with a chilling melody which shadows Lacey's scenes where his face is lighted ( . . while Lacey remains blanketed in darkness like a sneaky thief cautiously peeking from within a closet on the verge of snatching jewelry ) , and a series of drum beats during Dominic's terror in the woods . Debra Gordon has a nicely gratutous shower scene where the camera glides down her body following the soap as it travels . Violent film , but ultimately not gory . I think the character of director Lacey is the key factor in " Effects " . He seems mysterious for a reason . Too quiet . . there's something not quite right about him . You know the feeling where you come across someone with a hidden agenda you can't quite put your finger on . Tom Savini ( as Nicky ) has a crucial part , masked in secrecy which comes out at the end . . he seems , at first , to merely cause trouble to Dominic and Celeste always bringing up to his director a certain role he plans to play wondering when it would be time . In hindsight , he's ALWAYS been playing a role . Charles Hoyes portrays Lobo , a crew member who also plays a part at the end . |
436,206 | 9,938,570 | 83,976 | 8 | Funeral Home | Teenager Heather ( Lesleh Donaldson ) moves in with her devoutly religious grandmother Maude Chalmers ( Kay Hawtrey in a terrific performance ) who , along with her absent husband , once ran their place as a funeral home , now starting up a tourist bed'n'breakfast for visitors in town . Heather soon discovers her grandma chatting it up with someone in the cellar , or so she believes . Maude forbids her passionately to stay out of the cellar , and has it's door pad-locked . Heather begins dating a local , Rick ( Dean Garbett ) who informs her of sordid details regarding her grandfather which she initially rejects angrily , but , over time , begins to question her grandmother's story of what happened to him . Rick's brother , newly hired Deputy Joe ( Alf Humphreys ) has been investigating a rash of disappearances plaguing his small town , against his sheriff's ( Robert Warner ) wishes , and soon realizes that those missing connect to Maude's tourist locale . A customer of Maude's , Mr . Davis ( Barry Morse ) , is also pursuing the disappearance of his wife , who was rumored to be the lover of the missing Mr . Chalmers , as he often reports to Joe on any information which might become available . When a visiting salesman and his mistress , using Maude's place as a refuge for their affair , wind up dead thanks to a mysterious truck driver who pushes their car over a cliff surrounding a watering hole , and Davis , whose snooping leads to a difficult confrontation with Mrs . Chalmers , suffers himself a grim fate , it's only a matter of time before the secret of the cellar becomes known . Through the developing mystery of director William Fruet and writer Ida Nelson , the film gives us subtle hints over time as to who might be behind the murders / disappearances . Throughout , we get facts about the main character unseen , the missing husband , and bit by bit everything falls in place leading to quite a suspenseful conclusion as Heather and Rick find themselves in danger as the ax-wielding nutcase in the cellar rears his / her face for the first time . The ending might not be a major surprise to those familiar with Psycho as the twist is eerily similar in psychological content to Hitchcock's masterpiece . It's still a doozy and I wish I could define how neat it is regarding the performance of the cellar psychopath , but I wouldn't dare spoil how it unfolds . Kay Hawtry is the whole show and displays with her face and demeanor a wealth of various emotions , especially when anyone approaches the subject of her husband and the cellar . Besides the ending , her reaction to Morse's amateur sleuth is a definite highlight . Donaldson was a perfect protagonist , the teenager blossoming into a woman , displaying her as mature , conflicted ( . . because she loves her grandmother and worries about her , not at all responding well to the supposed gossip regarding her grandfather ) , and scared . Stephen E Miller is memorable as a lurking handyman peeping tom , rather dumb and creepy , often spying on people in the bushes around Mrs . Chalmers ' place , or popping up on Heather as she snoops around trying to uncover mysteries that are bothering her concerning a history uncertain to her . The house at night and where it's located ( . . in the boonies surrounded by rural wilderness with country roads leading to a minor little town with people who have known each other forever ) are used rather well . And , the black cat Heather is frightened of is of major importance to the plot . . it's a clever plot-device who sees a great deal and will lead others to the film's secret . Great scene where a body is discovered by a local girl swimming underwater in the watering hole nearby Mrs . Chalmer's place . |
435,846 | 9,938,570 | 61,683 | 8 | Frankenstein Created Woman | The diabolical , and deeply driven , scientist Baron Frankenstein ( Peter Cushing ) is still up to his old tricks , having discovered a method ( . . after being brought back to life from being in a cryogenic state ) of harvesting the soul within an apparatus , extracted from the body of a falsely accused young assistant , the kind-hearted Hans ( Robert Morris , so valiant and good , he could almost have achieved saint hood ) when he was convicted of the murder of a tavern owner , Kleve ( Alan MacNaughton ) . Kleve was actually murdered by a trio of rich deviants who often drink the man's wine and insult his crippled , scar-faced daughter , Christina ( Susan Denberg ) . Anton ( Peter Blythe ) is the ring leader of this group whose father is a powerful man within the village , who gets a slice across his forehead in a scuffle with Hans who pulled a knife defending himself against the slimeball and his partners , Karl ( Barry Warren ) and Johann ( Derek Fowlds ) . The fracas derived from the three criticizing Christina , for whom Hans is in love . With Hans in bed with Christina , Kleve interrupts Anton , Karl , and Johann drinking his wine illegally , after breaking into his tavern after closing . . the result , their flogging him to death with canes . In a moment of weakness Hans claimed he'd kill Kleve after he failed to take his side in regards to Anton's hideous actions escalating the violence that erupted . . this would hurt Hans due to the police being in the bar . Hans , charged with the murder of Kleve , has an alibi , Christina , but will not get her involved resulting in his execution by guillotine . . Anton , Karl , and Johann seem to escape without penalty for all their crimes . But , Frankenstein is able to seize Hans ' body thanks to his " hands " , dim-witted , but effectively gifted surgeon , Doctor Hertz ( Thorley Walters , the source of comedy within the morbid story ) who gets an hour from the gravedigger due to blackmail . Frankenstein still needs a body to put Hans ' soul into , and it's delivered to him . . Christina , who had been away to see a doctor on her various physical ailments , watches in horror as Hans ' head came off by the guillotine blade , drowning herself . Frankenstein , using Hertz's surgical hands as his guide , is able to rebuild Christina's body and repair her face , while also housing Hans ' soul within her . Through Christina's now beautiful body and pretty face , Hans is able to get revenge against the three who sent him to his execution . . yet again , Frankenstein's black science has created a violent monster . One of the most imaginative , original Frankenstein stories is still quite far-fetched and twisted . The idea of storing the soul of one into the female body of his lover creating the perfect revenge tale . It's intriguing yet warped at the same time . Cushing in this film , unlike the previous EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN , doesn't have but a slight pinch of humanity , operating as the Baron rather determined , unemotional , relatively unsympathetic ( . . until the end at least ) , brilliant , and motivated to forge forward without weighing in advance the consequences of his actions . Always searching for the meaning of life and experimenting , with his own contributions to science leading down a dark world usually yielding nothing but devastating results . Thorley Walters steals the film as his overwhelmed assistant , Hertz , whose mind becomes overloaded by the Baron's intellectual theories regarding his experiments , but is in awe of his brilliance . He is who we sympathize with because Hertz sees the dark path the Baron's experiments are treading down , and is unable to stop it , trying to help a rather confused Christina who doesn't quite understand what is going on ( . . the vengeful soul of Hans motivates her to kill , using her alluring qualities to appeal to Anton and his lecherous brood , exacting blood shed when they are most vulnerable ) . We witness the exhausting environment of the Baron barking orders to Hertz and Christina , always needing their help as he continues his experiments . In this village , unlike those in the past ( . . in particular , EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN , where he's a fugitive ) , he's free to do whatever he likes under his own roof , despite the grumblings of the locals and police . Even the ending changes from the usual where Baron's life is usually threatened , with him attempting to stop Christina from killing again , or posing harm to herself . This whole film is a change of pace from the norm of past Frankenstein films . I think it's rather criminally underrated , and would probably be appreciated more by a modern audience . |
435,911 | 9,938,570 | 50,084 | 8 | 20 Million Miles to Earth | A spaceship , visiting and studying the Planet Venus , crashes into the ocean near a smallish Italian fishing village . Only one member survives , Col . Robert Alder ( William Hopper ) thanks to being rescued from the ship by fisherman pulling their nets . A canister containing the gelatinous cocoon of a Venusian creature is opened by a young boy named Pepe ( Bart Braverman ) who sells it to a local who pays for animals to send to zoos . Dr . Leonardo ( Frank Puglia ) whose daughter is studying to be a Doctor assists Calder back to health , but he realizes that no one from his crew was so lucky ( . . many of them perished from contacting a disease while on Venus ) . When back to health , Calder must find the creature brought from Venus and realizes that the thing escapes from Dr . Leonardo's cage as he was attempting to carry it to the prestigious Rome zoo . Something in the Earth's atmosphere is increasing the creature's metabolic rate and it continues to grow . . until at a massive size , it's considered a threat . Calder wishes to try and trap it for study before the Italians decide that it should be destroyed . The idea is trapping it in a cage , but when that doesn't work due to a farmer seeking revenge for his dog's death at it's hands , the creature breaks free to roam the countryside . The monster isn't really a threat , though , unless provoked which adds an extra element to this film . . it is being shot at and constantly bothered & attacked because it's misunderstood . It's hard not to side with the monster because it clearly just wishes to be left alone . Calder finally comes up with a plan to shock the monster with electronic wiring in the hopes that he can keep it under sedation as scientists study it . But , through a mishap that unleashes it again , the creature will again try to flee from those who wish to destroy it . Excellent creature feature thanks to Ray Harryhausen's astonishing stop-motion work . Particularly stunning is the battle between the monster and an elephant in the zoo , the Rome Colosseum sequence where the monster uses stones to crush Italian soldiers firing at it , and the monster's attack on the farmer who stabs him with a pitchfork . |
435,982 | 9,938,570 | 643,112 | 8 | The Fair-Haired Child | Now this MOH installment has one freaky monster ! William Malone helms this episode of Masters of Horror and it's one of the best of the series by far . He is able to just stammer you visually with wild images , yet connect them at the end toying with dream logic and flashback using a unique-looking form of black & white photography . The film itself is about lonely young teenage virgin girl named Tara ( Lindsay Pulsipher ) who is abducted by a sinister couple ( Lori Petty & William Samples ) and thrown into a basement with a mute boy named Johnny ( Jesse Haddock ) . Johnny was hanging from a noose and Tara " rescues " him . Tara is stuck in a difficult situation for the basement door is missing any stairs so escape from the easier access is out of the question . Johnny seems to be quite ill and pale in the face . Something also odd is how Johnny reacts to strange bolts of lightning that flash occasionally . Tara and Johnny also begin to find ominous messages left written in dust on the walls , doors , floor , and so forth foretelling anyone in that basement should find some possible way out immediately . What really sends Tara chills is a certain revelatory message saying that something will come . That thing is a creature with a very spastic walk ( . . it can also scale walls ) , but moves with quick speed . It's head is massive and eyes glow . . it needs to feed . It is also linked to Johnny , but how ? How will Tara escape the thing that needs flesh ? Why would the couple that put her in this terrible spot do such a thing ? An important element in the film is a dream / flashback sequence where we see the diabolical couple's son perish in a pond drowning . They wish to resurrect their dead son and make some sort of deal with a demonic spirit . Does this have anything to do with that nasty creature in the basement longing for Tara's flesh ? I really liked this one because it uses a story-arch that just works in horror films . Take an unfortunate victim placed in a situation by a couple who have no reason ( as far as we know ) to harm her , placing her in a room with seemingly no exits to escape some sort of monster hell bent to munch her bones . Fun trivia note . . the creature is inspired by the screaming Munch painting . |
436,310 | 9,938,570 | 376,558 | 8 | Dawn | Little , no-budget film that looks like it was filmed with a cam-corder and cost about $0 . 12 . But , it has more going for it than most over-bloated Hollywood Asian remakes being churned out ad-nauseum . I think why I liked it was because the story really gripped me . I will say that the flick is made with non-actors in black & white photography . But , director Jay Reel ( who portrays the psychic detective seeking the vampire ) expertly edits the film to optimum effect despite having little money . This film is inspired and ambitious . . a rare quality that I felt in every frame of the movie . The plot is simple enough , but works . . Dawn is a 9 year old girl with an insatiable thirst for blood . Her mother was a " vampire " ( more on why I have this in quotes in a second ) and died giving birth to her . Dawn's father ( Ray Boucher ) and her are nomadic , journeying all over the midwest hardly ever staying anywhere too long because she feasts on the sick and elderly . Unlike many films which would try to make this some sort of sordid comedy , the film plays this straight . She's a girl who doesn't wish to crave human blood , longs for the company of children and school . . she simply wishes to be normal . That is what drew me . Now , explaining just a small bit on the type of vamp Dawn is . She only craves blood , can not eat anything we eat ( food is poisonous to them ) , and can sense suffering and pain which allows them to find those who are near dying ( . . or living their final stage of life on earth ) . But , their mistake will be Dawn wishing to see where her mother was buried . . to visit a past town that will also have the psychic chasing them . |
