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Here's a special thread for one of my favorite director, the Maestro Dario Argento.
He's one of the most famous italian directors, hugely famous in his native country and well known in the rest of the world...a cult director among the cult directors!
Some love for Dario Argento (and his gorgeous talented daughter Asia) on this board?
Which are your favourite horror movies and horror & thrillers directors? ;)
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It's nice to meet people with similar interests!
For me, it's a toss-up between 'Suspiria' and 'Opera' as my fave Argento film, 'Phenomena' being a close third. 'Tenebrae' is probably in 4th place. Good to see TSS getting some love, a really under-rated picture!
And for any NMA fans who also like horror films and have no idea what me and Guillaume are on about... investigate the works of Dario Argento. Bloody great.
Indeed!
"The Stendhal Syndrome" is a major film of the 90's i think, and one of Dario Argento's best films, it's original, harsh and moving (i love the film's final shot, it's heartbreaking)...Asia Argento's performance is also great and brave and Ennio Morricone's soundtrack is hypnotic...i love the film's opening at the Firenze Gallery...incredible scene!
"Phenomena" is probably my favorite Argento film, i love the film's fairy tale vibe, the great use of Swiss landscape, the soundtrack (Iron Maiden! Motorhead! Goblin), the wind, the poetic mood and Jennifer Connelly's cute, angelic character.
"Suspiria" is incredible too...the use of colours, locations, space, music...incredible...a work of Art.
"Tenebre" is a great, fast paced giallo/thriller...again, full of memorable stylish scenes (the dog scene, the murders of the lesbians with this stunning crane shot around the flat, etc)
I"ve seen "Opera" on the big screen a few years ago and it is an incredible piece of film making, the use of Steadycam camera, the crane shot with the crows flying over the Opera House...wow! and the murders scenes are very creepy and sadistic.
"Deep red" (Argento's most praised thriller), "The Bird with the crystal plumage" and "4 flies on grey velvet" are are also very well crafter thrillers, with stunning direction and entertaining plots and suspens.
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Aw, we've been chatting about this...
I'm someone who loves a good horror film, but pickings are slim nowadays. Dario Argento is my favourite horror director of all time, although his recent work is a bit questionable (got GAILLO queu'd up on Netflix, but bad reviews keep me away from it... I'll get around to it one day...)
I love Argento's stuff because it is so grandiose, amazing set-pieces with fantastic music and photography... the horror movie as art, truly.
I also love the horror movies of Brian De Palma (The Fury, Carrie, Sisters, Dressed To Kill) for the same reasons...
As I said, I struggle to find decent horror pics nowadays, so any forgotten gems would be appreciated...
EDIT - You got back to me before I posted my reply! Let me know what you think about De Palma!
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Here's my Dario Argento blog, i have to update it but here are some screenshots of his works...you may not like horror movies and thrillers but in most of Dario's works you will always find a stunning use of cinematography, music, locations, etc:
http://darioargentofr.blogspot.fr/2009/09/1969-2009.html
And my Facebook page about Dario Argento and his works:
https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/groups/43414802621/?fref=ts
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As I said, I struggle to find decent horror pics nowadays, so any forgotten gems would be appreciated...
"Full Circle" is one of these "forgotten gems", if you haven't seen it yet ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkcSIp7D1nc&feature=g-upl
I have also a fondness for the moody aussie horror films from the 70's and early 80's, like "Next of Kin", "Picnic at Hanging Rock", "Long week end", "Razorback", "Harlequin", etc
Dario Argento is my favourite horror director of all time, although his recent work is a bit questionable (got GAILLO queu'd up on Netflix, but bad reviews keep me away from it... I'll get around to it one day...
If you're a "die hard" Argento fan like me, you can give a chance to "Giallo"!
It's an ok thriller, nothing great but not a disaster like many have claimed (IMO)...i like Adrien Brody's selfish, cold character in the film but it's a minor film in Argento's career.
The lesser Argento films are IMO "Phantom of the Opera" and "Sleepless" (in "Sleepless" i still love the opening train scene, the carpet crawl scene and the Goblin soundtrack, though)
Have you seen "Trauma", "The Card Player", "Do you like Hitchcock?" and "Dracula 3D"?
"Trauma" and "The Card Player" are a bit underrated i think, '...Hitchcock?" is a fun tv movie (i've just ordered the cd soundtrack) and i even quite liked "Dracula"...
Let me know what you think about De Palma!
I like some of his films from the 70's:
"The Fury", "Obssession", "Carrie", "Sisters", "Phantom of the Paradise"...also "Blow out" is very good, "Carlito's way" and "Casualties of War" too...De Palma films share with Argento's works some great set-pieces, stunning use of space, locations, cinematography, music...i tend to prefer Argento's works though, and i don't like too much De Palma's last films ("Passion", "Femme fatale", "Mission to Mars", etc)
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Didn't like 'Phantom' but I do have a soft spot for 'Sleepless', pretty good film IMO... saw Trauma a long time ago (probably due a rewatch) but haven't seen the other ones you mentioned.
Is it just me or is it a bit odd about how happy he seems to be to film his (gorgeous, as you said) daughter Asia naked whenever she's in his films..?
IMO, the best horror films I've seen in the last few years seem to be coming out of your home country, France... 'Martyrs' totally blew me away, horrific and oddly moving in equal measures...
My fave horror film of the last ten years? 'Let The Right One In'.
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My fave horror film of the last ten years? 'Let The Right One In'.
With you on that one mate, great film.
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I do have a soft spot for 'Sleepless'
"Sleepless" is a bit a rehash of Argento's early thrillers or his "Greatest hits"...in this film i like some of the set-pieces, the soundtrack and Max Von Sydow's warm lead performance but i think the film brings nothing really fresh in Argento's career.
I can watch endlessly the opening train scene though, it's brillantly directed, edited and scored, very creepy and tense!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLlAGImnnQA
haven't seen the other ones you mentioned.
"Trauma" will be available on Blu Ray soon, the uk dvd from Optimum is also pretty good...it's a "softer" film with less graphic violence than usual with Argento but i like its melancholic tone and Asia's performance in it.
"The Card Player" is a solid little thriller, like "Trauma" it isn't especially graphic but i like its cold sterile look and the lead performance from Stefania Rocca is great, one of my fav ladies in Argento's career...i think that it is Argento's most accomplished theatrical work from the 2000's.
"Do you like Hitchock?" is a fun nod to Hitchcock (and De Palma) works, it was made for italian and it has a light, enjoyable vibe...as usual, Argento makes some nice use of italian landscape.
"Dracula 3D" has been released in Italy a few months ago...it's not a major Argento film but i liked its school vibe with the cool locations, costumes, gorgeous ladies and nods to Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda and Jean Rollin works.
Is it just me or is it a bit odd about how happy he seems to be to film his (gorgeous, as you said) daughter Asia naked whenever she's in his films..?
Yeah it's a bit strange...though he used stunt double for some of the harrowing scenes in "the Stendhal syndrome" and Asia said that daddy Dario shot her naked scene in "Phantom" from another room...she and him even cried when they had to shoot this naked scene as written on the screenplay!
Argento's point of view about family (life!) in his works is often tormented and harsh, family in his films is the root of Evil, often!
I like the fact that Argento uses personal, autobiographical stuff in his films...the vegetarian and anorexic references in "Phenomena" and "Trauma" for example, the complicated family issues (Argento more than once killed his ex wife in his films!), the fan obssession at the core of "Tenebre"'s plot ( Argento wrote the screenplay of "tenebre" after a crazy fan threatened him to kill him!)
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My fave horror film of the last ten years? 'Let The Right One In'.
With you on that one mate, great film.
Oddly, the US remake was pretty decent... if i hadn't seen the original, I'd have liked it a lot better...
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IMO, the best horror films I've seen in the last few years seem to be coming out of your home country, France... 'Martyrs' totally blew me away, horrific and oddly moving in equal measures...
My fave horror film of the last ten years? 'Let The Right One In'.
I'm a bit mixed about the "french new wave" of horror films...often the screenplay are too weak and these films lack buget, i quite liked "Maléfique" (from director Eric Valette), "Dead end" and "Saint Ange" though.
I was a bit disappointed by "Martyrs" first time i saw it but i have to watch it again for a better opinion about it...the director of it Pascal Laugier is a HUGE fan of Dario Argento (especially his 70's works) and he even dedicated "Martyrs" to Dario Argento.
I'm less passionnate about the horror films from these last years but there are still some fine films here and there, unfortunately many of them are released direct to video!
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My fave horror film of the last ten years? 'Let The Right One In'.
I haven't watched it yet but i've read only good things about it.
Have you seen the "Masters of Horror" tv series Master Ray?
Dario Argento's entry for the first season was really good, "Jenifer":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1NdLtWYBjE
Quite unusual for the Maestro but masterful, daring, shocking, funny, sexy, touching and well acted...i also recommend the Joe Dante episodes from both seasons, quite satirical and accomplished.
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Great scene, G, but c'mon... 'I'm so scared, please help me, I think I'm going to be murdered' / 'OK, I'll protect you...' / 'Great... I'll just go back and get my bag...'
;D
For my money, the first 13 minutes of Suspiria is the best scene Argento ever did. Cinematic genius.
So, anyone other than me, G and Shush got anything to add?
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Great scene, G, but c'mon... 'I'm so scared, please help me, I think I'm going to be murdered' / 'OK, I'll protect you...' / 'Great... I'll just go back and get my bag...'
;D
Yeah and only three people in this night train!...Argento's screenplays are often implausible, he doesn't care about logic, what he wants to convey are visions, either beautiful or nightmarish.
These shots of the poor girl trapped and hidden between the carriage or the shots of her running like crazy through the train are memorable...the Goblin music is really effective too!
For my money, the first 13 minutes of Suspiria is the best scene Argento ever did. Cinematic genius.
His most celebrated scene indeed!...the whole atmosphere of it, with the dazzling colours and music, the incredible locations...i love when Jessica Harper is at the airport with these creepy shots of the doors opening in front of her, also her taxi ride through the menacing city and forest is INCREDIBLE...what film making at display here!!!
Wich are your favorite scenes in Argento's films? You know, there are so many great set-pieces in his films (like De Palma's ones, i must agree)!!!
Here it is one of my very favourite in PHENOMENA, very moody scene with great music, shots and landscape:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-tR96-aeFc
Others:
-The opening scene of PHENOMENA, with Argento's older daughter (Fiore) lost in the valley and being chased and killed...the atmosphere here is incredible, with the wonderful landscape and the eerie music "Valley" from Bill Wyman and Terry Taylor.
I also love the sleepwalking scenes in "Phenomena", all the wandering bits in the Swiss landscape...incredible and beautiful
-the blind man and his dog scene in SUSPIRIA...i've seen this film on the big screen and it is an INCREDIBLE scene to experiment in theaters...the blind man lost in this HUGE place and the unexpected, ironic ending with the dog...wow!
- The girls sleeping in the "red room" in SUSPIRIA, while the old evil witch is sleeping behind them...it is so creepy...so many great scenes in this film!
-The slow motion car crash at the end of 4 FLIES ON GREY VELVET...it's sad and strangely poetic at the same time, and Morricone's music is great.
-David Hemmings encountering the doomed house in DEEP RED...again great style in this scene and wonderful soundtrack.
-The underwater scene of INFERNO, and the evil "alchemist" bit with the girl lost in the library.
-The dog chase in TENEBRE...so creepy!!!
- first murder with the needles under the eyes in OPERA...also this incredible scene when the crows are flying over the Opera house.
-the opening scene of THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, with Asia suffering of the Stendhal syndrome in the Museum...again, incredible and enhanced by with wonderful soundtrack.
-The carpet shot in SLEEPLESS
- the lead character stalked in her house in THE CARD PLAYER, great use of shadows in this scene...in the same film i also like the chase through the streets and alleys of Roma.
-in MOTHER OF TEARS i also like the taxi ride an especially the long steadycam shot near the end, tracking Asia through the witches's house...very moody.
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Wow, Guillaume, thats pretty much the definative list of Argento classic scenes... all brilliant.
Totally agree about the Phenomena scene you posted... haunting.
Seeing as you got all the good Argento scenes, allow me a little time to do the same in regards to De Palma... be back to you shortly.
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Wow, Guillaume, thats pretty much the definative list of Argento classic scenes... all brilliant.
Totally agree about the Phenomena scene you posted... haunting.
Hi Master Ray,
I've just updated my Argento blog with a few screenshots of MOTHER OF TEARS, OPERA, THE CARD PLAYER, JENIFER and DRACULA 3D, let me know what you think of it... ;):
http://darioargentofr.blogspot.fr/
Can't wait for your De Palma's set-pieces choices!!
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Hi, Guillaume, sorry to take so long to get back to you...
My favourite De Palma moments... SPOILERS!!!!
The obvious one first... CARRIE. Sissy Spacek gets chosen as the Prom Queen, she's so happy and then gets pigs blood dumped all over her... she then kills everyone in the room via telekenesis and split-screen cinema. Love that final slow-motion shot of her leaving the on-fire hall... 20 minutes of cinematic excellence...
BLOW-OUT - Travolta makes a ****-up of everything and runs desperately to save Nancy Allen... he doesn't make a good job of it. I still can't decide whether him dubbing her dying scream on that terrible film is an act of tribute (she said she wanted to be in the movies) or something deeply callous...
THE UNTOUCHABLES - a lot of people go for the train station sequence, but I prefer Sean Connery's death scene... you think he's pulled it off, but then gets machine-gunned to death... and then De Palma intercuts it with the opera singer in the clown suit whilst Connery bloodily crawls towards the thing that will incriminate Capone... love that scene.
THE FURY - Not a De Palma classic, but when Gillian escapes from the institute with her friend Hester in pursuit, with Peter watching... and then it all goes to shit with just a few gunshots.
MISSION TO MARS - I know you don't like this film, G, but the scene with Tim Robbins falling into the gravitational orbit of Mars (thus burning up horribly) whilst his friends try to save him is excellent. They fall just short and when his wife tries to go the extra mile and what he does after that... I can't deny, that scene puts a tear in my eye.
CARLITOS WAY - Jesus, he's trying to get on that train with all those hitmen coming ater him? One of the best scenes I've ever seen in my life! So bloody tense!
my fave De Palma scenes ever...
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I agree with all your scenes Master Ray!
"Blow out"'s ending is great, what a cynical final idea...poor John Travolta!
I also like "The Fury", the scene you choose and i tend to think it is an underrated De Palma film.
"Mission to Mars"...maybe i'll give another chance to this film, this scene wasn't bad indeed, but the film was disappointing because of its screenplay and weak ending and opening.
"Carlito's way" is the last De Palma film i really liked, the ending chase was great..."You are so beautiful" from Joe Cocker sounds great, with this final shot, very melancholic.
There are also some effective scenes in "Dressed to kill", "Casualties of war" and "Obssession".
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Shit, forgot 'Casualties Of War'! I even picked up a cheap DVD of it a few months back and haven't gotten around to watching it yet! I'll get back to you on that one. Haven't seen 'Dressed To Kill' in many a year and I don't think I've ever caught 'Obsession'...
Don't go overboard on 'Mission To Mars'... the scene I mentioned is great but the rest of it... not so good. Worth a watch if it shows up on TV sometime.
Now, you mentioned John Carpenter... so many films that I love there! I'm going to research a bit and I'll be back to you in the next few days...
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Shit, forgot 'Casualties Of War'! I even picked up a cheap DVD of it a few months back and haven't gotten around to watching it yet! I'll get back to you on that one. Haven't seen 'Dressed To Kill' in many a year and I don't think I've ever caught 'Obsession'...
"Obssession" is a beautiful looking picture, quite romantic.
"Casulaties of war" is one of De Palma's best film i think, but rather harrowing.
I also forgot "Body double", some good scenes in this one too.
Do you remember some others nice scenes i forgot in my Argento choices?
There are also some very good set-pieces in his first movie, the excellent "Bird with the crystal plumage".
John Carpenter, one of my fav directors indeed, i love his use of widescreen cinematography, very classy..."Christine", "The Fog", "Halloween" "The Thing", "Assault on precinct 13" are great!
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DRACULA, Dario Argento's last film, is screening this week in Le Publicis, a cool theater of Paris (129, Avenue des Champs Elysées), and it is shown in 3D, English track with french subtitles.
So if you are in Paris this week or next week (last screening of the film will be next Tuesday), i recommend you the film...it's not Argento's best film by any means but it's a good little vampire movie if you like the old Hammer films, and the 3D works pretty well.
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According to the last news Dario Argento is going to direct soon a new thriller from Hoffman's "The sandman" starring...Iggy Pop!
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According to the last news Dario Argento is going to direct soon a new thriller from Hoffman's "The sandman" starring...Iggy Pop!
Bloody hell, G, I'd totally forgotten about this thread! :o
Iggy in a DA movie... well, I'll give it a go!
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Also, G, seeing as you've got me in an Argento kind of mood, here's some brilliant music from the PHEMONENA soundtrack...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zHq2MBtXS8
Damn, I would love to find a reasonably priced copy of this soundtrack...
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OPERA is also available on Blu Ray this month...what an incredible film it is!
I re-watched recently on Blu Ray DEEP RED (this film is legend!), THE CARD PLAYER (my favourite Argento theatrical film of the 21st century, the lead actress is great), MOTHER OF TEARS (despite the flaws it's great fun) and GIALLO (an ok thriller)... :)
Dario is a guest of the Locarno Film Festival (Swiss) next month to host screenings of THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE and some short features he directed...i would like to be there :)
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Also, G, seeing as you've got me in an Argento kind of mood, here's some brilliant music from the PHEMONENA soundtrack...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zHq2MBtXS8
Damn, I would love to find a reasonably priced copy of this soundtrack...
It's an excellent soundtrack, isn't it? ;)
My favourite track is "Valley", the one from Bill "Rolling Stones" Wyman and Terry Taylor though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEPe2GUIOOw
This track is the one opening the movie...pure mood..."Phenomena" is still my fav Argento film i think for the wonderful visuals, locations and landscape, crazy fairy tale mood, soundtrack and Jennifer Connelly's angelic presence!
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I got hold of the dvd re-release of OPERA a few months ago... terrific movie.
Been watching a couple of Lucio Fulci (spelling?) movies lately... where do you stand on those?
Love ZOMBIE FLESHEATERS and THE BEYOND, not too keen on CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD or HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY and THE NEW YORK RIPPER was awful...
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I got hold of the dvd re-release of OPERA a few months ago... terrific movie.
The camerawork in this film is dazzling...this picture of the needles under the eyes is incredibly powerful!
What do you think of the ending of the film (with its nod to PHENOMENA)?
