Director: Frederico Prosperi (as Fred Goodwin) Starring: J. Eddie Peck, Jill Schoelen, Jamie Farr, Bo Svenson .Italy/USA. 1h 37m
After the success of The Curse (1987), an indie effort to breathe cinematic life into the classic HP Lovecraft story The Color Out of Space. An Italian/American sequel, in name only manages to cobble together a strange blend of body horror and romance and in some respects it stands strong as a very strange orphan.
Director: Martin Scorsese Starring:Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsle, Max Von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, Ted Levine, John Carroll Lynch, Elias Koteas USA. 2h 18m
Scorsese is a legendary director but more often I find I can work out his films from the get go and this one I called in the intro and then didn’t enjoy a single second of the movie because for me it was so clear what was going on. But in hindsight I can see the appeal for anyone who didn’t clique what was going on, it must have been gripping and playing on all of their emotions.
Director: Sara Colangelo Starring: s Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook, Chloë Sevigny, Jacob Lofland, and Josh Lucas .USA. 1h 45m
Whenever there is a massive tragedy with one single survivor, there are bound to be many questions, and this is one of the driving forces behind Sara Colangelo’s, slow paced melodrama, surrounding a gigantic and very tragic accident in a small mining community, the survivors struggle to carry on and support each other, after the fatal accident which sets off a chain reaction of misfortune involving the most Survivor, the mining Executives guilt stricken, lonely wife, and a teenage boy with blood on his hands.
I’m not going to attempt to write an introduction on Anthony Hopkins here, the Welsh valley boy is one of the finest actors in Britain, adaptable and versatile, there isn’t a role that he can’t ace, however I find his creepier work to be he best, maybe it’s something to do with his history of alcoholism, even though he beat it in the 1970’s he seems to be able to channel the darker days into something powerful in his art. Here are 8 films that I adore from the legendary actor, no doubt there will be a volume 2 as he has such a sparkling list of great titles under his belt
01. Elephant Man (1980)
David Lynch’s black and white expose of the life of the Elephant man is probably one of Lynch’s relatively straight and non surreal psycho sexual escapades, rightfully all acting credits need to be bestowed on John Hurt for playing the part of the infamous Joseph Merrick and taking on his physical deformities of his suspected Proteus syndrome. Despite his blistering performance there’s one person who also shines through and that’s Anthony Hopkins who plays the Doctor who changed Merricks life. Hopkins really enforces the role of the visionary physician who’s able to look outside the box and take on a role of care for someone who, at the time, was seen as nothing more than a sideshow freak. It’s a robust performance as Hopkins goes from a gentle caring doctor, almost heartbroken about the former treatment of Merrick to a strong and dominant champion in the legal and medical battles to get care and board for the anomaly that Merrick was often seen as.
Good evening! I hope everyone is still safe and doing their best to keep themselves and everyone around them safe from evil Covid.. I’m getting ready for an art exhibition so things will be brief, but between watching layers of paint try I managed to get back on track with my short movie obsession!
From Below
This deeply otherworldly short was made during one of global self isolation periods, starring it’s director Cameron Francis. He plays a secretive character trying to keep his sanity while in lock down, however the world around him is about to slip into a HP Lovecraft vivid altered state amped up with a christian end of days ,there’s nowhere to hide.
He’s used some brilliant camera angles and techniques to capture the energy of the characters, the sound effects are chilling and he might have just scared me on a few occasions. But what really caught my attention were the special effects which easily match that of the film I’m Harbinger Down (2015). I’m glad I didn’t see this while I was isolating myself.
Director: Nick Love Starring: Danny Dyer, Tamer, Hassan, Geoff bell .UK. 1h 37m
It feels funny going back in time and finally watching this lary movie. After watching the slew of films which were created from it’s fallout, seeing the original template feels weird as I’ve seen all the parts play out in slightly different ways. Nick Love’s signature direction has conjured a tough guy world for many fans of this “English Bad Boy” subculture. But going back to see one of the early greats you can easily see what they were trying to mimic. This came just after Love’s cult favorite The Football Factory (2004) and aimed to tell a rags to riches tale littered with disgusting language and questionable characters.
Director: Ali Djarar Starring: Danny Webb, John Game, Neal Ward, Monty Burgess. UK. 1h 1m
This Indie ghost sleuthing found footage horror plays out like a version of Most Haunted, with some hints of Grave Encounters (2013) and Devils Familiar (2020) running through, just sadly not the good bits! All the amazing ideas of a mysterious house being a portal to a Lovecraftian void created by a cult, is washed away with too much banter and not enough on screen action. but it’s a tangible tale and I’m sure if you like any Ghost Hunting TV show then you’ll get a kick out of it.
So after a couple of weeks of neglect I’m back on board with the blog. The negative and vile feedback from Twitter has been processed and I’m dealing with that and moving on, so here’s a handful of interesting short movies and videos that I found interesting from the week.
Nightingale
Jasper de Bruin’s slow burning thriller follows the night shift of an enigmatic nurse who’s elderly patients are on critical care, and some aren’t expected to make it through the night, however her stalker has reason to believe the passing of the patients might not be that natural and will the overworked nurse be able to make it till dawn? heavy overtones of let the right one in along with an overbearing sense of doom in this chilling horror.
Director: Fred Olen Ray Starring: Charles Napier, Ann Turkel, Bo Svenson, Ron Glass. USA. 1h 30m
I love when the smaller budgeted movies attempt to retell bigger budgeted blockbuster style stories, and this film, that spends most of its time I’m swimming in the success of other sci fi classics like Alien (1979) in fact it’s totally an Alien rip off, but all of its good intentions, seems to be another homage to cult film but plays out like another version of the fated project, The Dark(1979), and this about s successfully thrilling as Alien 2 on Earth(1981)
Director: Carl Strathie Starring: Laura Fraser, Mel Raido, Sid Phoenix, Grant Masters, Spike White, Nicholas Pinnock, Alice Lowe, USA/UK. 1h 37m
Dark Encounter is another film in a long line up, of Intricately detailed thought provoking sci-fi, drawing more towards the side of hard sci-fi and yet remaining dreamily artistic, this bold attempt to to blend a missing person case in and around the most profound alien contact, proved to be very thought-provoking, and somewhat beautifully bittersweet.
With other epic sci-fi titles out there such as Interstellar and Arrival, Dark Encounter can proudy sit among them as a strong contender. Even without going full Christopher Nolanesque and devising a complex world that falls in and on itself, with surreal curveballs and slips within time and space, there is a palatable connection between our world and another. Were the reasoning why, being slightly baffling, it still proves to be an outstanding piece of work both visually and intellectually.
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