436,449 | 9,938,570 | 805,570 | 8 | The Midnight Meat Train | This is essentially one of those " journey into the dark abyss " kind of horror films where an up and coming photographer / artist chooses a subject who leads him into an absolute nightmare . Ryûhei Kitamura brings a very stylized look to this film , very flashy camera-work with the director over-indulging himself so that you can be awe-struck at such technical achievements in film-making . I have read of conflicted views regarding the computer generated graphic violence ( . . such as a victim's head being crushed with such force the eyeballs explode from the sockets with another's face smashed in with one single blunt slam ) , but I thought the special effects were fantastic and delivered the grisly goods . Bradley Cooper is Leon , the photographer wishing to capture the kind of image that will earn him a reputation and wealth . Leslie Bibb is his live-in lover , Maya , who urges him to stay away from a specific foreboding subject , a butcher who catches a late night subway train after hours , in a custom made suit , with a leather physician's bag carrying a massive steel hammer and cutting tools . This subject awaits a victim ( . . or victims which is often the case ) on the subway train , prepares patiently for the most opportune time , and , using his hammer , bludgeons the unfortunate ( s ) chosen . Leon wishes to stop this murderer , but needs to capture him during the act with his camera , not an easy task . But , even more disturbing , Leon's obsession seems to be having a profound psychological effect on him . . and it doesn't stop there . Where do the victims ' bodies go after the killer cleans them ? They have to go somewhere because those chosen are never heard of again , no physical sign of their existence remaining . Vinnie Jones is finally rewarded with the defining iconic villain he's been destined for . Where other films failed to truly capitalize on his potential ( The Condemned ; Tooth & Nail ; Hell Ride ) , THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN delivers Jones an ideal role to capture the menace that he can certainly convey . Never saying a word ( . . until the very , very end ) , Jones ' imposing presence and intimidating eyes do the talking for him . The image of Jones with that hammer would strike terror in any unfortunate soul who just so happened to have taken the WRONG train in the lateness of the hour . Director Ryûhei Kitamura and his film-making team really ratchet up the violence , and the handiwork of Vinnie's professional butchery can be difficult to watch for the squeamish . We actually see Jones clean up a victim's body , witnessing the teeth pulled , hair trimmed away , fingernails plucked , and eyeballs removed . . this alone would probably cause the weak at heart to cringe . One violent attack is shot through the eyes of a victim as Jones crushes her across the skull multiple times until the head is taken completely off . . quite a virtuoso effect . As is a particularly memorable nightmare sequence where a victim's ( . . again shot through their point of view ) throat is slashed while hanging upside down , with us realizing that it's Leon because he sees his reflection his own puddle of blood . . adding to this is the revelation that the one behind the throat cut is also Leon ! The train's destination enters Lovecraft territory and leaves quite an impression . The depressing ending is quite a drag but it's one of those " process completion " type of conclusions where Leon comes full circle . Poor Roger Bart ( . . as Maya's loyal friend Jurgis ) doesn't fare well nor does Ted Raimi as a tourist on board the midnight meat train . Of importance is the train's driver , played by Tony Curran . . his role is as crucial as Jones in the meat getting to it's desired destination . I also have a beef with Lionsgate for not providing this film with an appropriate release theatrically . It deserves just as much a right to be seen as Friday the 13th . Tis a shame , really . The final showdown between Leon and " Mahogany " ( Jones ' character's nickname ) may be a bit hard to swallow ; one wonders if Leon would ever stand a chance against such a formidable opponent as Mahogany . |
436,406 | 9,938,570 | 275,773 | 8 | Versus | Delirius , no-holds-barred , full-throttle fantasy action , from director Ryûhei Kitamura ( Midnight Meat Train ) has a prisoner ( Tak Sakaguchi , whose crime is never revealed ) caught in the cross-hairs of a crime gang , within a supernatural wilderness ( Wilderness of Resurrection ) which is a limbo-of-sorts to " the other side " , a darkness which can be unlocked by two keys , as undead zombies ( . . the buried targets of this criminal Yakuza-type of group ) rise from their graves ( . . some with guns still on their person ! ) . The Prisoner ( . . known in number as KSC2-303 ) doesn't know where he had just came from and this woman ( Chieko Misaka ) seems to have answers . The woman was sent to the wilderness by a mysterious boss ( Hideo Sakaki ) who hasn't arrived , with the Prisoner ( . . along with a partner who also escaped ; a decapitated hand along with him ! ) squaring off with the Yakuza members in a gun battle . KSC2-303's partner is killed after he murdered one of the Yakuza . Retreating into the wilderness , KSC2-303 and the woman must contend with not only the Yakuza , with heavy artillery , but zombies as well . Meanwhile , the boss arrives , and his motivations soon become known . . he is the reincarnation of a great warrior who wishes to achieve his mission of using the mixed blood of KSC2-303 and the woman , hoping to gain access to the other side . The ridiculous plot , which is essentially a live action manga comic , doesn't really matter because director Ryûhei Kitamura is more concerned with entertaining the audience with non stop action , whether it be Matrix-like combats , sword-fighting or shootouts . It's all rather exhilarating and high-octane , with a pace that moves breakneck as the characters , colorful and cartoonish , strike hip poses and engage in mano-a-mano contests , with plenty of body blows , legs and arms moving at impossible speeds , blood shed ( . . as expected , the blood looks like kool-aid ) , and grisly aftermaths of graphic violence . Hideo Sakaki is so powerful he punches a hole through a victim's skull with such force he pulls away eyeballs . A heavy gun actually blows two victims to smithereens . Swords lop off heads . Zombie carnage aplenty as bullets rip them to shreds as they continue moving towards live humans who keep shooting rounds . The showdown between Sakaguchi and Sakaki delivers a sword-fighting ballet , carefully executed , exciting and riveting . The film's tone is rather light-hearted and even goofy at times , and the violence remains almost entirely tongue-in-cheek , and the characters display incredible skill as Sakaguchi always faces challenges from opposing forces . The wilderness setting is ideal for such a thrill-ride , and gorehounds will bask in the heaping helping of grue on display for our viewing pleasure . Not for those looking for a cohesive plot that makes any sense , but for undemanding fans of dizzying action , animated characterizations , and flashy camera work ( . . Ryûhei Kitamura is in love with the " spiral camera shot " ) , with expert editing , this will be sure to please . Kitamura pulls out all the stops , bound and determined to provide as much exhausting action as possible . If there's a way to kill a person , Kitamura shows it . |
435,761 | 9,938,570 | 99,611 | 8 | Frankenhooker | A employee of a New Jersey power company plays mad scientist in his spare time . At his future father-in-law's birthday barbecue , his newly invented remote-control lawnmower chops his girlfriend to bits spreading her throughout the yard like a " salad . " You have to see the news report and hear their colorful description of the girl's demise ( . . as a gag , director Henelotter had actress Patty Mullen dress in a fat suit that made her hips wide ) ! Anyway Jeffrey Franken wink ( played by James Lorinz , whose cracking wise in " Street Trash " put him in hot water with his mobster employers ) keeps the remaining parts of what was his lady , Liz , in a special solution he created in a freezer ( . . including her head , for which he often communicates with , while also placing photos of her face on all types of inanimate objects like naked girl photos and model skeletons ) . . he needs to form a plan to return his lady-love to life . So he plucks his Christmas fund from the account and cowers the ugly streets for the right body parts , soon finding an avenue where hookers work that meets his fancy . Joseph Gonzalez is the massive , muscular pimp Zorro ( . . whose drug-dealing of crack plays an important role in how Jeff is able to get his supply of limbs and body parts ) who lends out his ladies one night ( . . as a nice little gag , Zorro has his ladies tattooed on the shoulder with a Z ) so that Jeff can " play doctor " . . what the pimp or his whores do not know is his ulterior motives , such as why he's measuring the size of their legs and breasts ! When the hookers go berserk after finding some unusual bagged crack in Jeff's doctor case , and subsequently smoke his entire stash , they explode with fireworks going off ! Zorro , growing restless , moves upstairs to see why his ladies have stayed past their amounted time , and gets knocked unconscious by a flying head ! No sh ! t ! I think you can guess what follows . . it plays off the FRANKENSTEIN formula , but this " bride " turns tricks with a vagina that sends bolts through her clientèle ! Patty Mullen is a hoot as Liz , certainly as she walks down those Jersey streets , with her head and face jerking into ugly contortions as the limbs placed on her have a will / desire of their own ! To some it's crap , for others it's gold . . Henenlotter has proved that there's no boundaries he isn't willing to cross . The prosthetic body parts are never convincing . . I felt that Henenlotter probably said , " Screw it . I'm working with peanuts , and those who like this film won't care about that anyway . " I would say my favorite scene has nothing to do with Liz or the hookers , but a small one containing a scene-stealing Louise Lasser ( I loved her in Woody Allen's Bananas ) as Jeff's mom . I love the way she timidly knocks on his door and enters his room . She carries this worried look of concern on her face and is completely oblivious of the fact that mama's little boy is a wacko . When he informs her that he might have fallen into a moral abyss , unable to distinguish right from wrong , good from evil , she dead-pans , " Would you like a sandwich ? " The ending , where the hooker body parts " revolt " against their pimp Zorro and how Liz " rescues " Jeff from certain oblivion , must be seen to be believed . There's a strange place Henenlotter taps into . . a crazy-house inside him , if you will . . where a plethora of twisted ideas spring from . You just can't straight-jacket such a director whose resume includes a tale of " brotherly love " ( . . between a young man and his deformed " twin " brother he keeps in a wicker basket ) and a " drug parable " regarding a young man's descent when a creature offers him a hallucinogenic fluid directly fed into his brain . Demented , perverse , crude & absurd . . yep , I dug " Frankenhooker . " |
436,799 | 9,938,570 | 40,636 | 8 | The Naked City | How stolen jewelry leads to murder of a blond model named Jean in The Big Apple . The film is an exciting step-by-step methodical police procedural with Det Lt . Dan Muldoon ( the simply wonderful Barry Fitzgerald ) and Det Jimmy Halloran ( Don Taylor ) on the case . They find this particular case , however , quite a pain as many leads go sour as they search for the truth regarding the unfortunate death of such a beautiful young woman . It all leads to Frank Niles ( Howard Duff ) , quite the hunky ladies ' man who has secrets that Muldoon and Halloran have to find out . While it does lay the melodrama a bit thick at times , with hammy narrative by the film's producer ( perhaps worked well at that time , but really annoyed me ) , the exciting cinematography of NYC , captures the immediacy of solving a case lead-to-lead . I loved the use of New York City in how director Dassin captures time and place with the flowing of public . It's fun seeing the detective work in such a vast steel jungle where there are plenty of places to hide . I love the way the film shows chases amongst crowds of people . Stunning to behold with solid pacing . One can't help but look at this as the perfect model for how cop movies and shows have worked for so long . |
435,756 | 9,938,570 | 451,984 | 8 | Criminal Woman : Killing Melody | This time Miki Sugimoto is the star and Reiko Ike takes the secondary lead female role . Sugimoto stars as Massayo , the daughter of a murdered alcholic / addict by powerful Yakuza boss , Obi ( ôji Hayama ) , sent to prison when she attempts to kill him in a club . Ike is Maki , Obi's squeeze , in prison she meets Massayo and they become respected " adversaries . " Massayo befriends other inmates and they partner up after serving their time , vowing to take down Obi's organization by causing a Yakuza war between him and another inferior gang , the Hamayasu clan who operate the docking port of the city . Massayo prostitutes herself to Americans exchanging sexual favors for artillery , concocting a weapons trade with old man boss Hamayasu's volatile son , Tetsu ( Takeo Chii ) . Maki is back around Obi's arm and warns Massayo of clearing out of town , or else . The rest of the film shows how Massayo and her clever female clan rip apart the two Yakuza gangs by pitting them against each other , while also shedding some blood themselves in the process . And , you can better believe Maki and Massayo will have one more confrontational showdown when so much money and dope are at stake . Fans of pinku revenge crime flicks get their moneys's worth with CRIMINAL WOMAN : KILLING MELODY . As expected nudity and ultra-violence are in abundance with lots of gunfire and Yakuza gangsters blown to smithereens . It's always entertaining seeing a motley group of gorgeous females waging war with the Yakuza , using their brains and looks to gain an advantage . You get a rather mild torture sequence this time around as Massayo is rescued from a rather grim fate by Maki . Chii's bonkers Tetsu ( . . always with a large bottle of liquor , downing it before shooting at somebody or raising hell against Obi ) is hilarious as are the instances where animated Yakuza gangsters are either lifted in the air by dynamite / grenades or shot to pieces by bullet-fire . We get not one but TWO hand-to-hand combats between Sugimoto and Ike ( . . the first in prison , testing each other's endurance , is a dandy ) which it in itself is added incentive for pinku fans to check this flick out . Plenty of bare flesh between Ike and Sugimoto as well . It was nice seeing Sugimoto this time getting to star as the lady of vengeance and when she stares you down with death in her eyes . . LOOK OUT ! Nothing more dangerous than Sugimoto scorned ! Ike may not have the lucrative role here , but she's still looking mighty fine . As expected , the pace is excellent ( . . the editing and camera work are first-rate ) and action set pieces thrilling . And , as you'd expect , nearly everyone is dead by the end of the film . |
435,804 | 9,938,570 | 70,916 | 8 | Wicked , Wicked | A mentally disturbed electrician for a beach front resort , Jason ( Randolph Roberts ) , a victim of a terrible childhood , murders selected blonde females ( . . modeled after a woman who adopted him , attempting to molest the child leading to her husband's beating him ) checking in for a room , peering from a hole in the attic with his binoculars . He's a skilled locksmith ( . . just one of many talents ) and has the ability to get into his victims ' rooms using a spare key , hiding in their closets , before attacking them with a knife he sharpens . Jason wears a red jacket ( . . the kind porters wear ) and grotesque Halloween mask before startling his victims who have no clue that a killer awaits them . Securtity guard for the resort , Rick Stewart ( David Baily ) , an ex-cop who lost his job after the unfortunate shooting of an innocent man , is called on to find missing women who supposedly left the hotel without paying their bill . As Rick begins investigating the case , however , he believes there's a murderer loose , but getting others ( . . like his boss who doesn't want any bad publicity ruining business and tourism , or a sergeant who wants this big city cop " from the north " to let the police handle the situation ) to listen is another story . Meanwhile , Stewart's ex-wife , Lisa ( . . the curvy Tiffany Bolling ) , on tour trying to find a record label , decides to dye her hair blonde , with Jason ( . . operating the spot-light for her singing performances at the resort ) making her his next target . Jason confides in Lenore ( Madeleine Sherwood of " Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ) , a relic whose incoming checks from the inheritance of her late husband having run dry leaving her with the possibility of being thrown out after nearly 22 years of living in the resort , perhaps representing the mother he never had . When an attempt to murder Lisa is unsuccessful , Jason's life slowly unravels with Rick nipping at his heels . Jason's hide-out , a specific room hidden within the resort whose blue-prints have been revised over the years as the hotel has been re-modified and renovated , gives him access to roam the halls quietly . But , it's only a matter of time before Jason makes that fatal mistake which leads to his ruin . Besides the gimmick of " duo-vision " , while the film is , in essence , the hunt ( . . by an amateur sleuth , with a detective's instincts ) for a serial killer , I think " Wicked , Wicked " is mostly a 70's " Grand Hotel " without the big name cast often associated with such a film . Utilizing the split screen , the director is able to build exposition on the characters . Like Jason . We're able to see what motivates his desire to kill , and why he chooses blonds . . this happens while he's speaking with Lenore on the other side of the screen . Lenore's real past is displayed on one side of the screen while she's telling a fabricated one to Jason on the other . The director can show Jason getting prepared for the kill while on the other side the screen we see a victim getting undressed for her shower . As a killer peers from the attic with his binoculars on one side of the screen , who he is eyeballing is getting her key to the room ( . . and while the killer is sharpening his knife , the female victim is closing in on her hotel room ) . The split screen allows the director a chance to tell simultaneous stories at the same time , without taking away from the viewer , even if such a process makes the audience work harder in gathering the information presented . I can understand why the use of " duo-vision " didn't catch on , though , because most audiences will probably find having to follow events taking place on two sides of the screen exhausting . I found the challenge stimulating , even if there were times where the director had nothing to do but show an organist playing " Phantom of the Opera " as a murder sequence was being carried out . The macabre premise of a killer working within the confines of a resort , achieving access due to his knowledge of old rooms abandoned by those who developed the hotel , really won me over big time . Especially , when we find out where Jason keeps the murdered corpses of the women who wound up missing . There's a clever use of a dumbwaiter which Jason is able to use to get into the Presidential suite of Lisa's newly applied quarters , and the cat-and-mouse between the killer and sleuth is fun to watch . Many found this boring , because a great deal of the film shows characters talking using split-screen to tell their stories , often in two ways . . the past and present . Slasher fans might enter expecting constant blood-shed , but I think this is about what drives this psycho to commit these deeds , his methods and travel , and the mistakes he makes along the way . There's a beheading by a guillotine , though , and the first knife-murder certainly is memorably nasty . I really think the film has so many clever ways of using the duo-vision process , that " Wicked , Wicked " shouldn't be totally dismissed . I think some folks , seeking something different , might like this flick . It's an interesting curio , and I thank Turner Classics for bringing it to me . Despite a PG rating , this film has a disturbing scene where Jason , as a child , is almost sexually molested by an adopted mother . And , the film has a warped sense of humor , not to mention a rather startling conclusion regarding Jason's fate . |
436,341 | 9,938,570 | 99,637 | 8 | Nightmare Concert ( Cat in the Brain ) | I couldn't help but relish the entire premise of CAT IN THE BRAIN because it dutifully explains a director's steadily going mad , seeing people murdered from past movies he has made . Even mundane activities such as cooking a meal in the microwave or running a faucet of water yield some horrific butchery from a film in the past . Director Fulci playing himself , is directing GHOSTS OF SODOM ( ? ) and can not seem to deprive his mental well being from constant murder . He seeks help from a psychiatrist who , instead , uses Fulci's work as a method to execute a series of innocent people , hypnotizing the director into thinking that perhaps he's responsible . This is obviously a film playfully poking fun at Fulci's image , while exploring the themes of how such a profession , which produces so much death and destruction , rarely untamed , could mold and shape a legacy . The film features pretty much a wrap-around story surrounding non-stop graphic violence with every possible way to kill a woman expressed in grisly detail . This has a shower murder Hitchcock never could direct , or probably want to . The film's savagery compliments the mental state of Fulci's Fulci ( . . I know ) during the running time . Reality and cinematic fiction have fused and Fulci can find no escape . The ending ( . . explaining the old cliché : " It's only a movie " ) couldn't work any better than it does here . Fulci's boat says Perversion ( . . excellent touch ) and he sails off . . I can only wish this was his final film because that's a perfect close if there ever was one . David L Thompson is the deranged psychiatrist planning to kill his adulterous wife . Jeoffrey Kennedy is a cop Fulci fears had a family murdered by the fiend . The ultra-violence in the film features plenty of unique ways to take a head off such as the door to a chest , a scythe , a chainsaw , and hatchet . The most brutal violence derives from nasty chainsaw activity as a dead body is hacked to pieces ( . . how a gardener's chainsaw work on a log fits beautifully in one nightmarish hallucination sequence ) . . the most shocking use of a chainsaw is when a little boy gets decapitated ! The opening scene with the puppet cat tearing away , feasting on Fulci's brain , is a howler . The scenes which are spliced within the film , featuring a horrified Fulci looking on , are obvious , but I couldn't help but enjoy this anyway . |
435,793 | 9,938,570 | 55,913 | 8 | Divorce - - Italian Style | Marcello Mastroianni stars a Ferdinando Cefalú , a baron of a dishonored family who lustfully longs for his cousin , Angela ( the luscious Stefania Sandrelli ) . He has a wife , Rosalia ( Daniela Rocca ) who longs for attention and probes constantly of whether he loves her not . She is such an annoyance , he begins a scheme to corrupt her finding an old love from the past , a painter restorer Carmelo ( Leopoldo Trieste ) . Divorce in Italy is a no-no , but if a spouse is caught in the act of adultery , murder might be seen as merely a way of saving one's honor at such a disgraceful act . This is Ferdinando's desire . . to match his wife and her former love together and , upon catching them embracing , murdering them so that he can rightfully pursue Angela . Hilarious consequences ensue . This film is quite a treat . . it doesn't miss a note . There's a very funny plug for Fellini's " La Dolce Vita " ( starring Mastroianni ) towards the end of the film which is supposed to be a set-up for Ferdinando's catching them together at his home as he is away to the cinema . The ending has a great sense of irony as we see this man approaching 40 doing what he can to be with a 16 year old teen who is the daughter of his sister . That seems a bit taboo in itself , but the film is about exposing , and poking fun at , taboos . |
436,539 | 9,938,570 | 156,887 | 8 | Perfect Blue | Very adult animated thriller about pop idol Mima trying to make it as an actress with a stalker ( running a fictional supposed website faking thoughts she has amongst real actions she makes during each day ) making her life practically unbearable . She is also tormented by her past success which seems to stalk her subconscious popping up into reality at times even foiling scenes during filming . The bubble-gum pop image is diminished when the young actress commits to a grueling rape scene in her first film . Soon she does a nude pictorial completely shattering the wholesome image she had been conveying for so long . The film shows the poor girl's decline in sanity as illusion and reality are blurred . Even the film she partakes in seems all too real to her present state in life . Soon those people ( the writer of the script calling for the rape scene , the photographer which " spoiled her innocence " , her agent asking for the young up and comer to commit to a new image ) who the stalker holds responsible for the career change in Mima's life are being killed in nasty , vicious ways . The film offers the possibility that Mima herself may be committing the acts of violence with another personality converging to take over her body as revenge for the " descent into immorality . " Full of bloodshed and nudity , this animated tale is quite heady displaying Mima's struggle to grip onto reality . I'm not sure I buy that ending which seems too much of a cop-out letting their heroine escape from being a murderer ( . . using another character jealous of her abandoning pop stardom for an acting career requiring nudity in seedy situations ) , but the film is quite a fascinating and entertaining mind-trip . There are scenes in the film where the tortured actress Mima is chasing her alter ego . . and , the climax shows the alter ego supposedly trying to kill her ( . . this alter ego proves to actually be another completely different person ) . |
436,383 | 9,938,570 | 407,821 | 8 | Spider Forest | A TV station manager and female reporter under his employ are found brutally murdered in a cabin within Spider Forest . Someone at the scene of the crime ( Woo-seong Kam ) may have all the answers . Unfortunately , he walks in front of a moving vehicle which causes a major gash on the side of his head ( a powerful image shows a puddle of trickling blood pattern from underneath his face ) inside a tunnel and loses memory . During the duration of the film , he'll have to piece together everything that occurred during that time revolving around the murders . This outline is as easy as it gets because this is one very elusive , complex film which will probably take multiple viewings to fully become aware of how the Spider Forest controls the story's unfolding . In true Lynchian form , there are probably MANY different opinions to the film . Who's the voice telling our protagonist to see his lover's rendezvous with his boss ( the very boss who gave him one last story , on a " haunted forest " before looking for employment elsewhere ) in the Spider Forest ? Who is the man , cloaked in darkness who knocks out protagonist over the head after the knowledge of a horrible crime ? We have a scene where a spider bites our protagonist who later becomes feverish and needs assistance from a young , mysterious woman named Min Su-in ( Jung Suh ) who was his voice in an article regarding the " haunted forest " for which he was assigned in the first place . The spiders within the " haunted forest " , according to Min , aren't your ordinary garden-variety spiders . She tells our protagonist a story or two . Both have great importance to him for we understand that he is reliving these memories ( or reliving a jumbling of thoughts and fantasies where we're never quite sure which were actually lived or envisioned ) bit by bit unfolding what occurred to the two slain victims . One is that spirits live within the Spider forest . . forgotten spirits loved by no one . These spirits exist in our world . The legend is that if nobody loved the deceased spirit it becomes a spider and is trapped in the forest forever . SOOOO , the spider that left the fever and mark on our protagonist . . was it a spirit ? Min also tells him about a little girl and boy and the affair and murder they witness . A key piece to the conversation regarding the spider-turned spirits that interested me greatly was Min mentions that they don't know that they are dead because " all their memories disappear . " If anyone remembers them . . their spirits are set free . Now , if you're scratching your head at what I just wrote imagine the feeling many viewers have had sitting through it . So many questions and so many interpretations . As detective Choi ( Hyeong-seong Jang ) searches for the truth working from the information our protagonist gives him , things don't always add up . Min Su-in , for instance , isn't alive at all , but died as a little girl . The story of the little girl and the little boy becomes apparent as Choi finds a certain teacher who informs him about Min Su-in and her tragic death through illness , just like the little girl in the story told to our protagonist . Our protagonist's identity will be revealed to Choi and things SLIGHTLY add up . The one true element I believe that is a constant no matter what other unorthodox things are introduced to us . . the protagonist's wife died in a plane crash and two people were brutally slain . The other things within the mind-bending plot structure seem to always hearken back to one or the other . Specifically , our protagonist and what part he had that tragic night in Spider Forest . The use of ambiguity . . " what's not right with this picture & what really happened ? " is really well used here because we are sent through the ringer with the protagonist who experiences bizarre memories that seem very real . . but are they created within a confused mind ? |
436,415 | 9,938,570 | 90,728 | 8 | The Scarecrow reviews " Big Trouble in Little China " | Some films move so fast plot holes and incoherency can be less focused on . Carpenter's film is so energetic and fun , it is such an example . It is loaded with Chinese Black Magic mumbo jumbo and supernatural shenanigans , but if one can accept it on it's own terms might just find themselves loving it . It pretty much doesn't catch a breath as we watch Kurt Russell's trucker Jack Burton get immediately mixed into an old gang war led by the mysterious Lo Pan ( James Hong ) who desires the green eyed love of Wang ( Dennis Dun ) to become mortally young and all powerful . His supernatural cohorts have specific powers and are named " the three storms " as they are able to crush anyone who gets in their way . One has the ability to increase his body mass , another is able to build electricity from his hands , and another is able to move really fast . Each cause Wang and Jack problems when the poor trucker loses his truck during this blood feud that ignites in Chinatown . Kim Cattrall plays newspaper reporter Gracie Law , looking for a story along with her partner Margo ( Kate Burton ) . Soon even Wang's pal Eddie ( Donald Li ) gets involved . But , during their trials at trying to free Wang's green-eyed love , they will have to enlist in Egg Chen's service . . a wise old sorcerer played by the always reliable Victor Wong . The film is loaded with martial arts action and wild special ( and make-up ) effects and old Chinese lore . If one can indeed shut their brain off and not take this film at all seriously , this film is no doubt a blast . Kurt Russell and his cast bring such an enthusiasm to the proceedings and that electronic score from Carpenter is great . |
436,011 | 9,938,570 | 82,010 | 8 | An American Werewolf in London | But look at me . Here I sit in a porno theater , in Piccadily Circus , talking to a corpse . As you can tell from the dialogue above , Landis takes his werewolf film into a whole new arena letting it all hang out with wild ideas that somehow work despite how absurd they seem . David Kessler ( David Naughton ) watches as his best friend Jack Goodman ( Griffin Dunne ) is slaughtered by a werewolf and then gets a slash in his chest from the beast before townsfolk kill the lycanthrope . David might've survived , but he's a lot worse for ware , because he's now a lycanthrope who is warned by his friend's corpse ( Dunne , who is shown with skin deterioration after each visit at first exposing a nasty neck ripped open until his visit to David in the porno theater where his entire face has rotted away ) , unfortunately stuck in limbo like any werewolf victim who isn't freed until the werewolf bloodline is severed . Goodman offers suicide to his pal telling him that he'll kill innocent people if he doesn't . David , though , doesn't know if his decomposing dead friend is merely a product of other bizarre nightmares so he , at first , doesn't take the visits seriously . He and the nurse attending to him , Alex ( Jenny Agutter , quite yummy ) fall in love and when David eventually does change into the wolf ( this is the amazing transformation sequence CGI just can't top ) . . this complicates his life . How can he continue to live knowing that lives are in danger ( in a hilarious " day-after-the-transformation " sequence , David finds himself naked in a cage with wolves and must walk through a zoo naked until he can find something to cover himself with ) ? His continual visits from Goodman end in a porno theater where he is presented the dead victims he attacked as a wolf which is a gruesomely macabre moment that is quite funny at the same time as they offer David ways to kill himself . Landis surprises the viewer with an abrupt , chaotic conclusion in Piccadily Circus where the David turns into the werewolf rampaging through the streets causing an array of devastating crashes with many people being smashed by ( . . and thrown out of ) vehicles . |