SPOILERS
Betty the lead character in the grass, talking to the lizard...
is she crazy like her mother was? or is it an "happy ending"?
Weird ambiguous ending, and poetic.
Been watching a couple of Lucio Fulci (spelling?) movies lately... where do you stand on those?
THE BEYOND is very good, probably Fulci's best horror movie...the ending in "the beyond" is esepcially striking, unforgettable.
I also like DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING, his strange Western FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE and i quite like THE NEW YORK RIPPER, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, VOICES FROM BEYOND and THE DEVIL'S HONEY...but i haven't seen all his film, far from it (he directed 50 films!)
If you like italian directors like Argento and Fulci, i guess you must like Mario Bava and Michele Soavi, or am i wrong? ;)
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OK, G, just got off Amazon after buying WHITE DOG on you recommendation... if I don't like it, you owe me... ;)
The ending of OPERA... personally, I could go either way on that one... I'm not someone who insists on a firm ending to a film, especially when you're dealing with a director like Mr Argento... heck, you ever tried to make any sense out of INFERNO..? :D
As far as the two other directors you mentioned, I'm afraid I'm not all that familiar with Mr Bava, but Mr Soavi... STAGE FRIGHT and THE CHURCH were films I liked a lot, although I haven't seen them in a good long while, and DELLAMORTE DELLAMORTE / CEMETARY MAN... shit, that film was just insane... also, wasn't Mr Soavi the guy in the mask in DEMONS? Love that one, insane hardcore horror shit... :D
I'm wondering if all the other NMA fans on this forum are reading this and saying 'WTF are these guys going on about???' ;D
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heck, you ever tried to make any sense out of INFERNO..? :D
;D
"Inferno" is surely Argento's weirdest movie ever but what a trip...fascinating journey through labyrinthic locations and beautiful surreal colours...
Have you seen some Argento's films on the big screen Master Ray?
I would love to catch theatrical screenings of "Inferno", "Phenomena", "The Stendhal Syndrome", etc
I was lucky to catch screenings of "Suspiria" and "Opera" and they were gorgeous and impressive on the big screen!!
Mr Soavi... STAGE FRIGHT and THE CHURCH were films I liked a lot, although I haven't seen them in a good long while, and DELLAMORTE DELLAMORTE / CEMETARY MAN... shit, that film was just insane... also, wasn't Mr Soavi the guy in the mask in DEMONS? Love that one, insane hardcore horror shit... :D
I like very much STAGE FRIGHT (i even pre-ordered the Blu Ray which will be available in September :))! Great creepy mood, the last half hour, the showdown between the killer (the howl mask is genius!) and the last survivor is especially great!
THE CHURCH is a bit uneven but it has some beautiful scenes and visuals...very moody...THE SECT (LA SETTA) is another good Soavi film, it's a bit like ROSEMARY'S BABY but told in an italian, crazy way!...underrated.
One of the last Soavi works for the big screen was the nasty and dark ARRIVEDERCI AMORE CIAO, a good "noir" film but my favourite Soavi film is DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE though...it's one of my favourite films of the 90's, period!
And Soavi was indeed the guy in the opening subway scene of DEMONS ;)
I've rewatched DEMONS on dvd a few weeks ago, it's a bit silly but great fun.
I'm wondering if all the other NMA fans on this forum are reading this and saying 'WTF are these guys going on about???' ;D
i thought about this too, ha ha! ;D
Let's hope that at least a few members reading this thread will be curious to give a chance to some of our favourite directors ;) 8)
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(http://www.up-shack.com/./assets/upload/cf5ed872ec52e44fbcdf3738ddf4aa3a.jpg)
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Crowdfunding for Dario Argento's last film starring Iggy Pop!!:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dario-argento-s-the-sandman-starring-iggy-pop--2
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A few of his beautiful movies have been filmed in my beloved and beautiful native city.........Torino. a magic and misterious place for many reasons................
Profondo Rosso to everyone,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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Some Argento news:
SUSPIRIA, TENEBRE and PHENOMENA will be released on new 4K remastered Blu Rays at the end of the year, early 2017.
STAGE FRIGHT and THE CHURCH were films I liked a lot, although I haven't seen them in a good long while
THE CHURCH and THE SECT both directed by Michele Soavi (CEMETERY MAN, STAGE FRIGHT/DELIRIA) will be released this year around Halloween on UK Blu Rays!
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Thanks, G, I'll get on it when the finances are in better shape.
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I've watched again this week OPERA and THE STENDHAL SYNDROME...great, great works...OPERA delivers some really stunning haunting camerawork, incredible! And THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is probably Argento's most mature, most character driven work...intimate and moving movie, Asia's performance is impressive in this film.
Thanks, G, I'll get on it when the finances are in better shape.
Yes, the end of the year is going to be very expensive i guess! Lots of cool Blu Ray to be released around Halloween and Christmas!!
Here are the artworks of the UK Blu Rays of Michele Soavi's films:
(https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/s960x960/14524432_10154657173804189_7947063814343187763_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-mad1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14359127_10209433238680290_6892752067659124333_n.jpg?oh=0fb6b0711c8ec91337ad2bf75ee095ad&oe=5885B430)
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finally! i love both of the soavi pictures and was always looking for a good release. he made another brilliant movie: dellamorte dellamore
a fantastic movie, based on a comic series, very dark humor and fantastic camera work and set design and wonderful actors.
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he made another brilliant movie: dellamorte dellamore
a fantastic movie, based on a comic series, very dark humor and fantastic camera work and set design and wonderful actors.
I LOVE this movie too!!! One of my favourite movies from the 90's and probably Soavi's best film.
It's so original, funny, touching, beautiful...Everett and Hadji Lazaro are also very good, and Anna Falchi is impressive too!!
Too bad i haven't seen this film on the big screen, again!!
Another Soavi film i would recommend is his dark thriller, horror movie at times! "Arrivderci amore, ciao"...his last theatrical movie released 10 years ago...again, solid stuff!
It's great to have now on HD "The Church" and "The Sect", indeed. Can't wait to own the Blu Ray"s to give them a better, proper look.
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I don't know if some of NMA fans around here are in France this summer but from next Wednesday to July and August six of Dario Argento's best films will be re-released on the french big screens, in Paris and some others big cities! :):
"The bird with the crystal plumage", "Cat'o'nine tails", "Deep Red", "Suspiria", "Phenomena" and "Opera"...all of them new prints but of course in italian (or english) track with french subtitles!...but still recommended to see these gems on the big screen! ;)
Here's the trailer for the tribute/re-release:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df--bBY61vQ
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Nice to see you back, G! Doubt I can make it to any of those dates, but I'd love to see 'Phenomena' or 'Opera' on a big screen...
What do you reckon to the 'Suspiria' remake? I was sceptical (seeing as there are so many bad horror movie remakes these days) but the trailer is so odd and there's certainly some talent involved... this one might actually be worth watching, especially if they avoid the whole 'give it a rating so the kiddies can watch it' and make it a full on horror film... trailer here, just in case you haven't seen it (aw, of course you have... ;) )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n6OdhHrs_U
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What the heck...?
At first i thought of course this just cannot be good, but the trailer looks promising indeed.
Nice to have that thread brought up again, i forgot about it. And it's not so long ago that: Deep Red, Opera and The Sect joined my infamous collection in wonderful Blu-Ray quality, by Koch Media a german company, who does very appealing Media Books -Editions they are called, of some underground and rare Movies. They come with an informative booklet and lots of rare special behind the scenes featurettes and interviews.
My Deep Red edition is by Arrow Video, which is also a ver good company for good releases of strange movies.
Just days ago i saw for the first time: Buio Omega-Beyond Darkness. And yeah, what can you say..;-) A nice soundtrack again by Goblin and i won't desribe the action here, it's really a bastard of a movie, a fantastic video nasty.
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Nice to a mention for Arrow video, they do some superb re-releases of all sorts of odd stuff (my last addition was the wonderful Miracle Mile) and there are quite a few releases on my 'must get around to buying one day' list... love the way they pile on the extras... :)
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At the moment i'm waiting for "A Bay of Blood" by Mario Bava, which i haven't seen yet, should arrive the next days and i'm looking forward to it. It's also from Arrow Video.
Another good company with some furios releases and some real absurd niche movies is 88 Films. My Buio Omega is from them and it's a very good quality.
As for Argento, i would like to have Inferno on Blu but then tha's it. I haven't seen the later ones, but i heard so much bad reviews about Sleepless that i somehow lost interest.
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What do you reckon to the 'Suspiria' remake?
The new "Suspiria"'s trailer left me a bit cold, i must say, but wait and see...
Nice to see you back, G! Doubt I can make it to any of those dates, but I'd love to see 'Phenomena' or 'Opera' on a big screen...
the wonderful Miracle Mile
Great film, isn't it?
I watched both "Phenomena" and "Deep red" last week on the Max Linder big screen, in Paris...really cool looking prints.
"Phenomena" is magic, wonderful on the big screen...the film ages well, the soundtrack is punchy and there are so many lovely (and at times disturbing) images and ideas in this film...the finale is rather harrowing on the big screen, i must say! :o
"Deep red" is absolutely gorgeous on the big screen...the locations, cinematography, Dario's frame like paintings, and that soundtrack!!
Next Friday another trip to Paris for "Opera" :) ;) 8) and maybe next week one last Argento on the big screen..."The bird with the crystal plumage" or maybe, again, "Phenomena". ;D :D
As for Argento, i would like to have Inferno on Blu but then tha's it. I haven't seen the later ones, but i heard so much bad reviews about Sleepless that i somehow lost interest.
Maybe you've heard bad reviews about "Sleepless" but i'm sure you've never heard bad reviews about "Sleepless"'s 20 first opening minutes! ;) Great stuff here, and also a great Max Von Sydow lead performance and a fantastic Goblin soundtrack!
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Well, my opinion is totally based on prejudice, i know, and i consider myself more the type who makes up his own mind about things. so maybe i will give it a try soon. an italian friend of mine who is also interested in argento, who even worked on a set of a movie as a carpenter once, talked me out of it. i think i lost interest in the new works after trauma and the stendhal syndrom, but that was a long time ago.
what do you think about dario argentos dracula? it seems interesting and the opposite at the same time to me. so just give it a try?
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i think i lost interest in the new works after trauma and the stendhal syndrom, but that was a long time ago.
what do you think about dario argentos dracula? it seems interesting and the opposite at the same time to me. so just give it a try?
If you like Argento's early thrillers like "the bird with the crystal plumage", "Deep red" and "Tenebre" you will probably like "Sleepless", it's probably more flawed and uneven than these early movies but it looks and sounds like "Argento's greatest hits"!
I would say my favourite Argento's works from the 21st century are "The Card Player" (pretty solid cyber-thriller with a great lead performance and some cool Argento set-pieces) and his tv movie "Do you like Hitchcock?" I kinda liked his ending to the Mater Witches Trilogy "Mother of tears", it's entertaining and crazy fun but it lacks the sumptuous style of "Suspiria" and "Inferno".
"Dracula"...i enjoyed it when i watched it on the very big screen, 3D screening, in its french theatrical release...but i'm probably in the minority ;) It has a quite charming "old school" vibe, if you dig the old gothic italian movies and the old Hammer vampires movies, you will probably enjoy its atmosphere despite the cheesy/clumsy stuff here and there.
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I'll also throw out some love for 'Sleepless', occasionally a bit ridiculous (but aren't all Argento's movies!) and I'd give 'The Card Player' a go, far from a classic, but a solid watch. Still struggle with 'Mother Of Tears', I'm afraid, I'll give it another go one day...
I'd go through any Argento flick than yet another installment of another dreary US series of sequels...
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I'll also throw out some love for 'Sleepless', occasionally a bit ridiculous (but aren't all Argento's movies!)
Indeed! ;)
The train scene is one of Argento's great set-piece, really tense terrifying and with a great score from Goblin, and that film has also one of my favourite shots seen in his movies, but i won't spoil it for those who haven't watched "Sleepless" yet (one clue: the Swan Lake scene)!
I'd give 'The Card Player' a go, far from a classic, but a solid watch.
Indeed. I like its cold modern, minimalist style, and the scenes shot in Roma are really beautiful...what a gorgeous city Roma is!!
I also like very much the leads, a compelling touching duo, especially the actress Stefania Rocca, which is really good, one of my favourite actresses seen in a Dario Argento movie (alongside Jennifer Connelly in "Phenomena" and Jessica Harper in "Suspiria"). The electro-techno soundtrack from Simonetti is catchy too.
"Mother of tears"...mixed bag...some good stuff in it...and some less good stuff. It's a frustrating movie in some ways because it doesn't repeat the grandioso style of "Suspiria" and "Inferno" and it feels rushed at times but i like most of its over the top killings and ideas, and for sure it is never boring!
Now...tomorrow will be a good day! "Opera" in Paris... 8) :D
I'd go through any Argento flick than yet another installment of another dreary US series of sequels...
Count me in!
That's one of the things i like in Dario Argento, you feel that he puts his footprint, passion, heart, sincere stuff in his movies...even in his lesser, weaker movies you have here and there flashes of brio, personal stuff...a true Artist.
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Count me in!
That's one of the things i like in Dario Argento, you feel that he puts his footprint, passion, heart, sincere stuff in his movies...even in his lesser, weaker movies you have here and there flashes of brio, personal stuff...a true Artist.
That's true and that's why i've got the book:"broken mirrors, broken minds" by maitland mcdonagh about his movies and art, ending like i think somwhat in the beginning of the 90's
If you like Argento's early thrillers like "the bird with the crystal plumage", "Deep red" and "Tenebre" you will probably like "Sleepless", it's probably more flawed and uneven than these early movies but it looks and sounds like "Argento's greatest hits"!
...
"Dracula"...i enjoyed it when i watched it on the very big screen, 3D screening, in its french theatrical release...but i'm probably in the minority ;) It has a quite charming "old school" vibe, if you dig the old gothic italian movies and the old Hammer vampires movies, you will probably enjoy its atmosphere despite the cheesy/clumsy stuff here and there.
well, i will give sleepless a try, now it sounds good to me and after viewing deep red and opera recently for the first time in high definition, instead of a 3rd generation vhs copy or later then a dvd, it sounds like a good lonely beer and potatoe chips tv evening for me. these movies you have to watch either with a person who is also fond of it or alone. and dracula also sounds good to me, i like atmosphere and the old hammer stuff, i collect vincent price movies and maybe this could be a good double bill combination 8)
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I'm curious to read your opinion about the post-"Stendhal" Argento works Cthulhu when you will find copies of them ;)
That's true and that's why i've got the book:"broken mirrors, broken minds" by maitland mcdonagh about his movies and art, ending like i think somwhat in the beginning of the 90's
Maitland McDonagh did an update of her book in 2009 or 2010, if i remember well...it's a pretty good book indeed, very in depth, analytical.
I own lots of books about Argento...french, italian, spanish and english...this one is quite recommended especially because there are lots of interviews of Argento and his crew through the years and the movies, and also lots of cool pictures:
(http://www.filmwerk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/xargento.jpg.pagespeed.ic.iAOjxMtiAD.jpg[img])
Also Argento himself released "Paura" ("Fear"), his own autobiography in 2014 and i've heard it is going to be translated in English soon...it's also very recommended for the people who like his works, because it's a very intimate and at times moving book where he speaks openly about his family, childhood, movies, Italy, etc.
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I must get hold of that biography, and the Dario autobiography once it gets translated.
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I must get hold of that biography, and the Dario autobiography once it gets translated.
you must! both are warmly recommended! ;)
Just came back from Paris and my "Opera" screening...that film is unbelievable on the big screen...the last shots, with Betty the lead character talking to the lizard, and that gorgeous music over that scene and then the end credits...tears in my eyes! :)
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Glad you had a great time, G.
Something I've realised... I might have never seen his version of Dracula. Yet I was sure that I had, at some point! But i have utterly no memory of it. Probably should look into that.
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You really show some passion for this violent, sadistic movies;-) i like that and it's nice to hear that you had a good time.
it's always a wonderful happening, if you can watch movies on the big screens with a crowd which also appreciates the work on the screen. very different from normal cinema experiences.
so, when i looked for sleepless i found out that the german blu is heavily censored and it's also missing the director's cut (did he make that later as a different version or is ist just that they call the uncut version a director's cut?) but i stumbled upon an offer, which i couldn't resist and i had to buy four movies for about 22€.
it started with "four flies on grey velvet" in a double blu edition, with a 92min documentary, and a 28min analysis "autopsy of a fly". to have this movies in hd is like seeing them for the first time and i'm now very looking forward to it.
then i found "demon knight" with billy zane, which i really love to watch again. i found it a hell of a good "tales from the script" pulp-popcorn-funny-horror splatter and billy zane is insane in here.
then i found "voyage to the bottom of the sea" by irwin allen, which i haven't seen yet, but i also love those old monster movies, ray harryhausen and it's fantastic to have those also in high quality preserved.
and finally to round up that offer of four blus for 22€ i added "detective dee 1+2" by tsui hark. i loved the a chinese ghost story movies and i expect something similar to that.
so sleepless and dracula have to wait a little longer, but i'm onto the too 8)
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You really show some passion for this violent, sadistic movies;-)
It's not especially for the gory set-pieces, in fact the violent, torture scenes in "Opera" are more disturbing sad and harrowing than thrilling i must say ;), it's mostly for the gorgeous camerawork, widescreen cinematography, use of locations and music that the film has to be seen in theaters for the greatest effect/impact. ;)
Gory, violent scenes in Argento's movies are a small part of the interest of his works, what is mostly captivating in his oeuvre in my opinion is his camerawork, his framing like painting, i also like very much his obsession for architecture/use of locations and the poetic tone of many of his movies and scenes, also the many "wandering" parts of his movies, when characters are walking for long minutes in streets, old houses and buildings, even in countryside (like in "Phenomena" or a few scenes of "Opera" and "Trauma") ;)
Also, despite not being considered like a great director's actors, i think he has offered many interesting parts to his leads, especially the actresses...Jennifer Connelly, Jessica Harper, Stefania Rocca, Daria Nicolodi (in "Deep Red"), Asia Argento (in "The Stendhal Syndrome" and "Trauma"), Marta Gastini...all of them are memorable ladies in his films.
I've heard about the cut German blu ray of "Sleepless", but if i remember well the TonFilm edition Blu Ray was uncensored...i own the french and italian dvds and both are uncut.
Something I've realised... I might have never seen his version of Dracula. Yet I was sure that I had, at some point! But i have utterly no memory of it. Probably should look into that.
