Director: Bev Land Starring:Dania Ramirez, Jake Lockett, Rebekah Graf. USA 1h 27m
With all of the success of the Underworld series and countless other werewolf.lycan movies the genre develops into a melodramatic teen scream film with no real direction and hardly any point. We all know the drill about a group of kids trying to dig up a local legend but what we don’t plan on watching is all the boring bits that good films leave out, with them getting lost and talking crap for an hour. But sadly this film will subject you to a lot of “missing” elements which doesn’t build any tension and mades the film all that more tedious.. But.. it’s not a total loss…Continue reading Lycan (2017)→
Director:Diastème . Starring.Alban Lenoir, Samuel Jouy, Paul Hamy France. 1h 38m.
Despite the name the film isn’t quite about being French but the tired old nationalistic ideas which make people believe that they are better for having been born in a certain country and using this as an excuse to be a general douchebag. But the magic of this familiar film is that despite the toxic nature of the mindless characters our lead manages to feel more pride in himself after he abandons his gang of violent misfits.
Marco (Lenoir) is a skinhead, a violent single track minded skinhead who feels pretty brave when he’s on the streets with his friends Braguette, Grand-Guy and Marvin. They spend their days intimidating anyone who looks foreign, damaging property and plastering up sticker and posters illustrating their neo nazi connections. At home life is more demoralizing, his father is a pathetic drunk and his mother just fumbles from one day to the other. While at work Marco gets on with everyone, he’s calm and productive and it’s unlike his street bravado, he’s just another guy. But still he feels as if he belongs with his gang and attends gathering and rallies and even falls in love with a chick who shares his ideals and they produce a darling baby girl.Continue reading Un Français / French Blood (2015)→
Horror is certainly one of my favourite genres, over the years it’s changed from ghouls and monsters creeping around in the darkness, to more ferocious Hammer Horror and Universal Monsters thrashing around and breaking new ground, generally women were the victims or just an attractive side kick, slowly through horror and sci fi, action and drama, women started to find a voice and became stronger on the silver screen, some of them even became our saviours and heroines. This is a list of 10 women who displayed their true grit and managed to make it through a horror flick without getting mauled, eaten or kidnapped for alien breeding programmes… Please note that I will be discussing the END of these movies and therefore SPOILERS!
01.Suspiria (1977)
One of Dario Argento’s classic films see’s a young dancer, Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) travel from New York to the Tanz Dance Academy in Freiburg, Germany, but on arriving she starts to notice strange events and these escalate into gresome Giallo technicolour murders. Feeling out of place and having to cope with peculiar events and possibly being controlled by mysterious forces she manages to unravel what/who is picking off the lovely girls around her, which makes her a number one target. She’s incredibly brave but it’s fear which really keeps her going! The film is lavish with a neon effect which is something idolised by modern directors who are still highly influenced by Argento’s deep sensual style. 10/10Continue reading Final Girls Vol.1→
Gladiator was quite an experience at the cinema, I was pleased to see I wasn’t the only person crying at the end, but I was more impressed with this bold new hero that was chucking swords into the crowd!
A bit of background, Gladiator is about a Roman called Maximus Decimus Meridius played by Russell Crowe, who is in charge of and has gained the respect of a massive army, but on the very day the Emperor has promised him a succession the Emperor is killed by his jealous son who usurps the leadership.
In the meantime the Maximus refuses to believe the flimsy story that the Emperor died in his sleep bull shit and is sent out to be killed by the jealous son, he escapes and heads back to Spain to protect his family, but gets there just in time to see their charred bodies hanging in the gardens, from there on Maximus is a broken man. He gets picked up by Oliver Reed , an ex Gladiator himself, who managed to win his freedom and now pimps him as a gladiator, but while he’s excellent at despatching other slaves in the mini coliseums, he has little outbursts, frustrated that the man who slaughtered his family is still living and breathing, and this has to be his best outburst!
This scene is particularly interesting as Reed (Proximo) can see the greatness in Maximus and is trying to coach him into winning his freedom but Maximus is a lost cause at this stage, acting more like Kevin and Perry. He tells him to remember that he’s an entertainer. Maximinus then goes out on his own to kill the other gladiators and after the short electric bloodbath and decapitation he launches a sword at the nobility and shouts “are you not entertained” but even after this outburst, the crowd still chant his name in respect. No matter what he does he will be loved by the crowds, something that will come to save his life later on in the movie.