435,931 | 9,938,570 | 105,527 | 8 | Tale of a Vampire | Alex ( Julian Sands ) , a vampire who often frequents a library , finds that a newly hired clerk , Anne ( Suzanna Hamilton ) resembles a long lost love , Virginia , sparking up a desire for relations with her . A mysterious intruder named Edgar ( Kenneth Cranham ) who persuasively ignites dinner conversations with Anne , attempts to warn her of Alex , because she indeed is attracted to him . There are unresolved deaths plaguing the London streets , and we watch as Alex pursues his victims , unable to halt the blood thirst his nature so requires . More of a doomed Gothic romance set in gloomy modern London where the fog still lives and breathes at night as Alex stalks the streets for his prey , and his feeding can be quite messy . I fell in love with how director Shimako Sato builds the mood of this tale , using blue , the way light is reflected and produced , rain , graffiti walls , the crumbling walls of Alex's dilapidated dwelling , & various other London locales which seem the perfect background of our vampire's existence and anguish . Sands , who facial features and hanging shoulders has him resembling a droopy lost puppy seeking refuge and a kind heart , I thought was perfect in the lead as Alex . I also liked how Sato often captures Sands , quietly emerging from a dark corner . . while quite a sympathetic figure thanks in part to Sands work , he's also a brooding menace . I've always liked those vampire tales which display a lonely figure , melancholy , yearning for someone taken away , whose craving for human blood is so insatiable he's almost beast-like . I think that works well in this film . . showing how Sato's camera seductively captures Sands ' , a handsome smallish man , whose not all that imposing , turn savage when it's time to feed , such as one scene where he throws a victim up against a wall , crushing his skull , lifting the poor soul above him with blood scattering throughout his face and lips . Another scene shows Alex caressing a wayward cat before sinking his teeth into it's furry neck . We even get a dream sequence where Alex is drinking the blood from Anne's cut finger , as he plunges on top of her , biting into her neck , drinking her blood . Cranham as Edgar is scholarly while quite imposing and straight-forward , often abrupt while also , at the same time , keeping secrets with a darkness behind his eyes . Even when Edgar informs Anne of who Alex really is , it seems like an agenda is always present as if this air of animosity drives / motivates him . Who Edgar really is heightens the despair and angst of Alex's loneliness . I felt Hamilton provides a moving performance as Anne ( . . and Virginia ) using subtlety instead of melodramatics . Like Alex , Anne is a lonely-heart as well , having lost someone dear to her as well . The idea of having someone you love snatched away and the fear of dying , yet living all alone are themes I felt really make this film work well . Not critically acclaimed , I think it's one hell of a vampire film . |
436,360 | 9,938,570 | 59,792 | 8 | Planet of the Vampires | Spiffy little sci-fi horror flick regarding two ships ' crews coming in contact with an alien force that had been sending them signals from their Planet Aura . Something is willing the crew members , once they land on Aura , to turn on each other . The crew of the space ship Argos are able to gather their wits about them refusing to truly harm themselves by ceasing the evil yearning for the carnage to continue . The space ship Galliot's crew are not so fortunate . Captain Mark Markary ( Barry Sullivan ) and Doctor Sanya ( Norma Bengell ) will have to find out what is causing the disturbances on Aura as one crew member , Eldon , comes up missing while another , Bert is attacked by something that leaves a nasty mark on his face . Mark and Sanya will discover a damaged and ancient alien ship with the skeletal remains of giant beings exposed at it's entrance proving that perhaps their spirits are indeed to blame for the terror caused to the crew of Argos . Meanwhile , science officer Wess ( Ángel Aranda ) is trying to rig a combination of wires in order for the Argos to blast off . Soon , Mark and his crew find that these alien spirits invade the human hosts of those dead or willing / weak enough to let go . We see , in an eerie sequence , where the dead crew members awaken from their metallic crypts on the planet ripping away the body bags with one goal in mind . . blasting off from this infernal planet for greener pastures . They trick Mark , by using his brother's invaded body , to get inside the Argos and retrieve their " Meteor Rejector " . . a vital tool for the ship's being able to take off from the Planet . Mark and company plan to explode the Galliot ( whose entire crew killed each other in the major scuffle due to their minds being invaded by the beings on the moment they landed ; and they are now possessed completely by the alien spirits ) with atomic bombs , retrieving the Meteor Rejector , and getting the hell away the moment they re-board the Argos . . but , will they be able to return safely without being killed and their bodies ' being invaded ? If one were to judge the film by the rather hokey space-ship sets or the crew's campy jargon . . their banter describing the devices which operate certain ship's functions is quite funny to listen to . . one would be hard-pressed in believing this was a Mario Bava film . BUT ( and this is a huge BUT ) , when the crew lands on Aura , we see who the man behind the camera is . The alien world is quite otherworldly , with bizarrely shaped mountainous rock formations , fog that moves as if vividly guided by a living wave , and the planet's atmosphere colored in vibrant reds and greens ( including at times the fog ) . . it's quite a spooky place with unusual sounds and music layered in the soundtrack . The rocky formations nearby the ship have a way of providing a good hiding place for any human body captured by the alien force , with that shrouding fog ever so engulfing the screen , to jump out and attack . You also have the creepy scene near the old alien ship with the monstrous huge skeletal remains which are cleverly designed for ultimate use in creating an idea in our minds as to what they once were . Inside the ship itself is quite ominous as well with these long halls and weird shaped cones as lights . . we really see the artist Bava is at creating such imaginative stylish touches that awaken awe and wonder . If one can get past some of the hokier aspects and realize that the premise , even if the general idea is lifted from " Invasion of the Body Snatchers " , is quite a good one , then there's so much to enjoy . The ending is especially a down-beat delight . . quite a unique little twist that works . |
436,054 | 9,938,570 | 489,270 | 8 | Live or die . Make your choice | Jigsaw John ( Tobin Bell ) and his protégé Amanda ( Shawnee Smith ) are up to their old tricks , but in this third film ( and my favorite of the series ) there are some surprises I didn't see coming . On " trial " is Jeff ( Angus Macfadyen , who is blessed with a face and talent that can express all sorts of emotion ) , an emotionally unstable man , full of booze , wrath & pain , consumingly overwhelmed by the loss of his son in a car crash . The driver responsible was released shortly after thanks to a hasty trial with pretty much a slap on the wrist that might change a many of us who might have this same type of bitterness and rage if it happened to us ( or , at least I put myself in his shoes ) . The other important character in Jigsaw and Amanda's new game is a female doctor named Lynn ( Bahar Soomekh , another really great choice for the film . . this film is a success in my eyes because the casting excels ) who might be able to prolong his life among other things . Jeff must complete a series of games in less than two hours or face being shut inside the building . Each game consists of those certain people who played intricate roles in or around his son's demise ( the woman who , instead of assisting Jeff as he held his dying son , drove off ; the judge who gave the murderer a slap on the wrist ; the killer himself ) . Jeff has their lives in his hands . He can forgive or let them perish in Jigsaw and Amanda's crafted killing apparatuses . Meanwhile , Lynn has a metal collar , with chambered bullets , that is linked to Jigsaw's heart-rate . Her duty is to not let him die or else the bullets will fire right into her face . Also important is Amanda's role ( what she does know and doesn't know . . Jigsaw has prepared this whole game for a major purpose to be determined ) in the grand scheme of things . She will determine the outcome just as much as Jeff . . and not even know it ! The film does lots of things this go-around , delving into how Amanda formed her partnership with Jigsaw , the loose ends untied from the second film regarding Eric ( Donnie Wahlberg ) will be finalized , and we actually see how Jigsaw prepared the test of the two male characters in the first film . These " flashbacks " regarding Amanda are crucial to the development of the film and it's climax . Like the previous two films , this one works off of some coincidences provided by a screenplay that needs certain characters to die ( or suffer ) at the right moment before they can be saved , or a certain character saved who just happens to be in a specific place to be shot by a shotgun . I'm not convinced anyone could put together such elaborately designed games without something going awry , but this like the other two is orchestrated by a screenplay writer with devious intentions for his created characters . We see that Amanda has created games that give those tested no way to survive which is not Jigsaw's method . This film is also the most grisly and gruesome of the three showing one unfortunate victim ( caught in Jigsaw's favorite contraption , " The Twister " ) having his arms , legs , and head completely twisted around as bones snap out of the skin like broken wood . The ultimate goal of Jigsaw is choices and forgiveness . Can Jeff make the right choice and forgive those who have caused him so much agony ? There are many who might be able to pick this apart with a fined tooth comb , but I just enjoyed it despite acknowledging that no one is that skillful enough to get away with what the film's death-geniuses do . |
436,502 | 9,938,570 | 79,843 | 8 | Saint Jack | Atypical Bogdanovich feature about the passage of time in a life of pimp , Ben Gazzara , ( well cast ) in Singapore . Denholm Elliot brings a very good , melancholic performance as a accountant who comes to Singapore every year to work out the finances of Gazzara's Visa boss . Bogdanovich himself portrays a government man who uses Gazzara's pimping powers for Vietnam soldier relaxation ( among other things such as framing anyone the government deems as a threat ) . Very interesting and unpredictable , Gazzara is able to keep a mystery ( and sadness ) about his character as he often keeps things subtle when other men might react with hostility , but seems able to garner respect from everyone he meets . The film has a freshness about it because of the mostly Asian cast revolving around Gazzara . I think it's clear Gazzara desires to keep America away , but American history ( such as the Vietnam war , the Nixon administration , the changing of Singapore as time goes by ) seems to rear it's ugly head often interfering with with that desire . Gazzara also has to contend with the Chinese mafia who certainly have problems with his success in prostitution . |
436,811 | 9,938,570 | 59,311 | 9 | Incubus | Kia ( Allyson Ames ) is a succubus working for the God of Darkness who is bored with luring already lost souls to hell . She wants to be a major factor in the Dark Lord's legion and thirsts for the desire to turn a pure soul to the dark side . Kia's sister Amael ( Eloise Hardt ) , warns her that doing this might be a very bad idea , but she is determined to carry it out . The challenge she hungers for becomes quite great when she chooses Marc ( William Shatner ) , a man who is deemed heroic by a warning Amael who says he saved several men from a fire without any fear of death . Marc's faith in God is strong . When Amael sees that Kia has fallen in love with Marc , she sees an opportunity to turn Marc over by abusing his sister Arndis ( Ann Atmar ) by calling an incubus ( Milos Milos ) to harm her . This film is truthfully about good versus evil , an age-old theme which never tires because so many difficult stories spurn from it . In this film , Marc will have to overcome a lot of adversity because the evil side are nefariously sneaky in causing great harm to your emotional state , challenging your will of purity at it's core . On the other side , Kia is shown as a woman of pure evil who finds love and acceptance from a pure man she can not seem to separate from . The film is very , very good . . better than I possibly could imagine . It plays like a feature length " OUter Limits " episode and I was kind of hoping it would be that way . It has eerie , darkened black and white photography and the music is creepy . The way it is shot is also a plus . . a lot of talented people came together to make this film . The novelty of it being in Esperanto does increase the film's cult status , but it's the overall ominous mood and the way the characters are lensed for which I'd say try this little recently restored gem ( actually the restoration was produced by SCi-fi Channel ) . |
435,798 | 9,938,570 | 462,499 | 9 | Rambo | The synopsis is simple . A repulsive , completely evil militant group of Burmese soldiers are wiping out innocent Karen villages with Christian leanings . A small group of missionaries desire to boat to a specific village to help the lives of the people there . Rambo , now a snake wrangler and boatman , is asked to take them to the village . He reluctantly does . The village is attacked by the Burmese hyenas who take the missionaries prisoner . The Colorado pastor finds that his missionaries haven't returned , commissions mercenaries to find them . Rambo agrees to take the mercenaries to where the missionaries were dropped off . With resistance , at first by the mercenaries , Rambo soon ( . . thanks to his impressive use of a bow and arrows ) is leading a charge into the jungle to save the missionaries that are under capture . Doing so , a battle begins with Rambo and the mercenaries shooting it out with the Burmese scum . Bodies are blown to smithereens by constant weapon-fire , with Rambo getting to use a new blade fashioned through fire . Truly one of the most violent films I've ever seen , and I watch a lot of horror movies . I had read previously about how violent this was , but seeing it with my own eyes brings truth to what has been written and spoken . The machine guns used do serious damage to bodies in this movie . Bodies are literally blown to pieces with limbs flying skyward and blood splattering . The climactic battle even shows heads being taken off and a man's stomach torn open with the guts spilling out . But , bullet-riddled bodies are a constant in this actioner . Not for the faint of heart . The film attempts somewhat , when people aren't getting annihilated , to shed light on the Burmese situation . The massacre / slaughter of the Karen village is horrifying . . women and children are shot point-blank and Sly as director rarely pulls a punch . The rapes and humiliation of innocent young women aren't as elaborated on , but we get an idea of what the Burmese soldiers do to them . Like in Rambo-First Blood Part II , this film has rainy night scenes where John , and his mercenaries sneak into the village to retrieve captured prisoners . During this , Rambo actually rips a soldier's throat out . Pure bloody carnage , once the violence begins , it hardly lets up . The film even has Rambo igniting an old WWII dummy bomb with a major explosion taking out a large portion of jungle with John barely escaping . And , we get to see what mines do to both innocent Karen prisoners and soldiers ' bodies . This is not a film for critics . The film is mostly a pure action film where there isn't any gray area . . it's good vs . evil and we have identifiable heroes to root for and villains to boo . And , the violence is gratuitous and startlingly realistic . I recommend watching the behind the scenes special features on the newly released DVD just to see how painstakingly difficult it was to make this film . |