It's not a great film by any means, in fact it's a minor Argento movie, but it has its charms, i liked some of the nightime cinematography (the director of cinematography is Luciano "Suspiria" "Tenebre" Tovoli), the gothic old school vibe and the lead actress Marta Gastini who is a fine, charming Mina Harker. If you have to watch it, watch it in 3D, the film was shot in 3D and the 3D is used nicely in the movie.
How would you rank Argento's movies Master Ray? From the best to the worst? ;)
I would try something like this...
My favourite for years!:
1..."Phenomena"
Very good:
"The Stendhal syndrome"
"The bird with the crystal plumage"
"Opera"
"Tenebre"
"Inferno"
"Four flies on grey velvet"
"Suspiria"
"Deep red"
"The Card Player"
Good:
"trauma"
"Cat'o'nine tails"
"Do you like Hitchcock?" (tv)
"Jenifer" (tv)
Not great but enjoyable enough/ok movies:
"Mother of tears"
"Sleepless"
"Pelts" (tv)
"The black cat" (in "Two evil eyes")
"Dracula"
"Giallo"
Ambitious but mostly failed movie despite some nice things in it...:
21..."Phantom of the opera"
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You really show some passion for this violent, sadistic movies;-)
It's not especially for the gory set-pieces, in fact the violent, torture scenes in "Opera" are more disturbing sad and harrowing than thrilling i must say ;), it's mostly for the gorgeous camerawork, widescreen cinematography, use of locations and music that the film has to be seen in theaters for the greatest effect/impact. ;)
Gory, violent scenes in Argento's movies are a small part of the interest of his works, what is mostly captivating in his oeuvre in my opinion is his camerawork, his framing like painting, i also like very much his obsession for architecture/use of locations and the poetic tone of many of his movies and scenes...
i purely meant that ironic, referring to the question asked in this thread, what other people on the board might think about this topic, so no need to somehow justify that fascination, again not meaning that you did that.
i understand your fascination and argento is one of my favourite directors too, but his movies have a long history here in germany, being censored to death or even just forbidden to watch, when i remember it right. so the argument from the outside, how something that violent and brutal, can be seen as art is always a part of it.
what do you think of haute tension? i think alexandre aja has some great potential and delivers terryfying work. even piranha was grat fun to watch.
and by the way, do you know capitain flam?;-)
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his movies have a long history here in germany, being censored to death or even just forbidden to watch, when i remember it right. so the argument from the outside, how something that violent and brutal, can be seen as art is always a part of it.
Not only in Germany but in others countries like USA, UK, France...his movies have been edited/censored...for example for a long time "Deep Red" lost 30 minutes of its running time in its french theatrical and vhs release!
Also "Phenomena" was cut in its french theatrical release in 1985, "Opera" lost some scenes and especially its poetic grass/mountain/lizard finale when it was released direct on vhs here in the early 90's, etc!
I think that his movies are not for everyone of course, they can be violent bloody nasty and disturbing but violence often isn't so realistic in his movies (aside of a few movies like the raw, blunt "The Stendhal syndrome") and there is also, like i said, some true beauty to be admired in his works!
Alexandre Aja seems to be a cool guy but i don't especially like his movies..."Mirrors" and his last one were ok, though...he remade "The hills have eyes"...i like very much the director of the original one, Wes Craven.
And "Capitaine Flam"? I remember the cartoon, when i was a kid! good childhood memories.
argento is one of my favourite directors too
My other favourite director working in "horror movies and thrillers" is John Carpenter...who is himself a big fan of Dario Argento and also a friend of him. Carpenter's movies are more "easy" to watch than Argento's films for sure, Carpenter's movies usually aren't too graphic on the violence, the blood...
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well, i do like haute tension very much and i found his remake a very good one. it's always a difficult thing with remakes. like the texas chainsaw massacre remake is not bad, but also why bother when you have this brilliant original.
piranha is like total popcorn splatter cinema and sometimes i like to get into that, see all the beautiful, dumb people gettin' slaughtered ;) and his remake of maniac, with the hobbit guy which name i just forgot is disturbing. i liked that and i want to give it another try sometimes, it was a rental.
yes, love carpenter, love his own scores, the music and my favourite horror-monster films is the thing. and also th eremake again, wasn't that bad as i thought it was, it's like a prequel and it has its moments, but nothing compared to the tension and beautiful special effects of rob bottin.
now i do think that you and master ray must also love david cronenberg!? never saw a bad movie by him and i'm thrilled that finally dead ringers will be released on blu later this year. i was searching for that movie for a long time.
the story behing captain flam is that i t was my first tv-experience, it's called captain future here and i was so pleased to get it on dvd. but then i realised that the german version was cut like 25% and when watching it again it was obvious, but as a child you don't recognize such things and then i ordered the french version cpt. flam, to get to see the whole storys. i must say, that the german version is so much better/different because of the ultimate brilliant soundtrack it has. it just blows my mind. the french soundtrack is also fine, but you know, childhood memorys;-)
i want to get the "new" carpenter music album, he released like a year or two ago. do you know that album?
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Blimey, so many questions to respond to! I've got some chilli on the go at the moment, I'll digest that and then all your questions...
Just one I'll answer (because it was the last one asked!)... yes that new John Carpenter music is well worth a listen. Two albums in fact, Lost Themes Vols 1 and 2. You can totally imagine them scoring a John Carpenter classic... here's a favourite, 'Obsidian'... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OKXEEMtves
Be back to you later...
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yes, love carpenter, love his own scores, the music and my favourite horror-monster films is the thing. and also th eremake again, wasn't that bad as i thought it was, it's like a prequel and it has its moments, but nothing compared to the tension and beautiful special effects of rob bottin.
now i do think that you and master ray must also love david cronenberg!? never saw a bad movie by him and i'm thrilled that finally dead ringers will be released on blu later this year. i was searching for that movie for a long time.
I'm a big fan of Carpenter...like for Argento, i love the director and i love the man!
Carpenter's style is very different from Argento's one, he is less "flashy" visually but Carpenter's movies are timeless, i can watch them endlessly..."Halloween", "Christine", "Starman", "In the mouth of madness" and the others...classics!
I agree that "the thing"'s remake released in 2011 wasn't bad, it was decent...but in the end it was kind of useless because the Carpenter movie was already very accomplished.
I like very much the David Cronenberg's movies he made in the 70's and 80's, from "Shivers", "Rabid" to "Dead ringers" included. After that, i'm less interested by his movies, especially the last ones ("History of violence", "Eastern promises", "Cosmopolis", "Maps to the stars"), which leave me cold/indifferent. But "The brood", "Videodrome", "Scanners"...very good...i'm a big fan of his Stephen King movie "The dead zone", especially because the casting is so good, Walken is genius in that movie...the ending among others scenes, incredibly moving.
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OK! Too many questions to answer in one post, so I'll take them one by one over the next couple of days...
Guillaume, you asked about ranking Mr Argento's films, so let's see what you make if this little lot... I'm sure I've missed something out here... :)
Must watch...
Suspiria
Inferno
Phenomena
Opera
Deep Red
Tenebrae
Certainly worth a look...
Sleepless
The Stendhal Syndrome
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
The Card Player
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
The Cat o' Nine Tails
Proceed with caution, but you might like it better than I did...
Trauma
Mother of Tears
The Phantom Of The Opera
Never seen...
Giallo (I did have it lined up on Netflix, but they deleted it before I got around to watching it...)
Masters of Horror (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Do You Like Hitchcock? (TV Movie)
And, once again, casual readers to this thread will say 'what the hell are these three idiots going on about...' ;D
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... and even as I posted that last message, I remembered I'd missed 'Two Evil Eyes'... to be honest, that's because I saw it once, in the 90's on VHS, and I have utterly no memory of it. Another one to catch up with...
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OK, another answer (seeing as I'm picking random things from multiple previous messages)... David Cronenberg. Just superb.
You want a horror director who just throws a ton of blood and guts around the place with a few 'jump-scares'? There are hundreds of them. Doesn't mean shit.
You want a horror director who throws stuff into your eyes and ears that properly gets into your head and worries you for a while? Cronenberg is your man.
My first Mr C experience (I'm going to call him Mr C from this point on because I can't be bothered to keep retyping 'Cronenberg'... ;D ) was on a trailer that I watched on some VHS release or other. A double bill of 'Night Of The Living Dead' and 'Shivers'. Check it out here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GceL1E9-DHI
Damn, that trailer freaked me out! I saw NOTLD a couple of years later, but it took me a few more years to have the courage to watch 'Shivers'.
I think, like so many people, that 'Scanners' was my first Mr C movie. 'Hey, someone's head blows up in it' said my fellow VHS chums! And what an exploding head it was, best ever! Pretty good movie as well!
And, this might be a bit shameful for us horror fans, but I don't think I watched another Mr C film until 'The Fly'. Which I think is superb. His commercial highpoint and that rare thing that is a horror film but sort of a romantic comedy as well.. ??? You might disagree but Goldbum and Davies had some chemistry, there were some funny moments and the ending with the claw putting the gun up to his head... always puts a little lump in my throat!
Bear in mind that in the 80's / VHS era, those early Mr C films weren't widely available. Once they were, I got hold of them as soon as I could. Shivers, Rabid, The Brood... all creepy as heck....
Oh, I missed out 'The Dead zone'... a film I like very much but not NEARLY as good as the book... sorry. :-\
So, we're now in the 90's and we've got Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch and Crash.... totally and utterly disturbing flicks that make an exploding head or two look like absolutely nothing. Crash, in particular, disturbs the hell out of me, I've never had the courage to watch it a second time.
As to the stuff he did in the 21st Century.. A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method just show how far he's come as a director, no more sex zombies or telekenetic psychos, just a fine director with the ability to disturb. I admit, I've never seen Map Of The Stars or Cosmopolis.
So, yeah, that's my opinion of Mr C. Hope you guys were interested.
... long pause....
Oh, BOLLOCKS, I never mentioned the awesome Videodrome! ::)
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Master Ray, you and i forgot to rank "Le cinque giornate"/"The five days of Milan"! Argento's only non horror/thriller movie!
In fact an interesting historical comedy/drama but i have to watch it again in italian with french subtitles for a better opinion about it.
Guillaume, you asked about ranking Mr Argento's films, so let's see what you make if this little lot... I'm sure I've missed something out here... :)
Never seen...
Giallo (I did have it lined up on Netflix, but they deleted it before I got around to watching it...)
Masters of Horror (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Do You Like Hitchcock? (TV Movie)
"Giallo"...a modest thriller, i like a few parts (opening, flash back scenes, ending) and Adrien Brody but it's minor Argento especially against his most inspired stuff from the 70's and 80's.
Try to see his Masters of Horror episodes "Jenifer" and "Pelts", they are pretty good ;)
Also i quite like "Do you like Hitchcock?"...it's a tv movie so don't expect the heights of Argento's best thrillers but it has its charms, a bit the same vibe than the "Animal Trilogy" from the beginning: pretty city, architecture and ladies, fun characters, etc. It's a kind of light, enjoyable "summer movie". :)
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OK, to post something about another question asked... Alexandre Aja. LOVED 'High Tension'. Also rather fond of the 'Hills Have Eyes' remake... I was never much of a fan of the original (despite the awesome Michael Berryman) and I was really blown away / rather shocked by how gruesome the remake was. A proper full-on hardcore experience like you rarely see in US movies. Yeah, I know the US makes loads of bloody movies, but this one really went the extra mile, a proper disturbing experience. Some fine acting can go a long way to making a film stronger...
I watched 'Mirrors' just the once and can barely remember anything about it, so I'll decline to comment, but that 'Piranha' film was, of all things, a total comedy, it genuinely surprised me how light-hearted it was. I laughed throughout and I'm sure that it was the directors intention. The gore scenes were just so silly!
One nobody's mentioned yet is 'Horns' from a great book by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son) and a pretty decent flick... heck Mr Aja got a decent performance out of bloody Harry Potter! Very under-rated. Trailer here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8s_1UcdoNI
So... there. Look forward to Mr Aja's subsequent work. Now I gotta figure out a post about John Carpenter (one of my favourite directors ever) so this one might be an epic and might take a day or two. ;)
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totally my words, if i could express myself as well as you, about ajas movies. and i will consider to watch horns sometime.
about the one you call c: i also agree on what you wrote about "the fly". the horror comes from the truthfulness of the characters and the human aspects of the relationship. that's the brilliance of mr. c. and i highly recommend maps to the stars. i could be just me, but when i watched this movie, it was one of the cruelest, ugliest and disgusting ones i've seen. it's almost if all the evil is just an inch away and all these chararcters are so disturbingly ..i don't know. it's about the dark side of hollywood industry, if even ther is a light side. great story, brilliant cast, disturbing beautiful disturbing. and cosmopolitan is the last one i've seen, and what can i say, it's superb.
but back to topic (or maybe we should call this thread "the abnormal love of the sinister and creepy dark funny movies") which is about the italian meastro argento. four flies has arrived!! but i will watch it later this week, tonight i got a visitor and so it's going to be demon knight.
looking forward to read master rays "lobhudelei" of carpenter and more in detail knowledge of guillaume, which enflamed my passion for argento once again...
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Well, 'Map To The Stars' just went onto my must-watch list! Thanks, Cthulhu, I will check it out out at the nearest available opportunity!
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now i've managed to watch four flies, and i didn't expect what i've seen.
a brilliant opening sequence with fantastic music, cool editing and shots. but then there came so much comic and funny parts, i've never seen in a argento movie and though it is a giallo and has some cruel and thriller parts, i would call this a dark, tenseful comedy.
or not?
the part of the detective, a funny overacting of a gender stereotype, the dumb postman like a running gag, some interaction between the protagonist and his wife just felt like a real comedy. and i think this was intentional.
i liked the movie, it had some aging effects for me, when i thought this doesn't work nowadays as good as in the old days maybe, but overall a very nice italian comedy-giallo.
now on for sleepless..
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now i've managed to watch four flies, and i didn't expect what i've seen.
a brilliant opening sequence with fantastic music, cool editing and shots. but then there came so much comic and funny parts, i've never seen in a argento movie and though it is a giallo and has some cruel and thriller parts, i would call this a dark, tenseful comedy.
or not?
the part of the detective, a funny overacting of a gender stereotype, the dumb postman like a running gag, some interaction between the protagonist and his wife just felt like a real comedy. and i think this was intentional.
i liked the movie, it had some aging effects for me, when i thought this doesn't work nowadays as good as in the old days maybe, but overall a very nice italian comedy-giallo.
This film has a bit grown on me through the years...you're right when you"re talking about a "dark, tenseful comedy"...it is the Argento movie made in his early days that has the more comedy bits, with all these fun characters (Arrosio the gay private detective, the postman, Michael Brandon's "detectives"...)...i like the overall casting of the movie too. Argento once said that his early movies all had funny parts and that from "Suspiria" to "The Stendhal syndrome" included he somewhat missed the light mood of his early thrillers, so "Phantom of the opera" was for him a welcome return to the comedy genre (despite the film being a mixed bag, but that's another story)
There's also this very personal tone at the core of "4 flies on grey velvet", because Argento like he is explaining in his book autobiography, was in difficult times with his ex wife, so the film's mystery and lead actor were mostly Argento and his life at the time, even if he wasn't really conscious about all of this when he was directing the movie.
The opening of "4 flies" is indeed superb, as the tragic, darkly poetic finale is, too. ;)
a brilliant opening sequence with fantastic music
If i remember well Argento wanted Deep Purple to compose the soundtrack, and Pink Floyd for a later movie ("Deep red"? "Opera"?)
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i don't think goblin was involved in this soundtrack!? the credits said ennio morricone and i didn't concentrate, if somwhere simonetti or eles were mentioned?
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i don't think goblin was involved in this soundtrack!? the credits said ennio morricone and i didn't concentrate, if somwhere simonetti or eles were mentioned?
It's only Morricone, i don't remember what Argento is writing about Goblin in his book but if i am right he met them for the first time in 1973/1974, before the making of "Deep red".
Morricone's soundtrack is quite beautiful, i especially like the opening and the WONDERFUL ending track, over the slow motion scene...:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uyZy1moD_Q
Morricone's score for "The Stendhal syndrome" is also fantastic.
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For my money, the first 13 minutes of Suspiria is the best scene Argento ever did. Cinematic genius.
"Big John" Carpenter once said in a french interview that his favourite Argento scenes the famous opening scenes of "Suspiria" and the underwater scene of "Inferno" ;), he also added that "Phenomena" made him totally ill at ease, disturbed when watching it, and so for that reason it was a movie he "would never show to his children"!
George Romero (R.I.P :'( :'() said that his favourite Argento scene was the crows flying over the audience at the end of "Opera"...and i can understand him...this scene is totally unbelievable and thrilling...especially on the big screen!! :o 8)
Shit, forgot 'Casualties Of War'! I even picked up a cheap DVD of it a few months back and haven't gotten around to watching it yet! I'll get back to you on that one.
Brian De Palma had a tribute for his career in Paris, last June, at la Cinémathèque, and the movie he picked for his "Master Class" was "Casualties of war"...it's obviously a very personal, deep movie for him because when he talked about the Morricone soundtrack and horror of the story, he broke briefly in tears!!, finding the music and (real) story, events of the movie so sad ...that was an unexpected and moving bit of his "master class".
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it is beautiful and if you'd have to choose between goblin and morricone you cannot do anything wrong. morricone is such a master of scoring movies as is goblins sound.
btw, you have a wonderful blog, i just took a look, too much french for me;-), but you are a real expert and you did a fantastic job on the blog, guillaume!
and i bet you know and love also jaques tati, am i right?
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it is beautiful and if you'd have to choose between goblin and morricone you cannot do anything wrong. morricone is such a master of scoring movies as is goblins sound.
btw, you have a wonderful blog, i just took a look, too much french for me;-), but you are a real expert and you did a fantastic job on the blog, guillaume!
and i bet you know and love also jaques tati, am i right?
Thanks for the kind words Cthulhu ;)...i haven't updated my Argento blog in yearrrs, i'm a bit lazy and Argento's career isn't very busy these last years, i must say!
Tati i know him but i've seen very very few of his movies, maybe only "Les vacances de Mr Hulot", years ago.
He is a very famous director here in France, genius of comedy and use of locations/architecture, according to his fans.
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oh, you should definately see his works! i would recommend playtime, such a masterpiece, one of my alltime favourites and if you have an eye, as i know you do, for framing, set pieces and planned sequences, this is a must! also traffic (trafique?) is a very good one and both are very different from the vacances de hulot. they are more crtitical to the modern world, playtime is such wonderful scream against the soulless modern world. a true cineastic masterpiece.