Moby Dick
Ninja Scroll
Blood Glacier *Double jeopardy 7/10 *The sentinel 8/10 *Die harder 6/10
White house down *Wild Beasts 7/10Continue reading March 2018 Film List→
Director:Aaron Harvey Starring: William Fichtner, Jessica McNamee, Jean Louisa Kelly USA. 1h 45m
A quiet and unassuming man Mike (Fichtner) drifts through his morning routine, he writes technical manuals, his wife, Lisa (Kelly) is an ambitious teacher, they barely cross each others path, with little to talk about, his mind wanders…. He notices new neighbours unpacking and instantly becomes infatuated with Jenna (McNamee), and in turn he develops a deep hatred for her loud mouth and abusive boyfriend. Slowly things break down even further with his uncaring career driven wife as he comes to realise that he’s stuck in a stagnant relationship and dead marriage, but he has a strange backup plan, as a special friendship grows with Jenna to the point of obsession, he keeps a watchful eye over her and helps with her gardening, they even hit the pipe together so its gotta be love right?! Mike is meek, gentle and cares with his heart not his brain, you can see a deep ocean of emotions washing over this psychee ever time he sees her. After his wife kicks him out and Jenna promises to leave Mr quick fists everything seems to be okay but Mike is soon to becomes his worst enemy.Continue reading Last days of summer AKA The neighbour (2018)→
Director:Kim Chapiron . Starring. Adam Butcher,Shane Kippel,Mateo Morales, Slim Twig.Canada. 1h m.
Long after a wave of brutal British films hit the screen in the late 70’s and early 80’s detailing social disturbances, punk and skinhead culture and a lot of lost souls, race relations were at a boiling point with the rise of right wing groups in English cities and this all got reflected in such institutional films as Scum (1979), Made in England (1982) and Scrubbers (1982), that era passed and there was a lot of calm, but director Kim Chapiron, who had blasted on the scene with Sheitan (2010) a creepy occult themed thriller starring Vincent Cassel. While Dog Pound doesn’t employ the macabre of the unknown it’s equally disturbing and a loose remake of Scum.
Director: Liam O’Donnell . Starring. Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Jonny Weston, Iko Uwais, Antionio Gargas USA. 1h 45m.
Skyline seems to be cursed, the original movie had a great idea and outstanding budget but the story was so basic that it only started to get into motion in the final few moments, after watching this tepid sequel, it seems both movies could have easily made one film, with the original being trimmed down to a mere introduction. Ultimately Skyline remains one of the worst sci fi movies in recent history, and only a little it really saved with this sequel.
Things pick up from the where the last movie left off, the world is under attack from a monstrous species of aliens who have weird mecha technology partially organic and looking quite similar to the machines from the Matrix series, they use lights to brainwash people into coming to them, like the blue lights in the deli are used to attract flies. In Skyline a hero was born in the finale moments, it seems the aliens are interested in our brains (fools!!) and while the hero was killed while trying to protect his pregnant girlfriend, his brain is placed into one of the alien “machines” which is a Guyver like suit, he managed to regain his consciousness and started the fight against the aliens, AS one of the aliens! Luckily you’ll know who this good buy is as he glows red while all the other aliens glow blue.. just putting that out there..Continue reading Beyond Skyline (2017)→
I’m not sure which came first, Golden Queen or Pink Force as they were both made in 1982(?) but these explosive action adventure Commando movies often have each other’s scenes spliced into one another. Personally I found Pink Force to be way more thrilling with its stronger western themes and total kookiness, but that doesn’t mean that this prison based flick is worse, but it has very different themes with an almost identical cast.
Golden Queen Commando opens with some Visual Kei gang leader playing cards with some street gangster types when a fight breaks out despite her fast shooting the police crash the party and she’s sent to prison, other short vignettes for other criminal women (Black Fox, Clack Cat, Dynamite, Sugar Plum, Amazon, Brandy and Quick Silver (our stunning card shark)), each with their own special skill and extreme costume all end with them being sent to the same nazi war prison.
Things being to heat up when one of the women starts to antagonise the others while getting a feeling for their strengths and weaknesses. And they slowly hatch a plan to escape and to kill the vile fat nazi warden and his henchmen and then head out to destroy a WWII nazi chemical lab. But not before they being total chaos and mayhem with their unique fighting skills, and all looking totally beautiful within the prison walls..
Control of tone is essential to any film but this is kicked into the wind and blasted to pieces, the film had no formula and that’s what makes it a marvellous and highly entertaining bonkers exploitations flick. The final act is highlighted with a soundtrack from Ennio Morricone which makes this a hash up of the Dirty Dozen (1967) / Magnificent 7 (1960)a la psychotronic style. Obviously there is a stunning finale and the scene which sees a spy outed is straight out of an X-Japan music video. All round fun and frolics that’s hard to ever forget.
Rating 5/10
R – Pink Force Commando (1982), Love Massacre (1981), L – A-Z of Taiwan Cinema Vol 1. A – Pink Cinema Vs – Pink Force Commando Vs Golden Queen Commando.
Director:Kevin Greutert Starring: Stephen Dorff,Deborah Kara Unger, Johnathon Schaech, Deborah Kara Unger, Johnathon Schaech, Ben Sullivan. USA. 1h 25m
This unusual horror, loosely based on retro accounts of cults programming teens starts out well, an point of view break in results in the brutal stabbing of a couple in their bed, the culprit catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he’s wearing a mask and heads into the next bedroom, the young girl there recognises him, it seems he’s her brother, she’s concerned about the blood on his hands and runs to raise her parents, the culprit pulls down his mask and returns to the crime scene where he strangles her.
Every family buries secrets. But some secrets won’t stay buried.
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