436,790 | 9,938,570 | 734,643 | 9 | The Grave | It's a major surprise to see such a rich cast of male actors who could make a theatrical western hum with excitement , featured together in a spooky Twilight Zone episode of twenty or so minutes . It features none other than Lee Marvin as a cranky and aggressive gunfighter paid by a frightened town to track a known and feared criminal to kill him . After a long period of time , Marvin's tracker , Conny Miller was not able to accomplish what he was paid to do ( . . with most , if not all , of the quiet little town believing Conny was afraid of the killer , Pinto Sykes ) so the citizens surrounded Pinto in the street , gunning him down in the process . Entering town after Sykes had been buried ( . . perhaps a sign in itself that he was chicken of the quick-drawing gunfighter ) , Conny is looked upon by those still awake in the saloon , " blabbermouth " Johnny Rob ( Jamed Best ; Dukes of Hazzard ) , trembling Mothershed ( Strother Martin ) and " businessman " Steinhart ( Lee Van Cleef ) , with quiet resentment , informing their tracker that Pinto was in fact dead , wagering him that he hasn't the guts to visit the murdered criminal's grave at Midnight . Angered at such a suggestion , Conny takes them up on it , although no matter how tough and rugged his appearance is externally , it's visible that he can not hide the fear lurking within . Bravely , Conny makes it to the grave by way of a path , notices Pinto's kooky ( . . and drunk ) sister Ione ( Elen Willard ) after just visiting her brother , and decides to confront the demons which haunt him . All he has to do is plunge the bartender's knife into Pinto's grave , but will it be that simple ? First , the town is rendered quite eerie thanks to the way the wind sounds and blows the coats of the characters . The town itself looks quite different during Pinto's death at the hands of the tired citizens in the shootout and once Conny arrives . I think the scene in the saloon is about as good as you can make it if attempting to show men deftly afraid of a man's grave . One can sense that Pinto Sykes struck terror in this town and that his grip was firmly held for a long time no matter where he was at any present time . Marvin , Lee Van Cleef , James Best and Strother Martin all in the same scene together is enough to send a western fan into a frenzy , and for just a twenty five minute episode of Twilight Zone , it's quite a thrill . I like how Best and Martin are presented so cowardly and stricken with fear over Pinto Sykes and how Marvin pretty much causes them a bit of nervousness as well . What I particularly like is how , though , they ever so delicately question Conny's manhood , and almost place Pinto Sykes on a pedestal . Sykes ' powerful hold over this town is etched so evidently on even Conny , even though he tries to hide under this menacing veneer , pushing weakling farm-boy Johnny Rob around when he attempts to challenge him on the dare to visit the grave . The graveyard itself is so threatening and creepy , the way dead trees surround tombstones and how the hill is so choppy , dark , and imposing . Still , without that wind , the show wouldn't have been as effective . The wind even plays a major part in Conny's fate , describing what seems obvious , explained by Steinhart ( . . who reasons a situation realistically , although he himself probably first felt that Pinto's ghost played a hand in it ) and what is far more probable and chilling thanks to Ione who uses his own theory against him . |
435,769 | 9,938,570 | 72,662 | 9 | The Killer Must Kill Again | Stunning manipulative giallo about a slimy , greedy womanizing husband , Giorgio Mainardi ( George Hilton , dashing even when portraying a loathsome jerk ) stuck in a marriage of convenience with a wife whose father is a wealthy industrialist , catches a sociopath ( Antone Saint-John ) disposing of a body in a creek . He wishes for the killer to murder his wife , setting it up as a kidnapping gone awry . The Killer will be paid 20 grand for this duty , but it's pretty much blackmail with him doing dirty deed or else . While Giorgio is out at a party of gathering rich , the killer strangles her placing the body in the trunk of his black Mercedes . But , what the killer doesn't expect is a young couple , Luca ( Alessio Orano ) and Laura ( the always lovely and wonderful Cristina Galbó who exudes a virginal innocence ) driving off in his car when he was inside the murdered wife's pad cleaning up any evidence of his ever being there . Joyriding to a beach-front many miles ahead , Luca and Laura have no idea that the very car they've stolen in the property of a psychopath with a corpse in the trunk . Giorgio and the killer's perfect murder scheme has yielded an unexpected problem . In hot pursuit of the couple , the killer will soon catch up with them as Luca and Laura find an abandoned villa to crash in for rest and relaxation . Meanwhile , an Inspector ( Eduardo Fajardo ) , who clearly suspects Giorgio in assistance of his wife's disappearance , tries to find out how much he is actually involved while pretending to console him . The film's macabre premise is quite a doozy . You have a poor couple who committed a poor act of judgment , paying the ultimate price when the killer finds them . The film plays off the angle of the " dead body in the trunk " where it is almost discovered numerous times . The killer is portrayed by the rodent-like Saint-John as well-tempered , quietly homicidal , and confident . We know what the killer is capable of doing in the first scene and when he kills Giorgio's wife . . so when he traps poor innocent Laura all alone with nowhere to run as Luca is off fetching her some grub ( . . well , actually , he's having cheap sex with a blond floozy , whose car was broken down on the side of the road , he picked up ) so it's obvious we fear for her safety and well-being . Through Saint-John , the killer's sadistic nature is calmly presented , yet we see the monster underneath as he skulks with slow foreboding steps towards possible victims . We see how inhuman the killer can be . . and just how evil he can become . . when he knife-attacks a dumb blond Luca picks up on the side of the road ( she saw Giorgio's wife's corpse in the trunk as the killer walked up to his Mercedes ) . The confidence he has is apparent in how he doesn't rave about when Giorgio proposes he assist in murdering for him or else face the consequences . . he has gotten away with murder before , why shouldn't he get away this time ? The most painful sequence comes when the killer rapes Laura as the director juxtaposes her agony ( lots of close-ups into Galbó's tormented eyes as mascara runs down with tears of horror ) with Luca's pleasurable sexual encounter with the blond . |
436,496 | 9,938,570 | 38,975 | 9 | The Spiral Staircase | Just magnificent psychological tale of suspense regarding a serial killer on the loose , who targets women with imperfections ( one was lame , another was simple-minded ) . The constable ( James Bell ) warns Professor Warren ( George Brent ) that he has traced the killer's whereabouts to the Warren estate and to keep an eye open for anything suspicious . Helen Capel ( Dorothy McGuire , who is excellent ) has been mute since the horrible house fire which killed her parents . A new physician in town , Dr . Parry ( Kent Smith ) believes the condition is psychological and that Helen must confront what has caused her silence . He believes there's help in Boston which can cure Helen's ailment . . Parry is also in love with Helen and vice versa . But , Helen is indeed a woman that the killer might target as she is hired help for the ailing stepmother of the Professor , Mrs . Warren ( Ethel Barrymore , also quite good in a rather underwritten role ) and so her life could be in danger as long as she remains at the estate's spooky mansion where a possible killer might be lurking . We see , when Helen returned from a movie house where the killer strangled the lame female , that someone is watching her hidden in darkness . Director Siodmak has the camera close in on the killer's crazed , widening eye as it peers at the next chosen victim . So we are informed by the eye staring at Helen ( . . with the bonus imagined face of Helen without a mouth inside the pupil of the killer's eye ) she is to be chosen as the next possible victim setting up the creepy story within the dark , rain-drenched mansion where shadow and light converge . A possible suspect might be the Professor's brother Steve ( Gordon Oliver ) who arrived home from Paris just as the murders started . Blanche ( Rhonda Fleming ) is the Professor's secretary , his former flame , now secretly Steve's lover . Mrs . Oates ( Elsa Lanchester , who is a hoot and easily steals every scene she's in ) , the maid , can't resist taking a nip of brandy when she can sneak a bottle from the Professor's cellar . She keeps having to close an open window which had been shut . . this is Siodmak's way of informing us that the killer is within the house . Mr . Oates ( Rhys Williams ) is the man who helps fetch supplies among other duties on the grounds of the Warren estate . He'll have to fetch some ether as the matriarch Warren falls ill often passing out when rattled in her weakened condition . Mrs . Warren constantly warns Helen to leave the premises for her own safety . . she seems to feel that danger awaits Helen in the mansion . With Mrs . Oates drunk as a skunk , soon a murder within the cellar has Helen fearing for her life as it seems most are gone from the estate . . Parry gets a call from a sick boy , Mr . Oates is off to fetch ether & someone is murdered while two suspects might have something to do with it as Helen must somehow survive on her own . This film has that kind of building dread , and great looking , atmospheric B & W photography one craves when looking for a classic Gothic thriller . The story regarding how a mute , who can not cry for help when the killer is revealed , is perfect within this mansion setting . Using candlelight when certain characters walk into the darkened cellar ( where a murder takes place ) , Siodmak shows his excellence at creating tension . You just know that the cellar is the perfect place for a killer to hide with the ability to catch a victim off-guard when they have their back turned . Also , the spiral staircase of the title is served well thanks to the moving camera and how Siodmak lights it . Just a wonderful little creeper with McGuire in a winning role as she must convey various emotions without uttering a word . |
436,286 | 9,938,570 | 59,170 | 9 | Faster , Pussycat ! Kill ! Kill ! | Brilliant trash from Russ Meyer about three volatile go-go dancers who live hard and race their cars harder . Their leader is Varla ( Tura Satana ) , a benevolent sort of mad dame who loves pushing the boundaries of bad . She decides to kill an innocent man just out to test-drive his car for speed time . She is always looking for competition when it comes to racing , and this young man produces the seed to sprout that urge . He has with him a foxy young dame named Linda ( Sue Bernard ) for whom Varla just has to carry along ( she's bi-sexual , but is kidnapping her for kicks because that's just how bad she is . . always looking for something a little more dangerous ) . Varla is " supported " by lover Rosie ( Haji ) who is pretty much her servant girl for she even lights the woman's cigarettes . But , Billie ( Lori Williams . . who is absolutely scorching ) is often a thorn in Varla's side because she challenges her authority and is quite a lousy drunk . Varla sees an opportunity for monetary gain in a crusty old man , crippled in a wheel chair ( Stuart Lancaster ) who has his stash hidden some place . She will scheme her way through the family to find the loot using means at her disposal such as her figure and possible sexual favors by going after older son Kirk ( Paul Trinka ) who admits he's weak when lust passes by . Billie sets her sights on the retarded , muscular son ( Dennis Busch ) who has a specific irritable weakness when trains pass . . something about them scars his psyche . Will Varla find the old man's money ? What will happen to poor Linda , who tries so often to get away but seems to never quite make it ? Will anyone survive with Varla always scheming to find that cash ? Ultra-violence prevails in Meyer's flick which is interesting because he allows Varla to be such a tyrant and seemingly indestructible when battling men . She swallows the weak whole and dominates all the characters . She sets her furious sights on something and doesn't think twice about diving after no matter what it is . Men presented in the film are weak and they seem almost knee-bent to the lusts they carry . The film has wonderful , slick beatnik dialogue and the way the camera shoots the characters is excellent . I loved how Meyer shoots the women behind the steering wheel . We can easily tell that they are merely in a superficial concoction with film crew-members moving the fake car with the girls inside , but this provides Meyer with a unique way of lensing their expressions of joy and malice as they race each other and chosen victims who have no idea what kind of dames they are dealing with . |
436,882 | 9,938,570 | 470,132 | 9 | Kibakichi : Don't Awake the Beast | For quite a while humans and the Yokai shape-shifting monsters were able to live in harmony . But , soon the racist humans wanted the Yokai out of the equation with war sending the monsters into exile . Master Onizo wishes for harmony to exist once again and has benefited from what he believed was a satisfying relationship with Yamayi-sama , a leader-on-the-rise for the humans hoping to win a place in the hierarchy of the Lord . To decidedly earn a high position , Yamayi-sama plans to wipe out the Yokai remaining alive under Onizo's clan , betraying his trust and ruining his vision of peace . Kikio , a human , is actually Onizo's woman and a picture of beauty who is spiritually driven often seen on her knees praying . Enter in the Yokai Samurai warrior Kibakichi ( Ryuuji Harada whose penetrating anguished eyes peer from a mass of hair ) who is a loner often living amongst the humans , who now hates them with a prolonging passion . He trusted them once , like Onizo does now , and paid the price for it costing the lives of an entire peaceful village of hidden Yokai who were wiped out by the blind-sided human attack . Kibakichi makes his way into the clan of Onizo , whose major interest to the outside world is his illegal gambling table . In an interesting note , various Yokai killers , often find their way into secret rooms by Onizo where they are killed by the monsters . Kibakichi tries desperately to warn Onizo and his men against trusting Yamayi-sama , but the unrelenting hope for peace against the endless violence is all the boss is consumed with . As one would expect , Yamayi-sama does plan to attack what he considers a thorn in his side and that would be Onizo's village using more modern weaponry brought in from England . . a massive rotating machine gun that will eliminate the more primitive foes who merely use swords . Dubbing it the end result a massacre , would be an understatement . But , when you unleash the beast within Kibakichi all the machine guns , men , and grenades may not stop him . A stunning film , featuring some amazing swordplay , beautiful photography and lighting ( I adore how Tomoo Haraguchi and cinematographer Shôji Ebara hit a patch of light on characters ' faces as they sit amongst darkened rooms and also shade their monsters only giving the viewer enough during a portion of the film to know that they are not human ) , and some gut-wrenching gore . Lots of decapitated heads and arms , blood that squirts in endless supplies as complete arms are sliced off . One sequence shows , in Kibakichi's opening battle , a sword sticking in the ground with a chopped off hand still clutching it ! Kibakichi is essentially a werewolf , but director Haraguchi waits to unveil that beast late in the major showdown when the humans try to hit him with everything they got . Nozomi Andô as Onizo's human love Kikyo is very beautiful underneath a quiet exterior . I watched the subtitled version , so I saw the best the film could offer me . I know it's received some criticism on here , but I had one hell of a good time with this flick . The monster battle at the end and the intense gunfire exploding all around Kibakichi in werewolf form as the city is destroyed around him are amazing action set-pieces . Highly recommended to those with fairly strong stomachs . |