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Some nice posts here! I'm afraid I am completely ignorant to the works of Tati, never seen a single one... well, that's something to add to the endless list of 'something i must watch one day...' :-[
Must add 'Four Flies'... to that same list, liked the opinons of it, my single viewing was a long long time and it sounds like something I might appreciate more in my 'vintage' years!
And, yes, I promised my big overview of John Carpenters career, but his works cover so many of my favourite movies, it's something i keep trying to write and get too caught up in... it will come, one day, I promise! ::)
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Must add 'Four Flies'... to that same list, liked the opinons of it, my single viewing was a long long time and it sounds like something I might appreciate more in my 'vintage' years!
The film has been for years difficult to see in decent conditions/shape because there were no blu ray and dvd, the film was invisible because of rights's issues between Paramount and Dario's family, if i remember well. But it's really good, the best of the "Animal trilogy" ex aequo with "the bird with the crystal plumage" i'd say, or just slightly less accomplished...the one i like the least from this era is "Cat"o""nine tails" even if it's not at all a bad movie, just a more "generic" thriller.
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I have been following this thread with interest some films i know loads i don't.Then i noticed Tati mentioned,i am a huge fan and would suggest people watch his films.Apart from the ones mentioned my favourite is Mon Oncle.........................also of interest may be The Illusionist/ L'Illusionniste........
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yes, tati is highly recommended for anyone who likes artistic cinema. you can watch his movies over and over and still be amazed. such clever, beautifully imaged, framed and planned comments an modern society and the human in it.
a short trailer about tatis films:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1541159/videoplayer/vi2485040409?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_1
yesterday i stumbled upon "laissez bronzer les cadavres" by catett and forzani and really liked it. it reminded me directly of the movies discussed here and felt like a hommage to argento and giallo with a strong personal, psychedelic and wild touch.
i will now look out for other movies by that team: amer and L'étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps.
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SUSPIRIA's remake is coming in theaters next November!!...here's trailer 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvebYk2bqkI
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Don't you think it's time this thread was put to rest? Oooh, Dario Argento is a master filmmaker. Uhh, he's also a master monster maker -- his daughter Asia. I suggest you read a newspaper about what she's been up to. Her father should have spent less time making movies and more time raising a daughter to be a human being. He certainly failed in that department.
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What's the point? :o ::)
I don't care what Asia did or didn't do, it's a thread about a director and his movies, not a thread about newspapers..shouldn't we talk about Polanski or Woody Allen's careers and movies because their private lives are "controversial"? ;)
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SUSPIRIA's remake is coming in theaters next November!!...here's trailer 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvebYk2bqkI
Ha, was about to post that one, you beat me to it! It does look like it might be an interesting remake...
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SUSPIRIA's remake is coming in theaters next November!!...here's trailer 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvebYk2bqkI
Ha, was about to post that one, you beat me to it! It does look like it might be an interesting remake...
It looks almost nothing like the original, judging from the trailer...here the look is muted, grey, almost dull/washed out...a bit like some new "arty" horror movies ("the witch"?)...i'm dreading a bit also because of the film's lengthy running time (2h30) that the film will be "explanatory", talky, more plot driven, when Dario's film -and its first sequel "Inferno"- was mostly told/written by its visuals but wait and see in November!
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.shouldn't we talk about Polanski or Woody Allen's careers and movies because their private lives are "controversial"? ;)
I no longer watch Polanski or Allen movies. You should demonstrate some moral integrity and do the same.
And believe me, I LOVED Woody Allen and his films. But how can one possibly watch one after we know what we know of him?
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I no longer watch Polanski or Allen movies. You should demonstrate some moral integrity and do the same.
And believe me, I LOVED Woody Allen and his films. But how can one possibly watch one after we know what we know of him?
If you happen to like some Polanski, or Allen, or Elia Kazan's movies does it inevitably mean that you like, that you accept everything that you know from these people's lives? Can't you part works of arts and the people behind the arts?
Another example, because we are on the NMA forum:
Justin Sullivan is a big fan of Noir Désir and Detroit, both bands led by the french singer Bertrand Cantat...the man who tragically killed his own girlfriend Marie Trintignant 15 years ago...and Justin knows that. Does it mean that Justin should "demonstrate some moral integrity, do the same" and so, burn all his cds, vynils, concert tickets, avoiding like plague to talk openly and listen to both of these bands...because of what happened? Do you think that JS is unable to part the virtues of Cantat music from the tragic act he has done in his private life?
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Can't you part works of arts and the people behind the arts?
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Sometimes that is extremely difficult. Child molestation? Am I really supposed to buy a ticket, buy some popcorn and enjoy the show?
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Child molestation? Am I really supposed to buy a ticket, buy some popcorn and enjoy the show?
So logically you shouldn't listen to, support NMA anymore because JS loves the music of a man who killed his lady ..does it mean that JS support the act of killing/murder if he loves Cantat's songs? ;)
Sometimes that is extremely difficult.
I understand and i agree. But each person has his own limits, his own moral integrity...which is sometimes/often different from others people own's moral integrity.
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Don't you think it's time this thread was put to rest? Oooh, Dario Argento is a master filmmaker. Uhh, he's also a master monster maker -- his daughter Asia. I suggest you read a newspaper about what she's been up to. Her father should have spent less time making movies and more time raising a daughter to be a human being. He certainly failed in that department.
First of all, just above your post a remake of one of argentos movies was announced, so you can say that argento is still "in" and alone by that fact the thread has his right of existenz. not to mention argentos influence on other artist.
secondly, your moral attitude seems a bit overstretched, but if you really mean it then stop watching any movie harvey weinstein had produced or directed. such as:
- smoke
- blue in the face
- true romance
- pulp fiction
- pret-a-porter
- jackie brown
- good will hunting
- the cidre house rules
- lord of the rings-fellowship of the ring
and hundreds more...
stop watching any hitchcock movie. he was known to be a sadist and women torturer. any movie by or with kevin spacey, mel gibson, charlie chaplin...the list would go on. any art inspired by the catholic church, or visit a church itself as a building, because it's known that they have grown a bunch of insane men in stupid uniforms calling themselves priests and molesting childs. the buildings were build by slaves.
in fact applying your morals you cannot watch any hollywood movie ever, because hollywood was build upon child-star exploitation, drugging, murder, cover ups...you can read about it in kenneth angers - hollywood babylon.
so i hope you think again about your standards and if you can logically apply them on art.
And believe me, I LOVED Woody Allen and his films. But how can one possibly watch one after we know what we know of him?
just because it's still the same movie. you don't know woody allen, you only know his movie.
and it's really totally not fair to say a woody allen movie was made alone by woody allen. by not watching it you discredit all the persons who worked on it too.
and you logic would also mean that you know about every person behind the art, that they are sin-free, because how can you watch or listen to art, music when you don't know yet, that the artist has done something bad?
and what about woddy allens movies he did before he commited a crime? can you watch them?
see where this is going?
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Well written and said Cthulhu, you summarized my thoughts nicely ! :) ;)
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thx. i was about to post a link to the asia story but then i left it. still waiting patiently on master rays carpenter "huldigung"
tonight i'm going to watch "amber". was very impressed by "laissez bronzer les cadavres" and feel that they, the filmmakers, are deeply inspired by argento
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was very impressed by "laissez bronzer les cadavres" and feel that they, the filmmakers, are deeply inspired by argento
Yes, so many directors were and are influenced by his style...Cattet/Forzani obviously, Tarantino, Scorsese, Lynch, De Palma, Carpenter himself who is a friend of Argento said many times in interviews that he "stole" shots and bits of music from Argento's movies.
still waiting patiently on master rays carpenter "huldigung"
i'm waiting for that too!! 8)
And, yes, I promised my big overview of John Carpenters career, but his works cover so many of my favourite movies, it's something i keep trying to write and get too caught up in... it will come, one day, I promise! ::)
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1)
...if you really mean it then stop watching any movie harvey weinstein had produced or directed. such as:
- smoke
- blue in the face
- true romance
- pulp fiction
- pret-a-porter
- jackie brown
- good will hunting
- the cidre house rules
- lord of the rings-fellowship of the ring
and hundreds more...
2)
stop watching any hitchcock movie. he was known to be a sadist and women torturer. any movie by or with kevin spacey, mel gibson, charlie chaplin...the list would go on. any art inspired by the catholic church, or visit a church itself as a building, because it's known that they have grown a bunch of insane men in stupid uniforms calling themselves priests and molesting childs. the buildings were build by slaves.
3)
it's really totally not fair to say a woody allen movie was made alone by woody allen. by not watching it you discredit all the persons who worked on it too.
4)
how can you watch or listen to art, music when you don't know yet, that the artist has done something bad?
5)
and what about woddy allens movies he did before he commited a crime? can you watch them?
1)
Of those films I have only seen PULP FICTION and LORD OF THE RINGS. The others I refuse to watch not because of an ethical position, but because those movies suck. GOOD WILL HUNTING? My God, that's a TV movie of the week. An after school movie for teen agers.
2)
Hitchcock never molested children, nor did Chaplin, or Gibson. Spacey movies I will not watch. Movies inspired by the Catholic church? There are none. If you think BEN-HUR or any Jesus movie was "inspired by the Catholic Church" you'd be wrong. Jesus was a Jew, also an historical figure. Catholic church has nothing to do with Jesus.
3)
Excellent point.
4)
When I find out the artist is a scum bag, I stop watching. Example: I used to read just about every Michael Crichton book. Then he wrote a racist anti-Asian book called "Rising Sun." I stopped reading Crichton. Same with Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt adventure novels. Cussler, too, wrote a racist anti-Asian book ("Dragon")...I stopped reading Clive Cussler.
5)
Yes, I can and do watch all the old Woody Allen movies. Two reasons: 1) he wasn't molesting his step-daughter then, and 2) those movies are his greatest works. Funniest movies ever made.
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Aw, you guys awaiting my JC retrospective... to be honest, I'd totally forgotten about it... ::) I will do it this weekend, promise! Be warned, it might be a bit of an epic. Anyone know if there's a word limit on these posts here?
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Oooh, Dario Argento is a master filmmaker.
What is your ranking of his movies (or at least the ones before 2013..) ?
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whirlwind you made your point and before this goes in circles only a few things.
i chose weinstein as an example for someone who was involved in hundreds of movies and i picked some. it's not about the movies, but about the person involved, the bad person, which for me does not make the movies suddenly unwatchable because of some revelation of that persons crimes. i'm against your opinion of hitchcock in this matter, because i wouldn't dare to downplay sadism, torture of women against child molestation. horrible anyway and if you think straight, there you have movies seeing the tortured women on screen, because he also did it to get his reaction. with your, i call it pseudo attitude, how can you watch actual footage of someone being tortured but don't want to watch a work of someone who comitted a crime in his personal life, not while producing art. it all comes down to point three for me, a movie is not only a directors work, it's team work . i do see thing differently when i read those names of the fallen in the credits, but the movie is the same as before for me.
so let us leave this behind, you can stop watching those movies but don't tell me that i have a lesser moral than you. and if you had read the thread a little closer with interest, then you would have noticed that we all also love john carpenter and it will be dicussed here. your thread about him is nice, but since master ray was about to write something about it its kind of redundant
so i watched amer. well..this was an intense experience, a movie almost without dialog, beautiful camera work, totally like a dream, a metaphor, mysterious, cruel, the sounddesign like a protagonist and it left me just thinking: what the hell did i see just now? i liked it, but i cannot explain it.
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so i watched amer. well..this was an intense experience, a movie almost without dialog, beautiful camera work, totally like a dream, a metaphor, mysterious, cruel, the sounddesign like a protagonist and it left me just thinking: what the hell did i see just now? i liked it, but i cannot explain it.
It seems that Cattet/Forzani are making much more experimental (arty?)/abstract movies than Argento's ones, or am i wrong?
I haven't seen their works, at least for the moment, but they seem to be love/hate reactions from the audiences who watch their movies..critics often wrote that Argento's plots were illogical, non sense but in most of his movies there are plots! Cattet/Forzani works from what i've read seem to focus on feelings, sensual imagery than on character driven plots, it seems.
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yes, especially amer is a pure surreal plot, almost no dialogue and very cryptic in its story. i loved it. their latest movie has a plot, a familiar one, like a western stand off where a police man enters a hideout of bank robbers, but its full of surreal moments and sequences and i totally like that style. its more watchable then amer and maybe a good start into their works.
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their latest movie has a plot, a familiar one, like a western stand off where a police man enters a hideout of bank robbers, but its full of surreal moments and sequences and i totally like that style. its more watchable then amer and maybe a good start into their works.
ok, i will give it a watch sooner or later! ;)
I've changed a bit the title of this thread...so what do you think of these three great directors that left us :'( :'( these last years:
George A.Romero, Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven!
Opinions and rankings of their works are welcome on this thread! ;)
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Yes, the new title now fits the discussion here better, well done. (or medium-rare?;-))
i will come back later, now it's time for some nachos with cheese from the oven and salsa and michael mann's "heat", which i will watch now with my son (he's 16 i should say, before some morally challengig questions arise;-).
wasn't mann a fav director of yours?
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i will come back later, now it's time for some nachos with cheese from the oven and salsa and michael mann's "heat", which i will watch now with my son (he's 16 i should say, before some morally challengig questions arise;-).
;D
good choice!
"Heat" is a great film about modern life and relationships...like Carpenter's best movies, endlessly watchable!
Here's the dedicated thread about Mann if you want to share your thoughts about "Heat" and his others works ;):
http://board.newmodelarmy.org/index.php?topic=8218.0
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OK, here we go... my big JC retrospective that I promised ages ago but forgot about... and I'm not going to do it in one big post, just in chunks with possibly a bit of personal relevance added in (because I am arrogant enough to think that the world revolves around me....) :D
It's my opinion that between 1976 and 1988, John Carpenter rarely put a foot wrong. During those wonderful VHS years there was classic after classic. After that, things got a bit patchy (but still much to enjoy)... I'll stick to his films as a director for cinema (never seen the Elvis TV movie but I rather liked 'The Eyes Of Laura Mars', which he wrote and is a pretty decent flick)...
But, hey, Dark Star came out in 1975 and it never really struck a chord with me, it was an extended student film that, to be honest, looked like some guys smoked a lot of weed, got hold of some movie-making equipment and decided to make a movie. It's not terrible, there's a certain charm that might resonate if you've been imbibing some of that same substance, I've seen it twice but I see no reason to investigate further.
Doesn't matter because the awesome 'Assault On Precinct 13' followed. Bloody love this film. Low budget as heck but all the better for it, stripped down, great characters, often funny and occasionally nasty (hell, they shot a cute little girl in cold blood about twenty minutes in!) and still my favourite John Carpenter theme ever. So dark and creepy. And why the heck did Darwin Joston and Austin Stoker never become big stars, they were both great!
I'll add a personal reason why I love this film... my Dad, during his copper days, worked the Miners Strike in the 80's and he must have worked at one of the quieter pits because he said he rarely saw any 'action', him and his fellow police officers just spent the days watching videos (and a heck of a lot of VHS porn, he recently admitted to me ;D) but when he came home one weekend, and knowing what a massive film fan I was, he raved about AOP13 and insisted we watch it together... we found a copy in the local video store and watched it together the following night. My Mum was elsewhere for some reason. A lovely memory of me and Me Dad, just hanging out and watching an awesome film.
I'll follow with more JC movie memories... please feel free to tell me to stop babbling on if it gets too much. ;)
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Viv, mods...this poster is posting about a subject in which a thread already exists. Why do we want to clutter the boards and also burn up bandwidth?
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Carrying on...
'Halloween' is an interesting one on that it was so influential in subsequent films that it now looks like a total cliche. I saw 'Friday The 13th' before I saw this and, to be honest ,as a daft teenage boy, I preferred FT13 because it had more gore and tits in it. See also the various 'slasher' movies of the 80's like The Burning, Rosemary's Killer, Happy Birthday To Me, etc. ::) These days, I can see what a magnificent stripped down thriller it is. No frills, just a hardcore story about a killer chasing down three teenage girls with the awesome Donald Pleasence thrown in. Great, great movie. Shame none of the sequels were worth a damn except, oddly, 'Halloween 3 - Season Of The Witch' which had nothing to do with any of the other movies but was quite a fun sci-fi horror flick.
Seems like there's a new Halloween movie out this, yes, Halloween, that completely ignores much of the series continuity and has Jamie Lee Curtis fighting Michael again... didn't this happen before, about 20 years ago? And didn't Laurie die? Oh what the heck, here's the trailer. I know damn well I'll be watching it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek1ePFp-nBI
Now, 'The Fog'... this is a personal favourite. I first saw it when it showed up over Christmas on the BBC in the 80's. I was a bit disappointed when I realised it wasn't an adaptation of James Herberts book of the same name, but ten minutes into this films lovely, creepy atmosphere I was hooked. Great soundtrack too. One of JC's most under-rated flicks... IMHO.
'Escape From New York is next but I need some time collect my thoughts about that cavalcade of awesomeness... :D
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It's my opinion that between 1976 and 1988, John Carpenter rarely put a foot wrong.
When i think about all these great directors of horror movies...Carpenter, Argento, Romero, Craven, Hooper, Cronenberg...their golden age, most inspired stuff is mostly in the 70's and 80's..
See also the various 'slasher' movies of the 80's like The Burning, Rosemary's Killer, Happy Birthday To Me, etc. ::)
I saw for the first time some months ago "Happy birthday to me" and it's quite fun...i'm not really a fan of slasher movies but i like "Jason lives" for example, the 6th part of the FT13 series.
Shame none of the sequels were worth a damn except, oddly, 'Halloween 3 - Season Of The Witch' which had nothing to do with any of the other movies but was quite a fun sci-fi horror flick.
"Halloween 3" is really good, it has Carpenter's stamp on it, the Scope visuals, the cool soundtrack...same for "Halloween 2" which isn"t as striking as the first one but still ok...Carpenter recut the movie and shot two new scenes, because he wasn't happy of what the director Rick Rosenthal did.
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i think i posted this before and i think you will know it, but if you don't you have to see "the american nightmare" a documentary about the early movies of carpenter, craven cronenbergm romero and hooper. let's begin with the last. texas chainsaw is brilliant. the sequel is is also very good but has more the ambition to "entertain" and give the audience what they want. and then... i don't know.
i bought a box with all the nightmare movies because it was cheap and of coures those directed by craven are superb movies, the others are just a vehicle to show of freddy and some effects. craven has a skill to tell a story that is more than just to shock the audience. to make a movie with the original cast making another freddy movie is just brilliant. he also played with all the expectations to the genre of the audience in scream which i very liked. haven't seen other movies by him but maybe red eye could be good.
romero invented the zombie genre, night of the living dead is a masterpiece, dawn of the dead also and day of the dead just keeps it on. land of the dead, diary of the dead were good movies but lackes a litlle bit of the straightnes of his earlier ones. martin is fantatsic and the crazies i just watched once in a third generation vhs copy, i cannot remember. the bruiser i found when watching not as bad as everybody said it was but it didn't stay memorable.
i totally agree to all whats written here about carpenter. i just think that dark star is also a fantastic one by carpenter, just love the staire in it and the student-movie feeling.
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i think i posted this before and i think you will know it, but if you don't you have to see "the american nightmare" a documentary about the early movies of carpenter, craven cronenbergm romero and hooper. let's begin with the last. texas chainsaw is brilliant. the sequel is is also very good but has more the ambition to "entertain" and give the audience what they want. and then... i don't know.
I remember about "the american nightmare" but i have yet to see it! Sounds interesting...is it available on dvd, with french subtitles (or at least english subtitles)?
About "Texas"...yes the second is very good, crazy movie, a bit disturbing in its view of the "world gone mad"!...Hooper did it very bloody and "funny" because many critics complained at the time that the first "Texas" was a very gory movie...in fact there is almost no blood in the movie but its mood is very disturbing, insane...so the 2nd "Texas" was kind of Hooper's revenge against the critics.
Others Hooper movies i like: "the funhouse", "lifeforce", "invaders from Mars", the tv movie "Salem's lot", "toolbox murders", "the mangler"...his movies, good or not so good, had always an hysterical, unsettling tone, some impressive use of locations and sound too.
i bought a box with all the nightmare movies because it was cheap and of coures those directed by craven are superb movies, the others are just a vehicle to show of freddy and some effects. craven has a skill to tell a story that is more than just to shock the audience. to make a movie with the original cast making another freddy movie is just brilliant. he also played with all the expectations to the genre of the audience in scream which i very liked.
Craven...i miss him...the man in his interviews always felt clever, polite, a quiet gentleman...his career was a bit uneven but he tried many things and when he was at his best he was very good!
The first "Nightmare" is one of my favourite movies ever, it's well acted, well written, clever, creepy and haunting...a timeless classic.
The last "Nightmare" is also pretty good...only Craven could have directed another serious Freddy movie because yes, the others sequels were very uneven, too often a special effects showcase and not much story and characters around the effects...
"Scream"...i have great memories of the first one, i saw it on the very big screen, back in summer 1997, it was a preview and i knew nothing about the movie (the good old days before Internet!! :))...so i was thrilled by the fun ingenious plot and twists, and i remember being very impressed, like everyone, by the great opening, tense scene. The sequels lack the fresh approach of the first one but they were still enjoyable enough, above average slashers because Craven was a skillful director.
haven't seen other movies by him but maybe red eye could be good.
You have to see at least these three ones:
"The serpent and the rainbow": one of Craven's very best films with the first "Nightmare" in my opinion, it has a politic, dreamlike and documentary style about the world of Voodoo in Haïti...haunting movie.
"The people under the stairs": i have good memories of this social fairy tale, a bit like an "Home alone" gone crazy!
"The last house on the left": one of Craven's most famous movies but be careful, it's a rather harrowing movie. True horror. Cheaply made, amateur-like but still disturbing, the kind of movie i don't want to see too often!
"Red eye" is fun, it's minor Craven if you compare it to the "Nightmares" or "the serpent and the rainbow" but it's still an enjoyable thriller, mostly in its first half...Cillian Murphy and the lovely Rachel McAdams are fine in it, too.
the bruiser i found when watching not as bad as everybody said it was but it didn't stay memorable.
I quite liked "Bruiser" too, i even like it more than Romero's last three zombies movies...it's more a bitter character study than an horror movie. My favorite Romero's movies are the first living dead trilogy, i also have very good memories of "Monkey shines", i will give it another viewing soon (the french blu ray has just been released)
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So... Escape From New York... one of my very favourite JC flicks. True story, I rented it one Saturday night in the 80's and watched it three times, back to back. One of my favourite films ever, such a brilliant concept! Great theme as well! It might look so dated these days thanks to so much dodgy 80's SFX, but balls to that, this film has a great story, great characters, fine actors and a properly heart-rushing, palms sweaty ending as everyone rushes to the wall where they might die. And, as it true of any decent action flick, most people don't get out of it alive. Er, spoilers. Sorry.
As a treat, just in case any JC fans haven't seen it, here's a deleted scene / prologue that should have most deffo been in the movie...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlken5NO7Ew&t=375s
So now we're into 1982 and The Thing and, damn, if anyone disagrees with me that this is one of the finest horror moves of all time, I'll send you a stern internet stare. Just excellent. Not a silly fun watch, but a bunch of great character actors in a claustrophobic nightmare with truly revolutionary (and often shocking SFX) that still stand up decades later. It was a massive flop but has become a well-regarded classic. Yay!
Now, in 1983, we get to Christine, the haunted car movie, and it's one I love and somewhat dislike in equal measures...let me explain... I remember buying Christine (the novel) in the early 80's, my summer holidays out of school, and being absolutely OBSESSED with that book! What can I say, I was a bit of an Arnie at school, wishing he had a Dennis and hoping a Leigh would one day fancy me.. The characters, the story, I loved all of it. Then the film came out and... well, it just so left out much out of the wonderful book. Not an unusual thing as I've learned over the years (heck, ask me about 'The Beach' sometime ::))
Yet, despite that, Mr Carpenter delivered a stripped down and skillfully made flick that I somehow remain very fond of. It's one film that I think might be worthy of a decent and more faithful remake, but I won't put it down too much.
To be continued...
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So how much of the fact that carpenter is making his own scores does play into your love of his movies?
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First little scene of SUSPIRIA 2018...enjoy!!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IruXDYtg7I
One question:
If you have to bring 10 or 20 horror movies on a desert island, which ones would you choose?? ;)
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my alltime favourite and the movie that started the interst in filmmaking and horror:
the evil dead
let's see, no particular order, the first come to mind:
dawn of the dead
reanimator 1+2
planet of vampires
the thing
house of 1000 corpses
the devil's rejects
evil dead 2
the last man on earth
the beyond
its difficult, because some movies are so intense, you like them but you don't want to watch the too often, maybe like texas chainsaw or cannibal holocaust
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and i've seen enough of the trailers of suspiria to know that i'm very interested in. i also just shuttled to the ones before, i don't want to see too much ahead. looking forward to it.
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First little scene of SUSPIRIA 2018...enjoy!!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IruXDYtg7I
One question:
If you have to bring 10 or 20 horror movies on a desert island, which ones would you choose?? ;)
Oh, bloody hell, another list I have to figure out... ::) ;)
I'll be back to you on that one... and I'll be going for the full 20!
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Nice list Ctulhu! :)
Oh, bloody hell, another list I have to figure out... ::) ;)
I'll be back to you on that one... and I'll be going for the full 20!
ok ;)
My list...one movie per director!:
FULL CIRCLE/THE HAUNTING OF JULIA (Richard Loncraine): My favourite "ghost story"/"haunted house movie", starring Mia Farrow in one of her very best performances...the film is beautifully shot in London and has an incredible, unforgettable piano/synth 70's soundtrack. One of the best closing scenes/shots ever, too...haunting movie. From Peter Straub's novel JULIA.
PHANTASM (Don Coscarelli): great horror/sci fi/psycho drama about loss and childhood fears...haunting movie in many ways.
THE KEEP (Michael Mann): a World War II fairy tale! Haunting visuals and Tangerine Dream soundtrack...a fascinating study of fascism and the meaning of "Evil".
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (Wes Craven) : timeless classic! When Freddy was still scary!
PHENOMENA (Dario Argento): i love the ethereal fairy tale mood and Argento's great use of locations, cinematography and Jennifer Connelly's striking; ingenue presence.
WHITE DOG (Samuel Fuller): not really an horror movie but still an heartbreaking, raw tale about the true horrors of racial hatred.
NEXT OF KIN (Tony Williams): Great, moody, scary australian "slasher" movie. Tarantino is a huge fan of this film, praising it as much as Kubrick"s THE SHINING. It looks a bit like a Peter Weir movie directed by Dario Argento!
Warmly recommended, especially since the australian blu ray will be available in early October...for those who haven't seen that movie! ;)
CANDYMAN (Bernard Rose): One of the best horror movies of the 90's. Unusual social undertones, a great Virginia Madsen performance and an haunting soundtrack.
NEARK DARK (Kathryn Bigelow): one of the best vampires movies...a great film about blood ties and a perfect casting.
CHRISTINE (John Carpenter): HALLOWEEN would have been the obvious choice but here's a very good adaptation from King that i've seen countless times...great soundtrack, acting, special effects and Carpenter's brillant visuals, as usual.
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (John Landis): a perfect, rare mix of scares, laughs and tragedy...John Landis's best film.
RE-ANIMATOR (Stuart Gordon): i miss Gordon's low budget inventive B movies! RE-ANIMATOR is Gordon's masterpiece, a little gem of horror and dark comedy, perfectly acted.
DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE (Michele Soavi): i could have chosen Soavi's brillant first movie (the slasher STAGE FRIGHT/DELIRIA/BLOODY BIRD) but DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE is a small masterpiece of poetic horror drama comedy! Unique movie.
JAWS (Steven Spielberg): the Spielberg movie for people who usually don't like Spielberg's movies!!
THE ENTITY (Sidney J.Furie): Disturbing scary movie with a fantastic lead performance from the great Barbara Hershey.
THE INNOCENTS (Jack Clayton): a great classic of haunted houses movies. Beautifully shot and acted.
THE HIDDEN (Jack Sholder): great, fun B movie between horror, sci fi and thriller. It has a brisk pace and fine acting.
THE HITCHER (Robert Harmon): one of the best B movies, thrillers from the 80's. Uncopromising stylish movie.
WOLFEN (Michael Wadleigh): ambitious, stylish, clever update on the "werewolf" genre.
LE DEMON DANS L'ILE/DEMON IS ON THE ISLAND (Francis Leroi): one french movie from the early 80's...good intriguing little thriller with some scares and effective shock scenes...maybe the makers of the FINAL DESTINATION series have seen this movie, haven't they?
Now, in 1983, we get to Christine, the haunted car movie, and it's one I love and somewhat dislike in equal measures..the film came out and... well, it just so left out much out of the wonderful book.
I've read the book years ago after seeing the movie. I'm glad Carpenter did many changes with King's novel...i'm pretty sure a rude, living dead/ghost driving the car would have been kind of silly in the movie...at the time THE THING flopped and Carpenter had enough of the raw, gory violence so he choose to put everything about the car, and not the zombie driver! I think it works nicely in the movie, making the story more elegant, mysterious...a remake would be useless in my opinion, especially because they would make the car effects with less realistic CGI effects, probably. The special effects of CHRISTINE are great i think, even in 2018.
So how much of the fact that carpenter is making his own scores does play into your love of his movies?
His soundtracks are part of the mood of his movies, for sure!
ASSAULT..., HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NY, THE THING, CHRISTINE, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, THEY LIVE, the opening theme of IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, VAMPIRES:
Brillant soundtracks!
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Hey Guillaumere... several favourites of mine on that list... still working on my list, but a couple of comments...
Soundtracks by Mr Carpenter are one of my favourite things about them, they wouldn't be the films they were without them. A MASSIVE part of the enjoyment of his films! I know we've talked about this before, but his 'Lost Themes' albums dearly make me wish that they had movies attached to them!
Fun fact... Christine was given a PG certificate when submitted to the MPAA. Thinking that it would be the death of it at the box office, (seeing as i was supposed to be a horror film and not wanting to reshoot any scenes) he overdubbed a lot of swearing (C**tingham?) so it would get an adult rating. ;D
OK, off to think about my top 20 horror films ever... and more about Mr Carpenter... and now we've got another thread about Mr Cronenberg... I might be gone awhile.
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several favourites of mine on that list...
most of them are available on blu ray/dvd, save for THE KEEP unfortunately not available anywhere on blu ray/dvd :'( :'( because it seems, rights issues about Tangerine Dream soundtrack...
also FULL CIRCLE/THE HAUNTING OF JULIA, again, unfair rights issues :'(, poor director Richard Loncraine is desperate about it...but waiting for a miracle, sooner or later, you cand find this 70's gem somewhere on Youtube..:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvirXY31jtM
I know we've talked about this before, but his 'Lost Themes' albums dearly make me wish that they had movies attached to them!
Carpenter is touring this year...coming in Paris next October! 8)
Sound(tracks) is half the power of Carpenter's movies...and horror movies overall!
Movies like HALLOWEEN, PSYCHO, JAWS, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, PHANTASM, FULL CIRCLE...would be less effective without their fantastic soundtracks, for sure!
Fun fact... Christine was given a PG certificate when submitted to the MPAA. Thinking that it would be the death of it at the box office, (seeing as i was supposed to be a horror film and not wanting to reshoot any scenes) he overdubbed a lot of swearing (C**tingham?) so it would get an adult rating. ;D
Interesting, i didn't know about this...Carpenter for years didn't like very much CHRISTINE, he thought he failed, that the film wasn't scary...he was still in a bitter, depressed mood because THE THING flopped and met hostile reviews, so he had to find quick, a new job...and it was King's CHRISTINE, a sure deal!
Now Carpenter likes CHRISTINE much more, if you listen to the audio commentary on the dvd, he says that the film is well acted and quite stylish.
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OK, here's my top 20 horror flicks, although I'm already rethinking it (I missed out The Beyond, Dracula Prince Of Darkness and Reanimator?) but fook it, we'll be here for days if I tried to narrow it down, so here's my uncensored and 'straight from the brain' list... ;) and I'm doing it in alphabetical order because trying to put it in a proper top 20 thing would make my brain explode... even though certain folks around these parts think I'm 'brainless'... ;)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 - Dream Warriors (1987)... liked it far better than the original.
An American Werewolf In London (1981) - my favourite horror movie ever. The perfect mix of comedy and horror.
The Cabin In The Woods (2012) - another fine mix of comedy and horror...
Carrie (1976) - When magnificent performances, fine direction and genuine emotion meet in a horror story, THIS is what you get...
Cat People (1982) - Surreal and sexy as heck, great Morodor score as well...
Damien - Omen 2 (1978) - Damn, when I saw this on it's first TV showing, I wished I was the Anti-Christ... ;D
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) - Gallons of blood and truly hilarious and endlessly-repeatable dialogue. I can repeat, word for word, the 'Pussy Lovers' bit, if I've had a pint or two. It might not be something I'm proud of.
Henry - Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986) - Saw it at an arthouse cinema in the late 80's. Was a bit freaked out by how grim it was. Then, a decade of so later, got hold on the uncut version. Double freaked out.
Let The Right One In (2008) - See my comment about'Carrie'.
Martyrs (2008) - Holy shit, this one is just so 'wrong'. But wonderfully made and acted. Proceed with caution.
Night Of The Demon (1958) - Very first horror I was allowed to watch as a kid, I was about 8, late night on BBC2! And the ending, when the demon shows up, still gives me a shiver!
Phenomena (1985) - one of two Argento entries here. And, like much of Argento's stuff, it's a bit silly but so beautifully made! Brilliant soundtrack, too!
Prince Of Darkness (1987) - a somewhat under-regarded John Carpenter flick...
Suspiria (1977) - one of my favourites, a hallucinogenic trip about witches and stuff... the first 15 minutes may be the best example of horror cinema EVER...
Theatre Of Blood (1973) - Vincent Price (the best horror movie actor ever?) in the film he regarded as his best. Great British cast, imaginitvely gruesome and a gorgeous soundtrack. Love it.
The Company Of Wolves (1984) - Is it horror or is it arthouse? Don't care, love this film!
The Thing (1982) - I think we all know how good this film is. ;)
Zombie Flesheaters (1979) - now this is not anyone's idea of a classic horror movie, even if there is a bit where a zombie fights a shark underwater. And that is a REAL shark, not sure about the zombie (you never can tell with these Italian horror flicks) but I saw it at an impressionable age and I own an uncut DVD and it's going onto my list, OK? ;)
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A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 - Dream Warriors (1987)... liked it far better than the original.
I like it too, even if it is a more "pop horror corn flick" aimed at teenagers than the first one! Craven in the first one was more serious, darker...the 3rd "Nightmare" is the one where Freddy becomes a star! delivering some punchlines here and there!
Still one the few fine sequels with the second one and the last Craven "nightmare". It helps, i think, that Craven put his stamp on the screenplay and that Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon were back in Freddy"s world!
An American Werewolf In London (1981) - my favourite horror movie ever. The perfect mix of comedy and horror.
Yes, so good! best transformation scene ever, with Rick Baker's incredible work. I also like the casting, the soundtrack and the unsettling tone...often in the movie you don't know if you must laugh/scream/cry! genius! the weird dream scenes for example, or the rotting corpse of the good friend. So many good scenes...the opening, the subway scene, the finale. I don't think that Landis is a "great" director even if i liked most of what he directed...but AAWIL is for sure a great film of the 80's. I liked another entry from Landis in the horror/comedy genre: "Innocent blood"...not as striking as "Werewolf" but still pretty cool.
Cat People (1982) - Surreal and sexy as heck, great Morodor score as well...
I almost put this film on my 20 desert island movies list too!
I really like that movie...haunting, from the soundtrack (i own the cd!) to the production design, dream scenes and moving ambiguous finale...to Miss Kinski of course, who was gorgeous. It probably helped that she was Paul Schrader's girlfriend at the time, he really makes her the star of the movie...have you seen the original movie Master Ray? very different in style from the remake, like "the thing" released the same year.
Here's the kind of haunting scenes i can watch endlessly..music and pictures working together perfectly!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8vVF4cXlQo
Damien - Omen 2 (1978) - Damn, when I saw this on it's first TV showing, I wished I was the Anti-Christ... ;D
It's a good trilogy!
The second part has some fine acting (the great William Holden!) and some effective shock scenes...my favourite? probably the death on the road, with the lady vs the crows and truck :o And Jerry Goldsmith's creepy soundtrack!
Carrie (1976) - When magnificent performances, fine direction and genuine emotion meet in a horror story, THIS is what you get...
De Palma was good when he let his heart speak...think of "Carrie", the harrowing/heartbreaking "Casualties of war", the endings of "Obsession", "Phantom of the paradise", "the fury", "Carlito's way".
Henry - Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986) -
What do you think of the others John McNaughton movies? I remember liking very much "Mad dog and glory", starring De Niro Uma Thurman and Bill Murray...it's a cute movie if you compare it to "Henry"!
Night Of The Demon (1958) - Very first horror I was allowed to watch as a kid, I was about 8, late night on BBC2! And the ending, when the demon shows up, still gives me a shiver!