436,902 | 9,938,570 | 21,815 | 9 | Drácula | Conde Drácula ( Carlos Villarías , portraying the count with these fiendish eyes like a rabid dog on the prowl for rabbit meat ) has Renfield ( Pablo Álvarez Rubio ) bring documents to his decrepit , centuries-old , decaying castle in Transylvania for a place in Carfax Abbey near London . He has plans to use Renfield as his servant to do his bidding while he's asleep in his coffin . So after the papers are signed , Conde Drácula and his vampire brides bite him . He isn't bitten enough to die , but in a weakened state mentally , Renfield has become quite crazed . . the smell of blood stamped in his brain and through his veins . Renfield watches as Conde Drácula destroys a ship's crew on their voyage to a London harbor . The London police , newspapers , and scientists are baffled at Renfield's mental state and the shipping crew's slaughter . Doctor Seward ( José Soriano Viosca ) , who operates the city sanitarium , seeks the assistance of renowned Doctor Van Helsing ( Eduardo Arozamena ) regarding Renfield's bizarre condition . Also , the police start finding victims , such as the friend of Seward's daughter Eva ( Lupita Tovar , much more energetic and effective in this role than monotone Helen Chandler ) , with bites on their necks and blood completely drained from their bodies . Conde Drácula is attracted to Eva , who has a fiancé Juan Harker ( Barry Norton , also much better than his American counterpart ) worried about his future wife's worsening condition . What he doesn't know is that Conde Drácula appears at Eva's bedside taking just enough blood to keep her alive . Meanwhile , Van Helsing , who has expertise in all things weird , unexplained , and supernatural , explains to his medical colleagues that the one responsible for the rash of deaths is a vampire . Obviously , Van Helsing will be met with scorn and disbelief at such an accusation . That is until Doctor Seward realizes his daughter is Dracula's chosen bride . The rest of the film consists of Van Helsing and Dracula's cat-and-mouse battle with Renfield the centerpiece and Eva's life hanging in the balance . I think this version is superior in some ways to Browning version because director George Melford was able to see what he was doing during the day . Melford and company add richer , longer dialogue segments , use more of the sets ( especially exteriors ) , shoot certain scenes more imaginatively , and showing us certain scenes just implied in the American version ( such as the bars bent so that Renfield could escape , the vampiric bite wounds , etc ) . I love the scene where Renfield catches a fly when he has just told Seward and Van Helsing he was much better . I do not think Carlos Villarías was as memorable or foreboding as Lugosi , but he isn't terrible . He's just not memorable in an iconic sense . Tovar is given a chance to make her version of Mina sexier , livelier , and a stronger female presence on screen . Pablo Álvarez Rubio was a bit too theatrical as Renfield for my tastes and certainly doesn't match Dwight Frye in the role . I did think Arozamena was a better Van Helsing , given more to do in the role with the ability to spread his wings a bit . His scene denying Dracula's attempt to mentally overtake him was well-staged by all considered including how it was shot . Another important aspect where this version betters the American version is the relationship between Seward and his daughter Eva . He's the one that coerces Eva into showing Van Helsing the bite marks on her neck . As she lays sick and weak in bed , Seward closes in with such fatherly anguish on his face . That element is missing in Browning's film . . not his fault , but that's just difference in casting . The Transylvania sequences are stronger , dialogue-wise , with Dracula and Renfield's exchanges giving us more to go by . I love the cob web scene because Renfield takes his sweet time tearing into it due to intense fear . Oh , and the scene where Dracula smashes the mirror box . Hands down , Melford's version stands ahead . When Van Helsing asks Dracula ( in the American version ) to look at something , he opens it with Lugosi simply knocking it out of the good doctor's hand . In the Spanish version , Villarias ' Count takes his cane and smashes the damn thing into smithereens with cigarettes exploding all over the floor ! And , Melford , wisely , shoots certain scenes from the opposite side of the door Renfield and Dracula frequently enter and exit out of into the yard on the estate . Melford and cinematographer George Robinson also have lots of fluid dolly shots where the camera just moves delicately into scenes pulling in and backing away quietly . The film uses the sets beautifully . Such a magnificent film , both visually stunning and professionally made . A definite must-see for curious Dracula fans and certainly Gothic horror aficionados . |
436,803 | 9,938,570 | 212,132 | 9 | The Tracker | Three white hunters and an aboriginal tracker are combing Australia for another aboriginal accused of killing a white woman . Mostly on horseback , the nameless white hunters have their tracker walk on foot doing his work . The most aggressive white man is played by Gary Sweet . Sweet's authoritarian is a blinded racist who deems himself and his race superior to the aboriginals and unflinchingly shoots women and children without remorse . His methods infuriate the Tracker David Gulpilil and we can see that the aboriginal will eventually get payback when the time is right . Damon Gameau portrays the green , newly enlisted soldier a bit in over his head , but at least feels somewhat humane to the aboriginal race even stopping Sweet from continuing his slaughter of a family of women and children . Grant Page portrays an older gentleman none too pleased to having been volunteered for this mission of retrieving the supposed aboriginal killer . He clearly makes it known to Sweet how he disapproves of his situation . As they journey onward there will come a point of reckoning as The Tracker , who had been chained by Sweet and led around like a slave often tugging on him like a mutt , will quietly get his revenge . The Tracker is all smiles , but in moments when can see the wheels turning as he keeps the white men distanced from the quarry buying time for him . I felt this was more a meditation and indictment on racism toward the aboriginal people . Certinly through the artwork present throughout , and sad melody that accompanies the film , we get a feeling of what the harshness must've been like . The always reliable Gulpilil has the ability to prove that less is more through his subtle performance . The harsh environs of Austrailia again is put to good use . |
436,163 | 9,938,570 | 68,502 | 9 | Dr . Jekyll and Sister Hyde | Dr . Jekyll ( Alan Bates ) really wishes to cure the ills of mankind , but faces a moral dilemma . . he needs to live eternally so the act of death will not stand in the way of experimental progress for curing diseases . He finds that the female hormones is his answer for eternal life , but there's a catch . . when one ingests the formula , they turn female ! He finds this out the hard way . After ingesting some of his formula , he finds that a female emerges in his body and she ( played by the sexually dynamic Martine Beswick . . as far as I was concerned , Jekyll could've remained buried underneath her a lot longer ! ) doesn't wish to leave . Talk about identity crisis ! It doesn't stop there ! This particular film explains who Jack the Ripper , The White Chapel killer really was . . Dr . Jekyll ! Yes , the film has Jekyll murdering the prostitutes extracting their vital female organs for his experiments ! Lots of blood splatter in this Hammer tale . The film doesn't even stop there ! Before going gonzo slaying whores on London fog-shrouded streets , he depended on grave-robbers ( . . and murderers ) Burke and Haire to supply him fresh female victims so that he could remove what he needed for experiments ! This film is macabre at it's very core and director Roy Ward Baker brings an uncanny atmosphere , style , and wicked satire . . when a man faces the opposite sex within opposing , who ultimately wins in the end ? Jekyll ? Hyde ? Is the male stronger or the female ? Which gender ultimately wins that tug of war over mind , body & soul ? Great movie . . not only is it highly entertaining and a visual feast for the eyes thanks to Baker's impressive work , but intelligent and inventive . A triumph for Hammer studios . What great casting ! Bates and Beswick's resemblances are unbelievable ! I did forget to point out a very interesting story that plays out well . . Jekyll is in love with an upstairs neighbor , Susan ( Susan Broderick , quite charming and lovely . . a direct opposite of Beswick who is aggressive , fetching , and sexually overpowering ) and Hyde is in love with Susan's brother Howard ( Lewis Fiander ) ! Now that certainly complicates things ! The violent attacks on White Chapel drunken tramps are not blatant . . Baker shoots them in a way that is effective but not overly gory . A terrific score from David Whitaker , at times quite sinister , and when Beswick appears , enchanting . The transformation sequences are rather imaginatively handled as well . Only on a few occasions does Baker resort to camera dissolves . An interesting turn in the film has a friend of Jekyll's , Professor Robertson ( Gerald Sim ) , with a weakness for women and cheap sex , who suspects his friend for being the Ripper , only to be seduced by Hyde ! |
436,305 | 9,938,570 | 87,800 | 9 | A Nightmare on Elm Street | Whatever you do , don't fall asleep . A Word of Warning : This user comment is for those who have seen the film . You know , I often take away the memorable frightening images when watching this film , but this particular viewing had me focusing on something else . . the ending . If you think about it , the entire film until that baffling final scene is one long nightmare . I was trying to wrap my head around it , because it seems we often overlook this very story arc . I always just told myself , that these four teenagers were being stalked by a nightmare slayer , whose perhaps targeting the children of those who burned him alive . But , it's all ( supposedly ) a scary concoction in the realm of Nancy's ( Heather Langenkamp ) sleep . I'm not sure if I just woke up from being under a rock or what , but it was something that startled me . Then the ending comes ( . . from what I understand , this confusing conclusion was set up by Craven as a favor to producer Shaye who was hoping to benefit from a sequel , and boy was rewarded ! ) and I was once again , as I always am , left with my jaw swinging open . I'll never truly make sense of that final scene , but Craven leaves enough lasting nightmarish images to take away that I'm completely satisfied each time I watch it . The shocking murder of Tina , sliced across the stomach , blood all over the place , dragged up the wall and across the ceiling . Then later , Tina in a body bag ( yikes ! ) calling Nancy's name , later seeing her body , in bag , being drug across the school hallway leaving a blood trail . The invisible hanging of Tina's thuggish beau Rod ( Nick Corri ) in his jail cell , locked up as the one responsible for what Fred Kreuger did to her . The monumental death scene of Johnny Depp's Glen , pulled into a void in his bed ( . . television in tow ) with a gushing water fall of blood erupting like a geyser throughout the ceiling and room . The imaginative occurrences which terrorize Nancy ( . . the telephone-tongue gag , the quicksand steps , the bladed glove slowly creeping from between her legs as she lies in her bath tub nearly asleep ) . Maybe Craven's overall product has flaws which seep through , but he provides so much to make your skin crawl . What playful ground Craven has to operate his ghoulish tricks . . the nightmare world provides such freedom to kill innocent teens anyway you wish , as they run for their very lives with nowhere , it seems , to escape . A " filthy child murderer " who would brings kids to a boiler room to kill . . certainly not the hero many would cheer down the road . Interesting , isn't it , that we often forget the evil fiend he really is . Craven gives this psycho free reign to torment and terrorize , the idea is certainly scary if you think about it . And , as far as Nancy , I was doting on the idea that this film is almost entirely ( . . if not entirely , depending on your opinion with that crazy finale ) inside her nightmare , regarding her parents . Interesting that her mom is an oddball drunk and her dad is always gone . They rarely have anything nice to say to each other , and one can sense that this is in the nightmare for Nancy to deal with . . a daughter bothered by the separation of her parents and how her mother deals with it through downing alcohol . And , it's always nice to see Freddy before he was the jokey psycho-clown . You rarely ever get a full glimpse of his face , he's the epitome of a prowler in the shadows who is always near yet hard to find . . until it's too late , and you are caught in his grip . While I think the Shoulder's " Freddy's Revenge " has the scariest incarnation of Freddy , he's certainly given moments in Craven's film . . such as that one scene where his arms stretch wide as he comes towards Tina , or when he " stretches " through a wall spying on Nancy . And , the smashing sequence where he elastically stretches from the center of a bed after " carrying away " Nancy's mom into some sort of abyss , ripping open the sheet from behind his arch nemesis who has seemingly figured out his ultimate weakness . . he preys , like many a predator , on the quarry's fears . If one doesn't fear him , then he's vulnerable . Anyway , the film is always a roller coaster ride I hate to get off of . . maybe it doesn't scare the hell out of me as it did when I was a kid , but I appreciate and admire the creativity and imagination Craven's supernatural slasher has . |
436,556 | 9,938,570 | 66,412 | 9 | The Strange Vice of Mrs . Wardh | Mrs . Wardh ( the fetching Edwige Fenech ) has a vice . . dangerous men . They excite her sexual desires and director Martino shows this as we peer into her fantasies as many are strangely violent . Julie had married stockbroker Neil ( Alberto de Mendoza ) to separate herself from Jean ( Ivan Rassimov ) , who fulfilled her sexual needs and hungers . She wished to put that part of her on the backburner , but finds another replacement in the handsome George Corro ( George Hilton ) who is cock-sure of his abilities at wooing women and catches an eye for Julie . There is a killer of prostitutes in the area which has caused wide-spread paranoia . This is merely a detail until someone photographs Julie making love to George and demands a ransom . It's instantaneous that Jean , a sleaze photographer , is the likely suspect ( the person demanding ransom disguised his voice ) and Julie's friend Carol ( Conchita Airoldi ) convinces to replace her at the meeting spot . What Carol doesn't expect is to be killed and is by someone dressed up like the serial killer in the papers . In a car garage leading to Julie's apartment , the same man tries to attack her as she was preparing to take her usual elevator up to home . Scared out of her wits , Julie and husband Neil go over to Jean's place but find him dead in his bathtub . The film then shows someone trying to attack an airplane stewardess who is able to kill him . The details line up until we're not sure who is trying to kill Julie which provides the key mystery of the film . I think this film suffers from familiarity with so many different types of mysteries and melodramas and unfortunately doesn't set itself apart from countless clones dealing with the same subjects verbatim . The director has worked with most of this cast over and over so when we see who is actually trying to kill Mrs . Wardh there's not that shock and awe one might expect . Now , this could be because I've watched a few others gialli prior to this one , but this particular giallo really doesn't offer anything really new . It is still quite polished and suspenseful , however , and Martino seems more akin to show lurid sexual activity and the naked bodies of the female form . Fenech just lets herself go in the role and appears quite naked in many ways in the film . . particularly the rough fantasy sequences with Ivan Rassimov's Jean . |
436,421 | 9,938,570 | 76,162 | 9 | Hausu | There are some films that are bizarre beyond words . HOUSE is such a zany and really warped haunted house tale , unlike your typical of the genre , this one has such surreal sequences as a girl being eaten by piano ( . . her decapitated fingers actually playing the musical instrument afterward ! ) , a girl's removed lower torso actually karate kicking a painting of a cat causing the evil cannibalistic spirit to overflow with blood , a disembodied head biting a girl on the buttocks , mattresses attacking a girl , giant lips attempting to eat the remaining girls not yet swallowed , and our lead girl's face shattering like glass , her body becoming a human inferno . This has to be seen to be believed . The premise is bonkers . A young teenage student , Gorgeous , rebels against her widower father after he informs her of his future plans to wed a new love in his life . Along with her fellow school chums , including Fantasy ( . . who's in love with a teacher named Mr . Togo ) , decide to spend their summer vacation at Gorgeous ' mysterious Auntie's creepy mansion resting on a hill overlooking a uninhabited town ( . . featuring only a very suspicious watermelon salesman ! ) . Over the night , the girls discover that wheel-chair bound Auntie is actually a ghost awaiting her lover to return home after heading off to war . Auntie eats unmarried women which provides her with a life force to continue living as an undead spirit with supernatural powers witnessed over the length of the movie . Auntie and her white cat Blanche are ever present images as the girls futilely attempt to escape , succumbing to her unwillingly . Director Nobuhiko Obayashi never allows the film to look realistic and the music is often melodic featuring a bubble-gum score to match the energetic , naive teens who walk right into a truly difficult and unusual situation , to say the least . Obayashi tries every cinematic technique in the book and while his special effects are indeed dated , they provide the audience with a jaw-dropping bombardment of weird images and set-pieces . There's nothing quite like this film anywhere . It's one of a kind , and continues getting stranger every minute , from scene to scene , as Auntie's power grows and the terror towards the girls heightens , with each character falling one by one in very creative ways . While the film is by and large a film whose reputation is built on it's wacky nature , there are some genuine scenes of beauty , often even melancholy , but even the most romantic moment is off-set by a truly eye-popping follow-up . The characters are bubbly , enthusiastic , giggly sorts one is accustomed to in regards to teenage girls . What happens to them over the course of the film is what gives HOUSE it's growing cult following . I can promise you that HOUSE definitely lives up to the hype regarding sheer insanity and crazed visuals . |