Is it the one where the demon is first seen in a giant cloud in the far horizon, or something like that? If so, i have good childhood memories of this film! Mann did a kind a nod to this film in "The Keep", when the golem/demon appears within a giant "cloud"..
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G, I'm off to bed now, but before I do, can I say that the original Cat People nearly made my list over the remake... a truly fine film!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ADPSaybusM
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I've seen it on vhs years ago, i have to give it another viewing...Paul Schrader's remake bombed and was maligned by critics when it was released, like the remakes of "The thing" and "Scarface" at the same time...
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very interesting read of you lists, many head nodding thinking: yeah, great ones! some inspiration mostly by guillaumes mentioning of some titles i didn't know
but i was asleep under deck when the ship was sinking and had to just grab what came in mind and was in reach before drowning, whereas you had time to think what you want to take to the island;-)
i would add:
from beyond - i like it definately more than re-animator, i think its way better in terms of atmosphere.
the haunting - robert wise b/w thrilling and still really frightening
dead & buried - this one i find has so many levels to it, creepy, atmospheric, strange and weird and totally entertaining at the same time.
and i'm thinking: next time we should be by chance at a concert together somehow, there has to be a video session together!
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from beyond - i like it definately more than re-animator, i think its way better in terms of atmosphere.
I like it too! Yes, in some ways it's more atmospheric and crazier than "Reanimator"...the "resonator" thing pushing people to be/act crazy! Great ending too!
By the way, why Stuart Gordon doesn't direct movies anymore? :'( His last movie is from 2005 or 2006..."Re-animator", "From beyond", "Dolls", "Fortress", "Castle freak", "Edmond" are great B movies!
dead & buried - this one i find has so many levels to it, creepy, atmospheric, strange and weird and totally entertaining at the same time.
of course! i forgot that one! fantastic!
it's everything you said..the screenplay is great with its existencial dark undertone and its totally bleak ending twist! Great finale. At times the atmosphere recalls a bit "The Fog".
Have you seen some others Gary Sherman movies? His early movies were really good..."Dead and buried" but also "Death Line"/"Raw meat", a sad bleak and darkly funny story, also the very good thriller "Vice squad".
and i'm thinking: next time we should be by chance at a concert together somehow, there has to be a video session together!
Yes! and why not, a NMA concert with the band playing over some videos of the 20 desert island movies we chose in this thread? :D 8)
From time to time bands are playing in front of videos of movies...i've seen a Goblin concert almost ten years ago and it was like that, great. Also Carpenter's concerts are like that, him and his band playing against videos of his movies!! 8) 8)
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More love here for From Beyond and Dead And Buried. I had a cracking good DVD of DAB with many extras but lent to it to someone in the past and never got it back... terrific film that, honestly, I once watched with my grandmother. ;D... and she rather liked it! ;D
I've noticed that FB is on Netflix, it's been many a long year since I saw it, I must get around to that.
Oh, and Death Line is excellent and I seem to remember seeing Vice Squad back in the day, and liking it, but I remember nothing about it...
Now I must get around to posting on other film related threads... ;)
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So, John Carpenter... :)
Where were we up to? OK, Starman it is. Carpenter goes full-on Hollywood! And it's superb. A genuinely moving film, one that is cheesy as heck but gets away with it because of the wonderful performances, great direction and, yes, that terrific soundtrack, by Jack Nitzsche, Carpenter stepping aside here and deservedly so. Yes, it's as corny as heck in places, but so was Field Of Dreams, so was It's A Wonderful Life, so was Up, so was Rocky, so was ET... I'll underline it here, but there is nothing wrong with a movie that properly plucks on your heartstrings! And Starman does that in spades. Lovely film, one I'll return to again and again...
So where did JC go to next... the absolute insanity of Big Trouble In Little China. Sadly, another one that didn't do terribly well at the cinema but it's grown to be a classic. Kurt Russell put forward as the hero, but he was actually the clown (well, up until the ending... 'it's all in the reflexes'... ) just shows that Mr Russell can bring the comedy when needed... such an entertaining movie. In the last couple of days , it seems like Dwayne Johnson is making a remake... I'll be OK with that if Old Jack Burton, at some point, shows up, looks at The Rock and stares that big sucker right back in the eye, and remembers what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Dwayne?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail." ;D
Oh, and here's the Gangnam Style thing about BTILC that always makes me laugh...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xiAbDkXDgg
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So, let's carry on with Mr Carpenter as he leaves the realm of 'big budget' movies and gets back to his low-budget roots.
Prince Of Darkness... a cracking good horror film with some truly creepy moments. The 'shot on grainy video' / 'dreams' scenes are awesome, the last one is one of the best endings to any horror movie I ever saw. It's one of the few films that I ever saw twice at the cinema, on consecutive nights no less!
And then we've got the great 'They Live', which is an out and out comedy, albeit with horror / sci-fi stuff... I think that Mr Carpenter just went 'well, **** it, I'm rich and well-regarded with a massive fanbase, so I'll make a film like this just because I CAN and who cares if anyone likes it or not! I might even cast a wrestler and throw in a pointless ten minute wrestling scene!' And it's all the better that he did for those same reasons! Love this flick. Fun as heck.
Now, a confession... I'm not a huge fan of 'In The Mouth Of Madness' but, in my defence, I only watched it the once, way back in the day, and I'm a different person now, so I will be re-investigating...
And now we're really gonna get into the diversive Carpenter stuff, but that's one for tomorrow night...
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Uhh, is anybody here really waiting for one person's endless words about one particular subject?
Please, folks, offer your thoughts on the various subjects here on this thread. It's called a community. Some do not understand that.
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And then we've got the great 'They Live', which is an out and out comedy, albeit with horror / sci-fi stuff... I think that Mr Carpenter just went 'well, **** it, I'm rich and well-regarded with a massive fanbase
Here's a very cool documentary about John Carpenter, talking about himself, his career...also his "team" is interviewed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ait8nwwVpw
It was a documentary made between 2004 and 2006, if i remember well. According to the director of this documentary, Carpenter is a rich man since the early 90's, because of the success of some of his movies and soundtracks...
And now we're really gonna get into the diversive Carpenter stuff
According to the director of this documentary everyone he interviewed from Carpenter's team/crew said that Carpenter wasn't anymore the same director when he divorced/broke up from Adrienne Barbeau (seen in "the fog" and "escape from NY") and married then with the film's producer Sandy King. According to people who worked with Carpenter, Sandy King had a kind of negative influence over Carpenter's artistic choices in the 90's and 2000's..i guess that Adrienne Barbeau when married to Carpenter was a kind of muse to him?
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Well, she'd be a muse to me! Interesting thought, I will check out that documentary asap...
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And now to the final part of my big JC retrospective... and the tail end of his carer that isn't terribly impressive, a fine director running out of steam... :-\
Village Of The Damned... seen it two or three times, yet still remember very little about it. Utterly nothing about it sticks in my memory. Perhaps I should watch it again? Or perhaps just regard it as a 'somewhat nothing' movie that I'd rather forget from a director I loved?
Well, I wish I could forget 'Escape From LA'. A movie I utterly and absolutely hate! I remember going to the cinema, on opening night, SO excited at seeing Snake back on the big screen, one of my favourite movie characters returning after so many years... and within thirty minutes I was utterly depressed. Yes, the SFX were dreadful, but many were in the 90's. I just hated the dreary rehashed storyline, the utter lethargy of everyone 'going through the motions', the way it made little sense... there are only two things I liked about it. The 'rocked-up' version of the awesome theme tune and the funny 'Bangkok Rules' scene (which was in the trailer)... Deffo the bottom of the barrel as far as Mr Carpenter is concerned, IMHO. This film is utterly shithouse.
Then we got 'Vampires' which I rewatched recently, and it's pretty decent, one of his better later flicks. Mind you, after EFLA, he could have directed furniture commercials with a local celebrity and they'd have been more involving... Vampires is surprisingly nasty and with some fine actors, not nearly as good as 'the classics' but something like 'a return to something like form...'
See also 'Ghosts Of Mars', I could post the exact same comment, but the sentiments still stand... a decent enough flick but compared to the old stuff, meh.
And as to his last directorial effort (to date) 'The Ward'.... just unimaginative and I wouldn't be arsed to watch it again.
Thanks to everyone in this great community for trudging through my thoughts. I'll leave you with a great 50 minute John Carpenter live concert...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijZBAiaUroI
:)
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Interesting thought, I will check out that documentary asap...
Let me know what you think of it, i think it was a great little documentary, funny and touching at times (the scene where Carpenter goes in the street where he shot "Halloween" in 1978, for example)...
Well, I wish I could forget 'Escape From LA'. A movie I utterly and absolutely hate! there are only two things I liked about it. The 'rocked-up' version of the awesome theme tune and the funny 'Bangkok Rules' scene (which was in the trailer)...
Don't you like the ending scene? I think it's pretty great, even if the rest of the movie isn't too good, indeed.
I quite like "Village of the damned", first Carpenter movie i've seen on the big screen! First time i was disappointed, thinking the movie was dull, generic, but i liked it a bit more on laserdisc then dvd and blu ray...it's nicely shot and has some good moments and B movie casting!
"Vampires"...i kinda love it...it's flawed (the plot is a bit repetitive and the ending is rushed) but like you say it's nasty, and i like the visuals and casting.
What do you think of "Invisible man" and "Someone's watching me"?
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thx master ray, you kept your promise and it was a fine read!
yesterday i went shopping and found "big trouble in litle china" for 5€ on blu-ray and watched it again and had much fun. i think this movie was to weird, the hero to to dumb but very funny, a real movie for nerds but not for the mainstream. the blu-has one of my favourite specials, the isolated soundtrack!
i really like the "invisible man", i love chevy chase and his family movies, i like the special effects and the story. very funny at moments, and has also much suspense. don't know why people don't like it, for me its a very good movie.
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i recently watched "universal soldier. day of reckoning" due to curiosity and was unexpectedly blown away by it. i would call it a masterpiece by john hyams. this movie is so intense, intelligent and kind of a melting of action and horror. it made me scream out loud while watching it, the action an fighting scenes will get you shaking your head while applauding. well at least for me it did this. you guys should check it out. a masterpiece!
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thx master ray, you kept your promise and it was a fine read!
yesterday i went shopping and found "big trouble in litle china" for 5€ on blu-ray and watched it again and had much fun. i think this movie was to weird, the hero to to dumb but very funny, a real movie for nerds but not for the mainstream. the blu-has one of my favourite specials, the isolated soundtrack!
i really like the "invisible man", i love chevy chase and his family movies, i like the special effects and the story. very funny at moments, and has also much suspense. don't know why people don't like it, for me its a very good movie.
"Big trouble..." was re-released early this year in french theaters/cinemas, new 4K print...unfortunately i missed the screenings! :'(
I won't miss "Halloween", "Escape from NY" and "Prince of Darkness" next autumn on the big screen, though! ;)
Yes, "Invisible man" is pretty good...Carpenter doesn't seem to rate it highly, because it was a big studio, big budget movie and there were lots of creative interferences according to him during the making of it, that's why there is not "John Carpenter's...'" before the title of this movie. According to Carpenter, Chevy Chase wanted a more serious, more somber character and tone for the movie but the studio Warner Bros wanted a comedy, so for Carpenter, the film suffered from this...but you can still recognize the master's stamp in his use of Cinemascope, for example. The casting is good, too.
Now, back to Dario..."Suspiria"'s remake is screening tonight, worldwide premiere, at the Venise Film Festival...i will look for the reviews of course, even if i don't really trust the early buzz, good or bad, when films are shown in festivals. ;)
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Well, heck, despite my love for Carpenter, I somehow missed out that Invisible Man movie. Probably it was so underwhelming that it's completely vanished from my memory. Despite liking Mr Chase very much as a comedic actor back then and having a bit of a crush back then on Ms Hannah! I must watch this one again.
Never seen 'Someones Watching Me'. Must catch up on that one.
Your comments have been great, guys, please keep them coming, here and on other parts of this lovely little internet community ;)
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First review I've seen about the 'Suspiria' remake, from The Guardian... not terribly good, I'm afraid... :-\
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/01/suspiria-review-luca-guadagninos-horror-remake-has-sex-and-style-but-fails-to-bewitch#comment-119983456
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First reviews are very split/mixed indeed, "Love it" or "Hate it" style!...those who don't like it call the "remake" boring, pretentious, overlong, dull looking and not scary...:
http://www.darkhorizons.com/suspiria-early-reviews-prove-very-divisive/
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Aw, regardless of what the reviews say, I know damn well I'm going to check it out on opening weekend! :)
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Aw, regardless of what the reviews say, I know damn well I'm going to check it out on opening weekend! :)
Me too! Maybe it will help to re-release Dario's original movie on the big screen, restored, 4K print...it's quite an incredible movie on the big screen...
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i don't understand the thing with the 4k print on a technical level. i would love to see his movies on a big screen.
but my thoughts are like this:
i've read somewhere that a 35mm format, i don't know which one argento used, is somewhat like 2k, when you "count" the film-grain on the celluloid and that a 2k transfer gives a good quality when transfered from analog to digital. of course when you think, the more the better.
but this would mean to digitize the movie instead of showing an original print. nowadays the cameras have more digital resolution than film has. i think at least. this 4k is more a digital thing in my opinion. of course you can restore it that way if the print is too damaged, but i would prefer an original print. what do you think about it?
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i've read somewhere that a 35mm format, i don't know which one argento used, is somewhat like 2k, when you "count" the film-grain on the celluloid and that a 2k transfer gives a good quality when transfered from analog to digital. of course when you think, the more the better.
but this would mean to digitize the movie instead of showing an original print. nowadays the cameras have more digital resolution than film has. i think at least. this 4k is more a digital thing in my opinion. of course you can restore it that way if the print is too damaged, but i would prefer an original print. what do you think about it?
I don't have really an opinion about it...i've seen great 35mm screenings through the years in the 80's, 90's, 2000's, also not very good screenings because the prints were too damaged...the 2k screenings i've seen this summer in Paris of PHENOMENA and OPERA were very very nice, and DEEP RED 4K screening was fantastic too! :) ;)
Some directors don't like at all the look of HD cinematography, digital...Tarantino and Christopher Nolan being the most famous pro 35mm/70mm directors...they think that digital have a too clean, too cold, too sharp look...nothing like the "warmth" of 35mm/70mm...it's a bit like the "war" of the sound of the CD vs the sound of the Vynil, i guess!
A friend of mine has seen some years ago a 35mm, English stereo 4 (or 6?) tracks of SUSPIRIA at the...Bradford :) ;) Film Festival and he said to me that it was GORGEOUS on 35mm, with all the wonderful colours bleeding from the screen and the original big stereo sound with all the whispers "Witch!!" of the soundtrack all around the heads and ears of the audience...nothing, according to him, like the blown out/burnt 2K copy the Wild Side company made of "Suspiria" these last years...
i've read very enthusiastic reports of the 4K copy of SUSPIRIA that the US Synapse company made last year, though...i would like to see that one on the big screen.
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I have no idea what 4K is... I still think that HD is a pretty nice idea. ;D
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4k is two times 2k;-)
if you have a movie filmed on celluloid it runs with 24 frames per second. each frame is photographed and digitized and mostly this was done in 2k resolution. full hd is 1920x1080 pixels per frame, hd is i think 1280x720 and a dvd is 720x576. 4k is 4096x2160 pixels per frame.
when dvd came out it was fantastic, but no comparison to a theater screening. now with full hd i'm totally satisfied with the quality, the digitized picture can show grain of the celluloid and my question was also about, what is the resolution of a celluloid frame? it's defiantely more than full hd, but to me it feels very acceptable and it's for home use anyway. the big screen is always better and demands more resolution. the full-hd format also introduced the 24fps playing of a movie and the losless audio tracks, so theres nothing to complain or to wish for more by me here.
but with the resolution comes also the depth of colour and it should make a difference if the celluloid is captured in 4k and then downscaled to full hd.
but the main part of my question was: if you have an original print, celluloid, then its analog and you can screen it loke it was intended. if you have a 4k restoration, then the analog movie becomes digital and you need also a digital projector.
i see this topic different than when it's about music analog vs. digital and think a 4k movie could be a blast.
so i can now come back to topic and just found today an offer,was only 25€, of "suspiria" in a mediabook, a blu ray which has the restored 4k version on it and after this discussion here i had to buy it and i'm so looking forward to it. :D
i hope it will arrive next week and this will be my first 4k overworked movie.
of course there are now real 4k blu rays out but for that you'll need obviously a screen which can display that.
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Cheers, mate, for the explanation! ;)
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so i can now come back to topic and just found today an offer,was only 25€, of "suspiria" in a mediabook, a blu ray which has the restored 4k version on it and after this discussion here i had to buy it and i'm so looking forward to it. :D
i hope it will arrive next week and this will be my first 4k overworked movie.
The best of the best SUSPIRIA blu ray, according to many reviewers, is the US one released this year:
https://synapse-films.com/blu-ray/suspiria-two-disc-blu-ray-special-edition/
Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA comes to home video from Synapse Films in an exclusive new 4K restoration from the original uncut, uncensored 35mm Italian camera negative with the original 4.0 English surround sound mix, for the first time EVER! Painstakingly restored over the past three years, Synapse Films has created the ultimate special edition of this horror classic with the supervision and approval of the film’s Director of Photography, Luciano Tovoli.
I don't own it because i don't have a multi region/zones blu ray player though...i own the italian blu ray released one or two years ago, which i think is pretty good.
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I ordered the german version of the 4k restauration.
"There are, however, actually two 4K restorations that were done for Suspiria; one, by Don May Jr., while the other was performed by TLEFilms FRPS in Germany. This is the same master used for home video release in Europe and Australia. Fans have viewed and picked apart both transfers, though you would have to be one of the ultra-purists to enter that debate and engage anyone willing to discredit either image. The job done by Synapse is extraordinary and the same can also be said for the work done by TLEFilms. This release by CultFilms features the TLEFilms restoration, making it either an attractive alternative to Synapse’s (currently OOP) steelbook release or a nice supplement for fans who wish to own both 4K versions."
The real interest many will have with this review is in regard to the picture quality. As I said before, the 2.35:1 1080p image provided by TFEFilms’ exhaustive restoration work is nothing short of astounding. This looks like a film that might have been made last year, never mind over four decades ago. The image is razor sharp, exceedingly clear and completely free of blemishes, dirt, debris, scratches, fluctuations, and jitter. The picture could not appear more stable, with the contrast rock solid and coloration a thing of beauty. Primaries leap off the screen with vibrancy even longtime fans will admit is a shocking surprise. Watching this picture in action is a true treat. Detailing is exquisite, revealing every little nuance in Argento’s framing. Simply put, this is a flawless image that ranks among the upper echelon of reference-quality Blu-ray transfers.
Similarly, the audio is no slouch with options available in both English and Italian, each receiving both a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround sound track and an LPCM 2.0 option. The multi-channel track is the clear winner here, proving a deep, immersive audible experience that completely envelops the viewer in both Argento’s world and Goblin’s phenomenal score. Seriously, the soundtrack for Suspiria has never been as unsettling and overpowering as it is here, filling every corner of your home theater room with a palpable sense of dread. Subtitles are, of course, available in English.
Please note: this release is locked to Region B, meaning you must have a compatible player to watch the disc.
This release also features different bonus material from the Synapse release, with an emphasis here placed on the restoration process. Completists may want to add this disc to their collection because it not only offers up a different-but-equal a/v presentation but also a new collection of bonus features.
https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/267247/suspiria-u-k-blu-ray-review-argentos-masterpiece-stunning-4k-clarity/
this version i bought is still available by amazon and its region b.
you have to look at other sellers, there's a new copy sold from "-uniqueplace-" for 22€! without shipping from zwitzerland.
https://www.amazon.de/Suspiria-Uncut-Anniversary-Mediabook-Blu-ray/dp/B075LJD4HN/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=
did you ever check if you can unlock your blu ray player?
i found one years ago, was a little more expensive and it would have been an import and then went for a normal one. i thought i will buy someday an american cheap player if needed, but until now i haven't found so much special offers and releases of overseas, so i think i can live with my one.
but now the question of a new display really comes to mind. i own a very old lcd-full hd and it looks outdated. would like to have a led-tv.
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For the US NMA fans, a Dario Argento tribute this month in New York!!...35mm and DCP screenings!:
http://metrograph.com/series/series/158/dario-argento
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Happy 78th birthday, Dario Argento! :D
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yes!
born the same year and same month than...Brian De Palma!! ;) 8)
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Oh, just noticed that John Carpenter is playing in Manchester (not too far away from me) in October! At an awesome venue called Albert Hall, no less! Looking into as whether I can make that one... :D
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Oh, just noticed that John Carpenter is playing in Manchester (not too far away from me) in October! At an awesome venue called Albert Hall, no less! Looking into as whether I can make that one... :D
It can be an incredible evening with a living legend!!
Big John will be in Paris next month too. 8)
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Oh, just noticed that John Carpenter is playing in Manchester (not too far away from me) in October! At an awesome venue called Albert Hall, no less! Looking into as whether I can make that one... :D
It can be an incredible evening with a living legend!!
Big John will be in Paris next month too. 8)
... and I just realised that I'm going to be in Wales with my Dad that weekend (something I've put a bit of work into and is a couple of decades in the making, long story) so can't make the JC gig... :-[
Damn my hectic social life. Which is a joke, seeing as most weekends I have nothing to do, but sods law dictates that two things I REALLY want to do collide on the same days... ::)
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damn, that sucks! no chance to change plans and go together with your dad to the carpenter gig?
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damn, that sucks! no chance to change plans and go together with your dad to the carpenter gig?
Lovely thought, but I doubt that (a) my Dad would be into a live rendition of theme tunes that for the most part he's never heard and (b) seeing as it's reuniting him with his very best mate that he hasn't seen since, I think, the 80's (something I put in place with help from another Forum regular here), in a town we loved during many visits in my childhood (first time in nearly 30 years together!), I think that the latter option has to take precedence. ;)
Not the first disappointment I've had this month. Planned a big London trip around seeing Killing Joke there, but didn't get around to buying a ticket and now it's sold out... :'(
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what a blast! i had worked for ten days in a row, and on my first day off the door bell rang in the morning and i got my delivery of "suspiria".
what a good start! so i wandered around, went shopping, cleaned a little bit my flat, a little bit and just waited for the sun to go down, to watch suspiria in the evening. i could have made my place dark, but that isn't the same. you have to watch suspiria in the evening or at night.
and the work they have done in preserving and restoring that movie is so impressive and marvellous. every image is so clean and vibrant and steady and the colours are fantastic. argento and his dop were determined to get the colours bright and heavy and they used a special film stock and a different colouring process than usual, technicolor dye transfer process instead of eastman process.
there's a very informative booklette about this restoration work and a 1hour documentary about it, with comparisons of the old original frames and all the problems that they had. the biggest one, that no intact master copy of the movie was found and they had to use different reels of different generations.
then there was the problem with the sound, also a long story, they couldn't get a copy on magnet audio tracks but then found a good mix made in the 80s for a laserdisc release. and the sound is so good now in stereo!
i'm thrilled to have seen such a masterpiece of filmmaking and at the same time such dedication of people who worked so hard to preserve that movie.
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Sounds awesome, dude. :D
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The camerawork, production design, cinematography and Jessica Harper are just incredible in that movie...unforgettable.
argento and his dop were determined to get the colours bright and heavy and they used a special film stock and a different colouring process than usual, technicolor dye transfer process instead of eastman process.
It was the last movie using Technicolor stock, indeed! That's why the colours are so vivid fantastic and unique...i would like someday to see "Suspiria" on the big screen, in 35mm. "Inferno" is an incredibly beautiful looking movie too, but his colours are less "agressive", softer than the ones seen in "Suspiria".
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Dario's tribute to Lucio Fulci, in 1996:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DrhDWvlCSc
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Seen yesterday "Suspiria" the remake...i wasn't really convinced, the screenplay is bloated, messy, the pace is too slow and the gory finale is silly and clumsily made. All the historical background is heavy handed and even questionable (the 2nd WW references), sometimes i asked myself what was the real point of the story...what i liked: the two dance scenes are quite good and the casting is ok even if the actresses don't have much to do with their characters.
A kind of ambitious/pretentious remake but mostly "meh" and boring...of course the Dario Argento movie is very different and far more involving.
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I've been hearing much the same, but I'll give it a go, can't do it this weekend but I've got a few days off, I'll be back to report on it.
And, as a sidenote (to a comment you've all probably forgotten), I did manage to get tickets for Killing Joke in London tomorrow so yay! ;)
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And here's Mark Kermodes review of 'Suspiria'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3pDHxnZucg
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I must say the 10/15 first minutes of the movie are quite intriguing, because it's so different from the Dario Argento movie, visuals and mood...i like the music on the opening credits and song on the end credits, it's quite haunting and melancholy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTZl9KMjbrU
The screenplay is what mostly "kills" the movie...it probably has ambition but it leads nowhere, like if many of the scenes have been cut (and the film is already long...)...the screenplay of Dario's movie was simple, basic fairy tale and it worked really well, you were really in Jessica Harper's shoes and skin, through her haunting journey, you felt for her.
Here you have too much characters (Dakota Johnson isn't bad but her presence is far less striking than Jessica Harper's eyes in the original movie), they aren't especially fleshed out and the historical/political background doesn't connect with the rest of the story. The two dance scenes are quite beautiful, i would have liked more of them.
I've been hearing much the same, but I'll give it a go, can't do it this weekend but I've got a few days off, I'll be back to report on it.
I can't wait to read your opinion about the film but hurry up because here in France the early box office numbers are disastrous, maybe it is going to be the same case in UK?
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I just watched an exceptionally weird, creepy horror film the other night. Any of you ever see this 1972 British horror film called DEATH LINE aka RAW MEAT?
(https://gbhbl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Death-Line-Pic-7.jpg)
(http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/76/MPW-38372)
See, there was a cave-in back in the 1800s and the decendents of that cave-in 100 years later are eating the passengers of London's underground! The film probably has cult status amongst horror fans and I can see why. It's a blast.
But it isn't the creepy horror that makes this film a blast to watch. It is Donald Pleasence and his amazingly sarcastic performance as a Police Inspector. Oh, man, why didn't Carpenter let Pleasence do in HALLOWEEN what he does in DEATH LINE? Pleasence is dead drab in HALLOWEEN, but full of wild life in DEATH LINE. I could praise Pleasence's performance forever, but this review on IMDB says it best.
"Sarcasm is the reason to watch DEATH LINE. The flabbergasting and versatile displays of sarcasm shown by Donald Pleasence's copper Calhoun are simply breathtaking. The British policeman, as is well known, has about 52 forms of sarcasm at his disposal, to make up for his not carrying a sidearm, and Pleasence uses them ALL, shifting from one to another with lightning speed. Observe a master at work. Pleasence and Rossington apparently ad-libbed many of their best lines, resulting in free and easy and extremely funny series of scenes between the two."
Yes, Pleasence and the actor who played The Beatles' manager in A HARD DAY'S NIGHT are the best duo ever to appear together on screen! They should have gotten a variety TV show based upon their chemistry in DEATH LINE.
See this film. 85 minutes of wild lunacy (and just wait till you hear the weird electronic score that only a mental patient would submit).
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I must say the 10/15 first minutes of the movie are quite intriguing, because it's so different from the Dario Argento movie, visuals and mood...i like the music on the opening credits and song on the end credits, it's quite haunting and melancholy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTZl9KMjbrU
The screenplay is what mostly "kills" the movie...it probably has ambition but it leads nowhere, like if many of the scenes have been cut (and the film is already long...)...the screenplay of Dario's movie was simple, basic fairy tale and it worked really well, you were really in Jessica Harper's shoes and skin, through her haunting journey, you felt for her.
Here you have too much characters (Dakota Johnson isn't bad but her presence is far less striking than Jessica Harper's eyes in the original movie), they aren't especially fleshed out and the historical/political background doesn't connect with the rest of the story. The two dance scenes are quite beautiful, i would have liked more of them.
I've been hearing much the same, but I'll give it a go, can't do it this weekend but I've got a few days off, I'll be back to report on it.
I can't wait to read your opinion about the film but hurry up because here in France the early box office numbers are disastrous, maybe it is going to be the same case in UK?
Very few showings in the UK. If I can make it over to Manchester tomorrow afternoon I might be able to make a showing (at HOME, a Manchester cinema that shows 'unusual releases') but I've got other stuff to do that's more important... this one hasn't been given a wide release, seems to be an arthouse thing in the UK. So, nope, no big money coming in from the UK.
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I just watched an exceptionally weird, creepy horror film the other night. Any of you ever see this 1972 British horror film called DEATH LINE aka RAW MEAT?
The film probably has cult status amongst horror fans and I can see why. It's a blast.
But it isn't the creepy horror that makes this film a blast to watch. It is Donald Pleasence and his amazingly sarcastic performance as a Police Inspector. Oh, man, why didn't Carpenter let Pleasence do in HALLOWEEN what he does in DEATH LINE? Pleasence is dead drab in HALLOWEEN, but full of wild life in DEATH LINE. I could praise Pleasence's performance forever, but this review on IMDB says it best.
See this film. 85 minutes of wild lunacy (and just wait till you hear the weird electronic score that only a mental patient would submit).
MIND THE DOORS! ;D
I like this film very much too, it's funny, bleak and has tragic social undertones too...i mean the poor "killer" in it is pathetic, the scene where he is near his wife's dead body is gruesome...tragic...i also LOVE the looong single shot through the underground, with the sound of the drop of water, if i remember well. It was a very influential movie, think of "Creep" or even the first "Texas Chainsaw"...the director Gary Sherman directed two others brillant movies at least, "Dead and buried" and "Vice squad".
And yes, Donald Pleasance is great in this film, so funny...but i like him in "Halloween" too (by the way, i watched for the first time on the big screen "Halloween" on...last Halloween!...and it was a blast in cinema, enjoying it with an audience...awesome film on the big screen and one of Carpenter's very best)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNkDrFdFylY
Don't you think that this track and opening credits are great? ;)
Very few showings in the UK. this one hasn't been given a wide release, seems to be an arthouse thing in the UK. So, nope, no big money coming in from the UK.
Ok...in France it has been released on its first week over 140 screens/theaters, so not bad, ok release, but only 25 000 tickets have been sold during this opening week...not good at all, these numbers..
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Didn't make it to Manchester and I can't find any other screenings, so I guess I'll be seeing it on my TV when it eventually shows up somewhere...
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The Company Of Wolves (1984) - Is it horror or is it arthouse? Don't care, love this film!
I've seen it on BR a few weeks ago, it's wonderful...beautiful looking, haunting.
Neil Jordan is an underrated director, i really like too "Ondine", "Byzantium", "End of an affair", "Interview with a vampire", "The crying game", even "High spirits" was a fun, charming little movie.
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The Company Of Wolves (1984) - Is it horror or is it arthouse? Don't care, love this film!
I've seen it on BR a few weeks ago, it's wonderful...beautiful looking, haunting.
Neil Jordan is an underrated director, i really like too "Ondine", "Byzantium", "End of an affair", "Interview with a vampire", "The crying game", even "High spirits" was a fun, charming little movie.
You missed out 'Mona Lisa', Bob Hoskins's best performance? ;) Brilliant film.
'The Company Of Wolves' is, indeed, magnificent and beautiful....
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..been so busy trying to become a major capitalist and buy an irish pub that i didn't have the mind set to post here. but i did watch some movies...
but first i thank whirlwind for his contribution, a very good suggestion, i will keep an eye out where i can get this strange one.
the suspiria remake will definately be a home screening for me, when its out on blu, and after your reviews i'm even more curious, because it seems to be a fail. a fail with some good sequences, but boy how often do we get that?
Do you know "The Hidden" ? With Kyle MacLachlan by Jack Sholder. I found this on a cheap spanish blu, the quality wasn't very good but acceptable, but the movie was very entertaining and did grow old very well. i saw it once back in the days and was very pleased after this watch. It came to my mind because i watched the whole Twin Peaks series again and wanted to see Agent Cooper in a different role;-)
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.but first i thank whirlwind for his contribution, a very good suggestion, i will keep an eye out where i can get this strange one.
It wasn't just I who suggested DEATH LINE on this thread. Guillaume here also highly recommends that eerie film...and he also states that the real pleasure of the film is Donald Pleasance's sardonic performance. Pleasance's interaction with the guy who played The Beatles manager in A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is beyond entertaining.
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..been so busy trying to become a major capitalist and buy an irish pub that i didn't have the mind set to post here. but i did watch some movies...
but first i thank whirlwind for his contribution, a very good suggestion, i will keep an eye out where i can get this strange one.
the suspiria remake will definately be a home screening for me, when its out on blu, and after your reviews i'm even more curious, because it seems to be a fail. a fail with some good sequences, but boy how often do we get that?
Do you know "The Hidden" ? With Kyle MacLachlan by Jack Sholder. I found this on a cheap spanish blu, the quality wasn't very good but acceptable, but the movie was very entertaining and did grow old very well. i saw it once back in the days and was very pleased after this watch. It came to my mind because i watched the whole Twin Peaks series again and wanted to see Agent Cooper in a different role;-)
Damn, haven't seen that film since the VHS years of my past! I remember liking it very much... must get on that asap.
You mention Twin Peaks... did you check out last years revival? One of the most diversive things ever put on television... a few people (like me) really loved it but the majority utterly HATED it, with an absolute passion! I can see why, it certainly wasn't what anyone was expecting... :D Opinion?
No showings of Suspiria anywhere near me, so it's a home viewing as well...
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"Suspiria" 2018 is at the end of its short career here in France...less than 40 screens this week for the whole country (it started two weeks ago at 140 screens)..and the original Dario Argento movie is showing tonight on french-german tv Arte! :)
Do you know "The Hidden" ? With Kyle MacLachlan by Jack Sholder. I found this on a cheap spanish blu, the quality wasn't very good but acceptable, but the movie was very entertaining and did grow old very well. i saw it once back in the days and was very pleased after this watch. It came to my mind because i watched the whole Twin Peaks series again and wanted to see Agent Cooper in a different role;-)
I love this movie, one of the best "B" action/thriller/sci-fi/horror movies of the 80's, it's well acted, written, nasty, funny, so well paced and the ending is a bit weird and touching...the opening chase is also fantastic!! the good old era where the car chases were done real and not thanks to computers! ;D
...and this Concrete Blonde track!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDE4LHpK9dU
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@ Whirlwind
I didn't mean to exclude anyone, i noticed your post and it just took a while to reply to it. still searching for a good edition of this
@Master Ray
I went shopping and saw that a new Twin Peaks is out. Then i thought, well before that you gonna watch the whole thing again. And it was superb! It did grow a little old and i could notice the tensions and misdirections of the later parts, which i didn't notice at that time. there was a little bit too much of the: "we want to be surreal" thing going on, whereas the first like 8 parts had a continuous mood. they somehow killed the show by telling who the murder was, but anayway great television artistery.
@Guillaume
Exactly. When i watched it again the car chase directly made me feel good and everything else also worked well. The spanish blu seems to be an upscale of a digital version, that's a pity. those old movies look so great when you can watch them again on blu after they had been transformed and scanned from the film-negativ.
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So, you guys seem asleep while i did watch some stuff;-)
I just took another look on:
Lifeforce by Tobe Hooper.
Well...since you're genre lovers and into this stuff you know what its about. It did grow old a bit, the effects were still superb and better than some of the digital crap nowadays, we don't have to talk about the plot it is like it is, but the characters....i don't feel that hooper is a good character director. all the peole are so flat and define themselves by the clothing they wear, but no charachter. still, a very good watch on blu.
Lord of Illusions by Clive Barker
There is some very good stuff in here and i cannot remember the original theater-version, this was the director's cut. But again, it didn't work as in those days. It's gory, it's disturbing, it's full of imagination and wonderful set pieces, but they do not produce more than sentimentality and wishing that the studios wouldn't interfere so much with their products and let the artists free.
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As I'm sure I mentioned before, I bloody love 'Lifeforce', cheesy though it is... one of my favourite sci-fi horrors of the 80's!
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As I'm sure I mentioned before, I bloody love 'Lifeforce', cheesy though it is... one of my favourite sci-fi horrors of the 80's!
I have Lifeforce on DVD, you know, one of them becoming obsolete shiny silver disk things. Very under rated film for its time
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DVD's are obsolete? Yeah, they said that about vinyl records in the early 90's... now them vinyl things are about £25 when CD's are half the price... ::)
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Well, there's a big difference here. Vinyl compared to cd is a whole different technology compared to another, whereas dvd vs. blu is just the same technology but 4times better. I have a huge dvd collection but the blu one is growing and i have to get some of the movies twice, because to me it really is a vast improvement for my favourite movies.