435,790 | 9,938,570 | 45,877 | 9 | Hitch-Hiker | One of the best films made about the misfortune of picking up the wrong hitchhiker . Ida Lupino's tough little programmer about two men , Roy Collins & Gilbert Bowen ( Edmond O'Brien & Frank Lovejoy ) who pick up killer Emmett Myers ( William Talman , who is really intense and creepy in this role ; very effective portrayal of a remorseless monster ) . He holds them captive with a pistol always in his hand . Control is his drug and wielding his weapon brings a rush he often parlays through mind-games . . especially with Collins who is more fragile than tough-minded Bowen who is able to keep his mind centered on their freedom at the right moment of surprise . This film follows them through the Mexican desert and mountainous plain ( the location work is as much a reason why this film is so successful as the very good leads ) while we wonder how our unfortunate captives will or will not survive . A little eerie touch to the film is that Talman's Myers has an eye that doesn't shut so at night it makes it harder for our heroes to determine whether or not he's asleep . Above everything this film is a psychological thriller between psychopath and his hostages . He relishes having them under his power with no real way to escape without harming one or the other . Collins and Bowen could easily betray each other's trust and run for it , but this film shows the character they have . They are flawed people ( as Myers often pokes at them . . why didn't they go to Arizona like they were supposed to ? ) who are faced with this ever-growing knowledge that at anytime he could kill them . That tension is really what makes this film so very good . The trials of the place they inhabit is also a major theme as that harsh sun and dust beats down on them after their car goes on the fritz . They are always having to elude capture because of that blasted gun aiming for their bodies . We also see how the Mexican police cooperate with US authorities to find Myers . . that is also showed by Lupino is great detail . The film is thrilling to watch . . Lupino really made a humdinger of a film here . The three leads really only bring an added professionalism to this film making it more than just a cheap B-film . |
436,905 | 9,938,570 | 32,366 | 9 | Crimes at the Dark House | Devlishly wicked tale of a murderer ( the deliciously vile Tod Slaughter ) stealing the identity of Percivel Glyde , a man supposedly on the throes of receiving a large castle and possible fortune . What the false Glyde doesn't expect is that the ancestor not only left him the castle , but in a state of massive debt . He is told , however , that his ancestor had arranged a marriage between Percival and Laurie Fairlie ( Sylvia Marriott ) , the daughter of a nobleman who left her in the care of a selfish old disease-phobic uncle , Frederick ( David Horne ) who is squeamish when anyone challenges him or sneezes around him . . he often goes into outrageous fits when Laurie's very vocal , high-strung sister Marion ( Hilary Eaves ) confronts him on his wrongs and attitudes towards them . But , Laurie , despite being madly in love with " paint-instructor " Paul ( Geoffrey Wardwell ) , agrees to marry Percival , although she's deeply sad regarding the weighted burden of marrying a man she'll never love . The arrangement of marriage could lead to quite a fortune if the false Percival can get Laurie to sign a document turning over her assets to his name . Marion , Laurie's confidant and adviser , however , will always be a thorn in the false Percival's side . Also , weighing on the false Percival's mind is the mother of the real Percival's child , a woman bound in a private asylum , ran by the slimy director Dr . Isidor Fosco ( Hay Petrie ; playing him as a sly scoundrel , almost as devious a character as the false Percival ) . He'll have to be rid of the mother , Mrs . Catherick ( Elsie Wagstaff ) and somehow get rid of a nagging nuisance that develops . . the real Percival's daughter , the " woman in white " Anne Catherick ( also played by Sylvia Marriott ) escapes from the asylum in an unfortunate mishap and begins raising havoc informing Paul that the false Percival only wishes to marry Laurie for her money . And , he has ANOTHER problem he'll have to deal with , a lovely servant girl he soon makes a chambermaid . . she's pregnant with the false Percival's child and wants to marry him herself . He contends with all this drama while being blackmailed by Fosco who will keep his lips sealed if the false Percival feeds his pockets with a large sum . Together , the false Percival and Fosco etch out a plan . . because Laurie and Anne look almost identical , they could let Anne die of the pneumonia she contacts being out in the open too long and switch her body with Laurie's . They'd lock Laurie away in the asylum with everyone believing her dead using the corpse of Anne as the disguise . Through and through , however , Paul and Marion will not easily sit on their hands when they know deep down inside that the false Percival is indeed not who he he says he is . And , it's only a matter of time before the relationship between two scoundrels , Foscoe and the false Percival will deteriorate . Marvelously twisted black comedy is played with such relish and glee , the flick is intoxicatingly entertaining . . if the material suits your tastes . The false Percival , played with such demented joy by a great Tod Slaughter , who cackles with widened eyes as he strangles innocents unfortunate enough to meet him late at night at an isolated boat house . The film is also startlingly adult presenting some pretty disturbing material played to the hilt . I mean , in the opening scene , Slaughter kills the real Percival with hammered stake to the temple of his skull ! Despite watching a bad quality print ( this terrific film deserves a pristine copy if ever a film deserves one ) , the film's still atmospherically rich with a very noirish , Gothic , decadent beauty . A must-see for fans of macabre comedies . Not for all tastes . |
436,122 | 9,938,570 | 72,196 | 9 | Spasmo | Slippery giallo from Umberto Lenzi has young swinging bachelor Christian Bauman ( Robert Hoffman ) , a wealthy heir to his dead industrialist father's massive factory , abandons his painter girlfriend for the beautiful woman , Barbara ( Suzy Kendall ) , he meets under awkward circumstances lying face-down on the muddy sand of a beach , with the appearance of a corpse having washed ashore . Their strange introduction gets even weirder when , not having been in each other's company that long , prepare for a sexual encounter ( he even calls her his " sweet little whore " ! ) when Christian shoots a scary stranger with the mysterious man's own gun . Barbara , in the other room getting undressed , doesn't see what took place , but persists that Christian leave the body where it's at and prepare to hide it , not calling the police to implicate her or him . But , Barbara has a man in her life , Alex ( Mario Erpichini ) who doesn't like Christian's moving in on his catch . Meeting at Alex's yacht , Christian startlingly remembers leaving his necklace at the hotel he and Barbara planned to have sex in . The man he shot is missing with only spots of blood leaving any indication that any person was there . From this point on , Christian's life spirals out of control as Barbara takes the poor , confused soul to a luxurious villa overlooking the sea as a couple who rents the joint show up . . older gent , Malcolm ( Guido Alberti ) , and his much younger squeeze , Clorinda ( Monica Monet ) . Christian becomes quite bewildered because it seems he has met Clorinda somewhere before , meets a strange man ( with shades hiding his eyes ) who was spying on him and Barbara earlier , seeing him having a conversation with Malcolm into the night . Clorinda and Barbara both act oddly around Christian as if they know certain things , but keep this vital knowledge ( that might help him sort out his plight ) to themselves . Soon , the man he thought he murdered shows up at the villa , and Barbara just might prove not to be the woman he thought was the chosen love for his life . Giallo mainstay Ivan Rassimov has a small but crucial role as Christian's brother Fritz known for bailing his brother out of trouble , and the actual responsible one running the factory business . . yet , he plays a heavy part in the story revolving around Christian . The film also opens the idea that Christian is schizophrenic since his family is known to have that unfortunate mental illness , an example being his grandfather . The death of Christian's father also reveals a specific aspect regarding his deteriorating mental state . Everything that seems weird and odd , those pesky loose ends that seem unresolved as Christian's life gets spun around in circles regarding the killer he supposedly murdered , come together in an incredible montage of death scenes unleashing a killer and his victims . It takes the typical giallo framework and spins in on it's head . Is the protagonist , who we begin to gain sympathy towards since his life is becoming a roller-coaster ride of bizarre psychological trappings , really who we think he is ? And , his brother Fritz . . what's with this guy and his motives towards his brother regarding the unfolding of events to come to a head at the end of the film ? I have read comments from many who have problems with the film's structure and logical story-telling , but I think this creates a most unusual and unique experience compared to the other gialli which flooded the Italian marketplace . Umberto Lenzi's premise goes into all sorts of directions with the protagonist captured in a state of paranoia and confusion , not knowing who he can trust or if what he's experiencing is even real . Motives of characters are often unclear . The overplotted chaos Christian is swirling in , I felt , creates a schizophrenic experience for the viewer . . in a sense , we feel as baffled as Christian does . I like this myself . . a lot . The mannequins Lenzi layers the film ( Lenzi himself titles this idea . . " the doll motif " ) are obviously designed to catch the viewer off-guard and provide an even weirder experience coupled with the mystery unfolding before our eyes . I think this film is great fun , mainly because I like these psychological thrillers where nothing is what it seems and anyone is suspect . The climax which explains what Christian and Fritz are suffering with ( . . and finally stamping what the hell those mannequins are indeed about ) I think works tremendously . |
436,087 | 9,938,570 | 105,242 | 9 | The Resurrected | Private detective John March ( John Terry ) is hired by a beautiful client , Claire ( Jane Sibbett ) concerned about her husband Charles Dexter Ward ( Chris Sarandon , yet again perfectly cast ) who has removed himself from her life almost completely , secluding himself from their cottage miles away in his ancestral home of Joseph Curwen , a person known for toying with witchcraft . Encountering a curiously declining Charles , speaking with an unusual grammar and an unusual Asian who speaks no English , within the Curwen home , March and Claire know something is amiss . Claire , truly worried about her husband's mental health , agrees to have Charles committed . Searching through the underground catacombs beneath Curwen's home , the mysteries regarding bringing the dead back to life are discovered . But , not just notes and written papers acknowledging this , but pits containing " failed experiments " revealing a monstrous secret hidden away from civilization . Yet , something is on the rampage throughout Rhode Island eating residents . When a suitcase carrying bones is opened by March , he truly understands who Charles really is . . . or , more importantly , who is carrying on a charade pretending to be Charles . Shamefully neglected ( . . I myself only found out about it thanks to an Internet pal from Belgium ) gem has to be considered one of the best horror films adapted from a Lovecraft tale . The gore effects of the monsters in the pits within the catacombs , bodies " re-birthed " , and two bodies being " spliced together " are amazing to behold thanks to good ole fashioned make-up wizardry . Old school special effects , made by the hands of craftsman , are certainly appreciated by yours truly , and director Dan O'Bannon brings to life quite a stunning horror film . Not just the effects , but how he photographs the film through his energetic camera-work , smooth story-telling , and a wonderful unveiling of the mystery as it builds ( . . what " Charles " was up to , hidden away as a private dick learns of the horrifying details unfolding everything to the viewer ) inside the darkened tunnels where you never know what lurks around the corner or in the next room , O'Bannon deserves more respect from fans . . this is a film that should be re-discovered and appreciated . Great finale in a padded cell where March confronts " Charles " and faces grave danger , just adds to the grisly goodies of this superb thriller . And , Richard Band's score only adds to the film's many attributes . For once , I don't think Lovecraft wasn't spinning in his grave . . |
436,303 | 9,938,570 | 202,493 | 9 | Curse of the Blair Witch | Brilliantly conceived fake documentary of the Blair Witch mythos , Burkittsville's past origins ( . . how the township of Blair became Burkittsville ) regarding a witch banished to the woods by superstitious locals in Colonial times who is reported to haunt those very woods at least every 60 years , children disappearing , others dying . Also , this explores the footage found of three missing student filmmakers and their descent into the woods on the outskirts of Burkittsville . We get a series of interviews from actors portraying professors , a historian , sheriff , & detective . We get an eerie narrative voice summarizing the spooky recorded documents regarding past haunts of Elly , the Blair Witch and those who mention seeing , communicating , and obeying her ( . . such as the infamous child murdering hermit Rustin Parr , who proclaimed that voices directed his methods of execution ) . What I found stunningly believable were the interviews with those who either knew or were related to the three missing filmmakers . I remember watching this on the Sci-fi channel way back in ' 99 before The Blair Witch Project , and must say that " Curse . . " and the movie are almost an essential package together . " Curse . . " really adds to the marketing juggernaut that was The Blair Witch Project , giving the " lost footage " a rack to hang it's hat on . I applaud directors Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez for creating a complete phenomenon , forming a history and origin of a fictitious witch , using the medium of television and movie-making to birth this whole " missing students " and their supposed " lost footage . " Sure , these guys were inspired by such as " Haxan " ( . . and I'm sure Deodato's " Cannibal Holocaust " was as well ) , but The Blair Witch Project , even if it doesn't give you a definite answer as to what happened to those college students who went into the Maryland woods never to return , still lives and breathes thanks to imaginative efforts like " Curse of the Blair Witch . " Heck , the guys even had an old interview with Parr on B & W film stock ( . . looks like something culled from old crime footage ) , and this 70's archival interview with a hippie cultist with an astute knowledge of witchcraft . A Blair Witch tome , photos of the student filmmakers working with equipment . Old child and family photos of the lost filmmakers . These guys went out of their way to create the success that was The Blair Witch Project . Too bad neither filmmaker has quite lived up to The Blair Witch Project , making little genre films , but never quite achieving the same experience as The Blair Witch Project & Curse of the Blair Witch . Maybe it is a product of it's time , but it's influence is seen to this very day . . it's undeniable . As a promotional tool , " Curse of the Blair Witch " excels , and , heck , some might say is as creepy if not in fact creepier that the film it's supposed to sell ! |
436,624 | 9,938,570 | 76,150 | 9 | Alice , Sweet Alice | The tragic murder of a little girl , Karen ( Brooke Shields , who was just an adorable child ) before receiving her communion powerfully opens this horror film about a killer donning a yellow raincoat and children's mask . The film immediately points towards Alice ( Paula Sheppard , who is quite creepy . . her image in the closing frame gave me goosebumps ) who was quite jealousy of Karen's attention regarding her communion . We see Alice mistreating her in various ways like locking Karen up in the room of an abandoned , condemned building . Alice clearly loathes Karen for she's the beautiful one others gravitate towards . We see Alice's really dark side particularly around the obese , disgusting landlord , Alphonso ( Alphonso DeNoble ) with a number of cats in his apartment while also sporting a urine stain on his undies . She explodes with these rude , crude , often bluntly profane comments that show this nasty side . Obviously , Alice's mother , Catherine ( the lovely Linda Miller ) can not believe her daughter would commit such an act such as killing Karen . But , when someone attacks Cat's sister Annie ( Jane Lowry in a memorable , short role ) quite an overbearing wretch who orders her meek husband around , Alice really becomes the prime suspect . She was in the general area where Annie was brutally stabbed , has a yellow raincoat and mask that matches the description the psychopath wears . Even worse is the fact that Annie believes Alice did it . But , when Alice is currently being under observation by psychiatric help , the killer strikes Dominick ( Niles McMaster ) . . Cat's estranged husband and Alice's father in a terrifying , but truly unforgettable sequence . When we get a look at who is behind the killings , the film notches up the suspense for this person has masked his ( her ) self quite well within the Catholic community . Fantastic low-budget slasher flick grips from the moment it starts thanks to an ominous build that doesn't let go . The creepy performance from Sheppard , the authentic , excellent use of New Jersey locations , the magnificent photography , and disturbing knife attacks create such a chilling experience . Mildred Clinton has a haunting role as Mrs . Tredoni , the housekeeper of Priest Father Tom ( Rudolph Willrich ) who plays a crucial part in the story . Elements such as the sins of a mother , Catholic guilt , the loss of a child , communion , & just the way Catholicism plays a heavy symbolic hand are important to the reasons behind the sadistic killer's motives . The image of the yellow raincoat and children's mask really only adds to unsettling kill-sequences of the psycho . |
436,200 | 9,938,570 | 158,714 | 9 | Lady Snowblood | In turbulent Japan , in the 1870's , the political system was corrupt and often peasants and the poor suffered for their wicked ways of living . But , Yuki Kashima's ( Meiko Kaji ) mother was a victim of criminal swindlers who would thrive off villagers for protection against being drafted for war . Tsukamoto Gishiro ( Eiji Okada ) , Takemura Banzo ( Noboru Nakaya ) , Shokei Tokuichi ( Takeo Chii ) & Kitahama Okono ( Sanae Nakahara ) were responsible for Yuki's father's horrifyingly violent demise , proclaiming him a corrupt member of government just because he wore white ( . . he was actually an innocent schoolteacher on his way to teach in the village the four thieves had just swindled ) . Also brutally slain was Yuki's mother's little boy . Yuki's mother was able to kill Tokuichi , but before getting her retribution towards the others was imprisoned . Knowing that she would not have a chance to get revenge towards the others while stuck in prison , Yuki's mother continuously whored herself to any male she could just so she could become pregnant . Through the child could vengeance be dealt towards those who wronged her . Instead of a man-child , Yuki was born , but her mother died shortly after giving birth ( . . the birth was an extremely difficult one ) . Through the intense and difficult training with a Master ( Kô Nishimura ) , Yuki would become a weapon of vengeance , her sword-fighting skills unmatched by her foes . But , those she seeks to kill aren't playing by rules , and will use whatever means possible to keep her from achieving the goal from her very birth . Conceived in hate and vengeance , Yuki couldn't merely just hide all emotion and live like a cold-blooded killer , she was fighting for a cause . . the right wrongs caused by the ones who not only robbed her mother of a happy life , to die in a prison cell , but swindled her people as well . Essentially , Toshiya Fujita's film is a four-chapter tale of revenge , with Yuki an unstoppable highly-skilled assassin whose sword ( . . which slides from it's umbrella holster , a perfect-hiding place for a beautiful female killer ) opens many wounds that gush blood . Each chapter , " Vengeance Binds Love & Hate " , " Crying Bamboo Dolls of the Netherworlds " , " Umbrella of Blood , Heart of Strewn Flowers " , & " The House of Joy , The Final Hell " displays Yuki targeting those who wronged her mother . Other sub-plots emerge as she blazes her trail of blood . Her first victim , Banzo , has a young daughter who prostitutes herself so that he can have booze and medicine for what ails him . The daughter herself will desire revenge towards Yuki , proving that vengeance begets vengeance . Yuki meets a newspaper reporter , Ryu ( Toshio Kurosawa ) who novelizes her story , provided to him by her Master , the Reverend . Later , Yuki will discover an unknown fact about Ryu regarding her final target , thought to be dead due to his tombstone , Gishiro . But , through Ryu's novel ( . . Yuki's exploits which are stirring up the village readers , as if she were a Christ-like figure inspiring them ) , a hidden adversary will seek Yuki's whereabouts , Okono . Okono has the police in her hip pocket , but no army of men will be prepared for what Yuki has in store . Thanks to a change in times of cinema in his country , Fujita's film is incredibly violent , the blood is actually used not only as a gore-device to display torn flesh spewing , but as an artistic symbol ( . . despite being grisly , there's something oddly spellbinding regarding Banzo's gushing body being battered by the waves of an ocean as the water slowly turns red , the way blood trickles from the tip of Yuki's sword , or the haunting river pool that flows from her mother's husband's decimated corpse , his ravaged suit barely white any longer ) . The battles , while not as long as you'd expect , are appropriately staged in grand style with victims falling to the sword in number , screaming from the agony as Yuki slices her way through them . We see Yuki's sword go through certain victims as she pulls it out very slowly . There's a really nifty sequence where one of her targets commits suicide with Yuki slicing the dead body in half with blood showering shortly after . But , Fujita does provide a backstory Yuki lives within , a land riddled in wickedness and corruption , and she is a symbol of justice , while her adversaries represent the evils that are sweeping the country . But , above all , this is an incredibly mounted tale of revenge , using a female assassin as the lead this time , who will stop at nothing to see that her mother's death wasn't in vain . Kaji's performance is stunning ( . . those moments where we actually see on her face how wrought in agony she is when facing the idea that one of her quarry possibly escapes the slice of her sword while alive , especially ) and this is quite an iconic character . |
436,362 | 9,938,570 | 47,985 | 9 | The Desperate Hours | Simply outstanding , genuinely suspenseful thriller about a group of escaped convicts terrorizing a suburban family as they hole up in their home . It's a game of cat-and-mouse as Dan Hilliard ( Fredric March , just terrific ) must find a way to keep his family safe against gruff louse Glenn ( Humphrey Bogart , unshaven carrying a scowl and sneer most of the film's duration ) , his mild brother Hal ( Dewey Martin , clearly portraying a brother whose life suffered because of the influence of his hood brother ) and unhinged , unpleasant , child-like Kobish ( Robert Middleton , playing him with quite a few screws loose ) while they await money at Midnight from the lead hood's dame . That dame is being tailed by Deputy Sheriff Bard ( Arthur Kennedy ) who has a history with Glenn . Bard receives cooperation from the FBI through agent Carson ( Whit Bissell ) . Glenn warns Dan that if he even sees coppers near the house the family gets it . Soon , though , Glenn's plans on receiving the cash from his dame at Midnight doesn't go according to plan meaning an extended amount of terror towards Dan and his family . Through it all , Dan must match wits with his captors somehow contacting the police without Glenn and his cronies knowing . The tension in this film is so thick you could cut it with a knife . . gripping from the very moment Bogie begins his takeover of the home until the end when he must face the music , this film caused me to bite my nails to the quick . With a masterful director like William Wyler calling the shots behind the camera and the caliber of March as the heroic father and Bogie as the chief hood , you just can't go wrong . Gig Young has a crucial role as lawyer Chuck , Dan's daughter's boyfriend . |
436,783 | 9,938,570 | 47,880 | 9 | The Big Knife | One singular mistake in Hollywood " star " Charles Castle's life ( a criminal one at that ) haunts him to the point now that it has caught up with him . He had dreams of being a star of quality pictures , but along the way sold his soul to a producer , Stanley Shriner Hoff ( the great , ferocious Rod Steiger ) who only uses his image to sell pictures . The time has came to sign a new contract with Hoff , but Charles really wishes to simply move out of Hollywood somewhere because he is just tired of being part of the mechanisms of Hoff's meat grinder . But , his mistake ( the death of a girl who was hit by a car with Charles behind the wheel ) is wielded by Hoff in his face as a reminder that he has to make the " right " decision or else face possible dire consequences . Charles is under pressure from his wife , Marion ( Ida Lupino ) to not falter to Hoff's demands to re-sign ( she does not know about the car accident ) . Marion has suffered much being the wife of an unhappy man ( more importantly , an unfaithful husband ) , tormented by his unfortunate cartoony career , and wishes he'd gather enough guts to face off with Hoff and not break . There's a blabbermouth named Dixie ( the incomparable Shelley Winters ) who knows about the car accident and Hoff is constantly under strain to supply her with a happy enough life to keep that trap shut . Keeping her from spilling the beans since she's always drinking like a fish is yet another source of agony for Charles whose shoulders and back are so weighted , we see him always twisting in a knot of bad nerves and strain . Couple another problem on top of the heap being his manager ( and best friend who took the wrap for his crime ) , Buddy ( Paul Langton ) , whose wife Connie ( Jean Hagen ) pressures him to sleep with her . The film follows the tumultuous emotional roller coaster Charles faces trying to come out unscathed against such terrible odds . . a certainly tall stack decked , that's for sure . Powerfully acted drama has it's moments of melodrama , but is potent stuff with Palance at his greatest in such a difficult role . He is a fragile man trying to remain tough in a world that is beating him to a pulp . |
436,941 | 9,938,570 | 72,288 | 9 | Thunderbolt and Lightfoot . | Preparations are in order to rob Montana Armoured when a young goof-ball roadie named Lightfoot ( Jeff Bridges , nothing short of amazing ) convinces ex-bank robber Thunderbolt ( Clint Eastwood , very mellow and pleasant in this particular film ) and his ex-heister partners ( Geoffrey Lewis as Goody & George Kennedy as the extremely volatile Red Leary . . who originally plan to kill Thunderbolt believing he hid the loot they stole from that very bank of Montana Armoured ten years prior ) to attempt the daring feat of working over a bank twice . It's a ballsy suggestion , but Thunderbolt gives it considerable thought and talks his " pals " into making plans to commit to robbing it . But , Red doesn't like the young drifter and swears that harm will come to him after the heist is over . Red has some issues controlling his anger and his partner Goody often receives the brunt of the punishment . This is a heist film so you know even if the robbery goes well , complications are bound to ensue , especially when you have a partner like Red who can not control his rage . At first the film is a road movie with Thunderbolt and Lightfoot bonding almost , if not , like brothers . They grow on each other , and that chemistry between Eastwood and Bridges is a pleasure to watch . Kennedy really plays Red like a fireball operating on a very short fuse . Lewis is pitch-perfect as the unfortunate punching bag of Red , though he doesn't deserve to be treated the way he is . . he's loyal , but not a violent man . Perhaps associating himself with Red was not wise and would certainly lead to an early grave . The film is filled with colorful characterizations , but this provides Jeff Bridges with the perfect star vehicle to show his incredible talent . |
435,811 | 9,938,570 | 54,988 | 9 | Homicidal | Emily ( Jean Arless ) is so beautiful , yet so . . HOMICIDAL ! ! We watch as this blonde bombshell murders a justice-in-peace after coercing a bellhop , through a substantial sum , to marry her and this opens up the movie ! You know right here that this woman is truly nuts because director William Castle shoots her demented eyes close-up as she stabs repeatedly this old guy awaken in the middle of the night just to marry someone . . why would this happen ? Later , Emily drives home and torments this stroke victim named Helga ( Eugenie Leontovich ) by informing her of the evil deed she just committed . She's Helga's nurse and they have recently returned to the United States from Denmark with a man named Warren . Warren is to receive a multi-million dollar inheritance when he turns twenty-one . He has a sister Miriam ( Patricia Breslin ) who witnessed as a child the abuse Warren suffered from his father and then later from Helga . Helga , now , is mute and uses a wood-piece to communicate . She knows more than the viewer regarding Emily and her mysterious motives . We watch as Emily acts strangely , eyes full of hate , as she speaks to Miriam . . something about Miriam just enrages Emily to no end . Emily later , after leaving Miriam with Helga to get a prescription from the pharmacy , breaks into her flower shop destroying various wedding & floral decorations not to mention destroying Warren's photograph and picture frame . Meanwhile , the plainclothes police are out combing California for the murderer of the justice-of-peace and it's only a matter of time before Emily will have to finish whatever plan she has in store for others lying in her path . Miriam has a beau , Karl ( Glenn Corbett ) who works as a pharmacist and will assist police in finding the possible murderer when Emily fits the description . Another interesting twist in this bizarre tale , supposedly Emily is married to Warren who eventually shows up shocked that Miriam and Karl would even think his wife could commit such a violent act . But , there's a certain twist that comes right out of the blue Miriam certainly didn't see coming . . Seemingly inspired ( elements anyway ) by Hitchcock's PSYCHO , this flick tackles some themes such as sexual ( dis ) orientation and the after-effect of a traumatizing childhood due to abuse . Emily is the chess piece that holds all the answers to the film's ultimate mystery . . why is she so unhinged and what causes her to react so negatively towards Helga and Miriam ? Littered with clues in the screenplay , Castle succeeds at building this unique story that makes more sense as the twist emerges and all the pieces fall into place . Simply Castle's finest hour as director . The Fright Break is a hoot , but this film is brilliant without Castle having to resort to such measures at corralling viewers into theater seats . |
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