And when you guys talk about Lifeforce, you really mean Mathilda May;-) I think at that time, having so much nudity, full nudity, running around as an alien, was one of the targets of the filmmakers. Hard to describe my thoughts here, but i remember that this fact gave the movie more authenticity when showing an alien. To see that beautiful woman fully naked had the same impact like seeing an alien running around. Combined with the superb animatronics it really was a shocker at that time. I totally like that movie too, but when i watched it, i had to notice the lack of characterization and sympathy for the other persons.
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Lifeforce by Tobe Hooper.
Well...since you're genre lovers and into this stuff you know what its about. It did grow old a bit, the effects were still superb and better than some of the digital crap nowadays, we don't have to talk about the plot it is like it is, but the characters....i don't feel that hooper is a good character director. all the peole are so flat and define themselves by the clothing they wear, but no charachter. still, a very good watch on blu.
I like it too, the screenplay is a bit all over the place but it's a part of the film's charm, and the visuals are often striking...and Mathilda May is gorgeous! I've seen a few days ago another fine Tobe Hooper work, "Salem's lot"...it's a tv movie but well done, sometimes creepy, with a cool casting.
Lord of Illusions by Clive Barker
There is some very good stuff in here and i cannot remember the original theater-version, this was the director's cut. But again, it didn't work as in those days. It's gory, it's disturbing, it's full of imagination and wonderful set pieces, but they do not produce more than sentimentality and wishing that the studios wouldn't interfere so much with their products and let the artists free.
I haven't seen this one in years, but i've seen "Hellraiser" on blu ray one week ago...it's still an impressive and unsettling movie, 30 years after its release!
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After watching Lord i became hungry for an Hellraiser update;-)
I was so glad then, when i could get a good dvd-version of the movie, because on that film they used here in germany the disgusting censor method of darkening the picture. So for example, when the skinned torso appears in the hospital room of Kirsty and writes " I am in Hell" with blood on the wall, you have such a high contrast that everything appears to be more black than red. you almost cannot see anything. not to mention the other dismembering cuts.
What do you think about Hellbound then? For me it's almost like comparing Alien to Aliens. And yes, i do like all of them. But many people have the opinion, that the second ones somehow betraye the originals.
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Please tell me some of you have seen this Eli Roth film called THE GREEN INFERNO.
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--09NOmL_qn0/VhEaL7BLx_I/AAAAAAAAJXU/zW8rM3-7ulo/s1600/the+green+inferno+tribe.png)
This darn film is on late night cable just about every night and every night I get sucked in to its lunacy. What makes it so great is that it is so hilarious. Do-gooder college student activists are going to save the native tribes from white man industrialization. They fly down to the jungle and are captured by the nice tribe they are going to save...and that nice tribe are sadistic cannibals! I rememeber the reviews when this first came out. It mentioned the hilarious take this film has on snowflake college kids - those silly social activists who really are clueless. That actually is the best part of the film and provides for some great laughs. "I'm vegan" is one of the funniest lines I've seen in films in years. (See the film, I gave nothing away.)
I don't like the excessive gore-porn in the film, but the idea of the film is brilliant. Please tell me you've seen it and loved it, too.
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After watching Lord i became hungry for an Hellraiser update;-)
I was so glad then, when i could get a good dvd-version of the movie, because on that film they used here in germany the disgusting censor method of darkening the picture. So for example, when the skinned torso appears in the hospital room of Kirsty and writes " I am in Hell" with blood on the wall, you have such a high contrast that everything appears to be more black than red. you almost cannot see anything. not to mention the other dismembering cuts.
What do you think about Hellbound then? For me it's almost like comparing Alien to Aliens. And yes, i do like all of them. But many people have the opinion, that the second ones somehow betraye the originals.
Quite fond of 'Hellbound', personally and pretty much the only Hellraiser sequel that I give a crap about. Seems to be pretty much uncut in the UK version. Certainly trying to expand the 'Hellraiser' idea although it didn't have the budget to pull it off.
After this film, it's pretty much a downward spiral into total mediocrity... but maybe some folks like the third one?
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@Whirlwind
Since i saw Hostel, i had to put Eli Roth on my "this-dude-just-didn't-get-it" list. I found Hostel so bad, weak and dumb that i wouldn't trust him to make another better, movie, because it was on the intention-level that i found it stupid. Maybe if i find a cheap disk i will give it a try because the plot seems to be like a rip-off of cannibal holocaust by ruggero deodato, which i really like, if you can say something like that and that would interest me.
@Master Ray
I cannot remember the third one, was it the one with the cd-cenobite? I saw it once and i thought: na, this isn't hellraiser. it's like jason or freddy in leather.
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...the plot seems to be like a rip-off of cannibal holocaust by ruggero deodato, which i really like,
It isn't a rip-off of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, it was completely inspired by that film. In the credits Roth dedicates his film to Ruggero.
I don't like those gore-porn films like HOSTEL or the SAW films. GREEN INFERNO is no doubt gore-porn, but the idea of naïve college kids going in to the jungle to save a tribe really made me watch the film. The gore really kicks in (too much), but the film is pretty tight. Moves along quickly. I'd even say well directed.
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@Master Ray
I cannot remember the third one, was it the one with the cd-cenobite? I saw it once and i thought: na, this isn't hellraiser. it's like jason or freddy in leather.
It is the one with the cd-cenobite, indeed! i saw it in the mid-90's on vhs, didn't like it too much...gave it another chance last month on blu ray, it's still quite terrible, cheesy, with Pinhead far far too talky, making him looking like Freddy in his sequels: not creepy and unsettling character anymore...too bad! There are a few fun explosive gory scenes but the director Anthony Hickox did better with some of his others B movies like "Full Eclipse" or "Waxwork".
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Just watching my Blu-Ray of 'Tenebrae' again. Such a superb horror movie. And what a soundtrack! Trailer here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkUpGi2N8wo
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Just watching my Blu-Ray of 'Tenebrae' again. Such a superb horror movie. And what a soundtrack!
It's one of Dario's best thrillers indeed, one of his most accomplished movies! It's stylish, creepy, cleverly plotted, tightly paced and disturbing.
The POV shots are superb and unsettling because they make us, the viewers of the movie, "being/becoming" the killer, spying/watching at his (often gorgeous) victims in their cold modern houses , making us "feel" the killer's thrills and insanity when chasing his victims and then killing them...creepy daring stuff. The dog/chase scene is for example THE big set-piece , the most scary bit of the movie.
I also don't forget the very effective soundtrack, Luciano Tovoli's superb "shiny" white cold camerawork and the cool B movie casting.
I also like the deep clever irony of the plot, Argento mocking, making fun of the people/critics who for a long time accused him of being a sadist, pervert, misogynist...here in "Tenebre" Argento makes of the "hero" an artist like him, his twin brother, being accused of all these not politically correct things, all these crimes...SPOILER!!!!! who at the end turns out to be the killer!!! ;D ;D...there's a kind of nihilistic tone in this movie, very powerful...among others the crazy finale ending in total despair, blood bath, screams and rain! :)
For the record, Dario will be back in France this month with his daughter Fiore (seen in "Demons" and the opening scene of "Phenomena"), to sign copies of his great autobiography book released last year, and also to introduce screenings of "The bird with the crystal plumage", "Deep red" and..."Tenebre"! ;) 8)
Never seen...
Masters of Horror (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Do You Like Hitchcock? (TV Movie)
Have you finally seen these Argento works Master Ray?
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Hey, Guillaume. No I haven't. :-\
But if we can get back to the works of Mr De Palma, I do have 'Raising Cain' on order, the nice Blu from Arrow Video...
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But if we can get back to the works of Mr De Palma, I do have 'Raising Cain' on order, the nice Blu from Arrow Video...
I don't have good memories of this one...last De Palma movie i liked really was "Carlito's way"...it seems that De Palma also had many troubles with his last thriller movie "Domino", the most complicated production of his career because the producers weren't good it seems, they delivered only a little part of the intended budget.
I've watched last month on blu ray good old Carpenter and Argento's movies..."Assault and precinct 13" and "Escape from NY" still great after all these years, "Escape" looks especially great on BR with its beautiful urban nights scenes with lots of depth...Argento's "Phantom of the opera" some nice shots sets and bits of scenes but the tone of the movie and the screenplay are all over the place unfortunately (and Julian Sands is a terribly wooden miscast Phantom)..."The Card Player" looking nice on blu ray and definitively my favourite Argento movie for the 21st century, fine leads sharp visuals and a fun plot...a bit underrated.
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I just uploaded a very old video i did, using several Horror Flics and White Zombie - Super Charger Heaven
Watch it befor it gets banned (again;-)
https://youtu.be/ZxWN7y5VOTQ
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I just uploaded a very old video i did, using several Horror Flics and White Zombie - Super Charger Heaven
Watch it befor it gets banned (again;-)
https://youtu.be/ZxWN7y5VOTQ
Nice work. I'll show the first few seconds to my five year old niece next time I'm looking after her if she's naughty and say 'there a few more minutes of that to go...'
;)
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I just uploaded a very old video i did, using several Horror Flics and White Zombie - Super Charger Heaven
Watch it befor it gets banned (again;-)
https://youtu.be/ZxWN7y5VOTQ
Nice work. I'll show the first few seconds to my five year old niece next time I'm looking after her if she's naughty and say 'there a few more minutes of that to go...'
;)
i did mark it as an adult video. though i don't know how this works on youtube.
but maybe you'll find that she likes it and screams back at you:"it is not heresy and i will not repent!!" ;-)
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I just uploaded a very old video i did, using several Horror Flics and White Zombie - Super Charger Heaven
Watch it befor it gets banned (again;-)
https://youtu.be/ZxWN7y5VOTQ
Nice work. I'll show the first few seconds to my five year old niece next time I'm looking after her if she's naughty and say 'there a few more minutes of that to go...'
;)
i did mark it as an adult video. though i don't know how this works on youtube.
but maybe you'll find that she likes it and screams back at you:"it is not heresy and i will not repent!!" ;-)
The random shit that comes out of her mouth, I wouldn't put it past her. The last afternoon I saw her she'd decided my name is 'Mr Barbecue Hunnington Doodoo'... dafook is THAT about? :o
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I'm digitizing my whole cd-collection and stumbled upon this wonderful creepy CD:
Coil- Hellraiser Themes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8rMfn_j6IE
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I'm digitizing my whole cd-collection and stumbled upon this wonderful creepy CD:
Coil- Hellraiser Themes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8rMfn_j6IE
Oh, been meaning to look for that for years! Mr Barkers original choice of soundtrack, right? :o
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I think i remember something like that, but i'm not sure. Guillaume will know;-) Maybe Barker just said that it would fit the film? I don't know. And i didn't know that there's a second Part to it. i only have this cd.
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Well, I just managed to obtain the new 'Suspiria' online... that's my Sunday afternoon viewing sorted out!
I'll be back with my opinion... ;)
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Did you buy a blu or do you'll stream it? Here in germany it only will be available end of march. Curious about your opinion later...
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I did stream it, but I'll deffo be buying The Blu. Just trying to get my thoughts together in a coherent review... be back later. ;)
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OK... what I thought about the Suspiria remake... I really rather liked it... but with certain reservations.
NO SPOILERS AHEAD! Or, if they are, they will be minor ones just to make a point... ;)
Firstly, it was so desperately, stupidly overlong (but that's a fault of so many films these days).... there was a cracking good two-hour movie here, just waiting to get out... as it stands, it was rather bloated.
BUT... I really liked the re-imagining of the concept. And it was the best remake I could have hoped for... seriously, it could have been a teen friendly remake with loads of cute US girls at a New York ballet school with cute guys thrown into the mix and little or no gore, a kid-friendly certificate and some currently trendy bands on the soundtrack... instead, we got something quite disturbing. The scenes with the dances mixed with murders were just superb. The performances were really rather good, yes even from the 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' girl. And the climactic scene was excellent, blood-soaked and disturbing with a great soundtrack (yes, I've not been a fan of Radiohead for many years but Thom Yorke played a blinder here...)
But my favourite bit of the film? The way that it carried on after the immesensly bloody climax for another ten minutes of stuff that people might not quite get. This is a horror movie with intelligence and heart. If I'd have seen it in 2018, it would have been one of my favourites.
so, yes, I liked the new Suspiria.
;)
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I'm looking forward to it. I read another review while searching for the release date and it also was full of praise for it, in a way that made it interesting for me. I would go for it even if i would have read only bad reviews about it, but if you say that we got something quite disturbing..sounds promising;-)
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I'm looking forward to it. I read another review while searching for the release date and it also was full of praise for it, in a way that made it interesting for me. I would go for it even if i would have read only bad reviews about it, but if you say that we got something quite disturbing..sounds promising;-)
Hope you enjoy it! Like I said, it's rather slow in places but stick with it. It all pays off in the end. I'd love to say more but I don't want to spoil anything!
And it's a Blu Ray buy for sure!
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7
Firstly, it was so desperately, stupidly overlong (but that's a fault of so many films these days)....as it stands, it was rather bloated.
The scenes with the dances mixed with murders were just superb. The performances were really rather good, yes even from the 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' girl.
"Overlong" and "bloated", i agree...the two dance scenes are pretty good, i wish there would have been more dance scenes, what was lacking from Argento's movie. The performances from the casting are ok, but the characters unfortunately aren't really fleshed out and involving, and Tilda Swinton's 3 characters "make up show" is distracting and grating, vanity performances from her, i guess...
The big bloody climax in my opinion is terribly wrong, it feels out of tone with the rest of the movie, and terribly made (the use of slow motion and music!!)...frankly, i laughed because of the cheap effects and fat "Markos" witch with sunglasses...even the controversial orgy climax of Dario's "Mother of tears" is low key, sober, if you compare it to the climax of this new "Suspiria"!
The big issue i have with this film is simple, in fact: at the end of the movie...what was the point of the screenplay??
It has too much characters, background political historical references leading nowhere, even dubious at times (all the stuff about german people being "guilty"/"not guilty"...)..screenplay is all over the place, confusing, messy, so the film drags and drags, erratic pace.
I'll give it another viewing/chance on Blu Ray especially if there is another edit with deleted scenes, but for the moment i can unfortunately only agree with this review:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/review-luca-guadagninos-suspiria-is-the-cinematic-equivalent-of-a-designer-che-t-shirt
For all the new movie’s talking points, any random shot of Jessica Harper in Argento’s “Suspiria” has more vitality, presence, and resonance than even the most dramatic ones by Guadagnino of Johnson, not because of a difference in talent between the actresses, but because Argento sees Harper. Guadagnino is so busy directing a movie about women in the abstract, witchcraft in the abstract, dance in the abstract, terrorism in the abstract, the Holocaust in the abstract, Berlin and Germany in the abstract, that he doesn’t see the people, the places, the characters that he’s filming. His camera sees nothing.
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Well.. err... :-[
;)
Sorry it didn't work for you. Worked for me because I was expecting something terrible, judging by so many bad reviews. And, as I said, it could have been so much worse, see all these dreadful horror remakes that are being made these days, but it's the first film I've seen in ages that I can't wait for a second viewing, knowing what i do about the ending. Think I'll wait for the Blu-Ray!
I think you might agree with Mark Kermode's review...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3pDHxnZucg
???
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Sorry it didn't work for you. Worked for me because I was expecting something terrible, judging by so many bad reviews. And, as I said, it could have been so much worse, see all these dreadful horror remakes that are being made these days, but it's the first film I've seen in ages that I can't wait for a second viewing, knowing what i do about the ending. Think I'll wait for the Blu-Ray!
I'm glad that you liked it Master Ray, i agree that it wasn't the usual generic lazy horror remake but i wasn't convinced by the paths the director and screenwriter followed here :'(...like i said though, i will give it another chance sooner or later on Blu Ray...crossed fingers for another cut, with deleted scenes.
And don't forget to read this year Dario Argento's excellent autobiography book "Paura" ("Fear") soon translated in English! ;)
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Good morning Viv ,
thxs a lot for your kind information :)
I wish you a nice day
cheers
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I couldn't resist and bought the Hellraiser I II III collection by Arrow Video for 20€.
There is an 18min interview with a member of Coil, who told the story of the soundtrack. So him and Barker met some time befor Barker directed Hellraiser and he became fond of the Music of Coil. he asked them to do a score and they began. Then a new studio came into the production of Hellraiser and they demanded a more mainstream soundtrack, so coil was out of the game. they had like 3 songs finished and were working on more. During that interview, they showed some short scenes with the coil soundtrack combined and it's really scary.
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Thought I'd post it here (as opposed to the RIP thread, seeing as only fellow fans of cult writers / directors would have heard of the guy) but did you guys hear that Larry Cohen died yesterday? Never reached the heights of Argento, Carpenter etc, but some fine low budget cult pictures like It's Alive, Q - The Winged Serpent, God Told Me To, The Ambulance, The Stuff...
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Thought I'd post it here (as opposed to the RIP thread, seeing as only fellow fans of cult writers / directors would have heard of the guy) but did you guys hear that Larry Cohen died yesterday? Never reached the heights of Argento, Carpenter etc, but some fine low budget cult pictures like It's Alive, Q - The Winged Serpent, God Told Me To, The Ambulance, The Stuff...
Yeah i was sorry to hear of Larry Cohen's death, he was a genius screenwriter and a more than decent director, i re-watched a few days ago "The Stuff", a very fun satirical "horror" movie, as a kind of tribute to his memory.
Wes Craven, George Romero, Tobe Hooper and now Larry Cohen...the last living legends of horror/thrillers still with us and born in the 40's are John Carpenter, Dario Argento, David Cronenberg, Stuart Gordon, Joe Dante and Brian De Palma, who will release next month on VOD his last thriller "Domino"...here's the trailer!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZv4Fvv5-Hw
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Thought I'd post it here (as opposed to the RIP thread, seeing as only fellow fans of cult writers / directors would have heard of the guy) but did you guys hear that Larry Cohen died yesterday? Never reached the heights of Argento, Carpenter etc, but some fine low budget cult pictures like It's Alive, Q - The Winged Serpent, God Told Me To, The Ambulance, The Stuff...
Yeah i was sorry to hear of Larry Cohen's death, he was a genius screenwriter and a more than decent director, i re-watched a few days ago "The Stuff", a very fun satirical "horror" movie, as a kind of tribute to his memory.
Wes Craven, George Romero, Tobe Hooper and now Larry Cohen...the last living legends of horror/thrillers still with us and born in the 40's are John Carpenter, Dario Argento, David Cronenberg, Stuart Gordon, Joe Dante and Brian De Palma, who will release next month on VOD his last thriller "Domino"...here's the trailer!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZv4Fvv5-Hw
Well, 'Domino' looks worth a watch, I'll be checking that one out!
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Well, 'Domino' looks worth a watch, I'll be checking that one out!
Be warned, De Palma himself said that it was his most chaotic/problematic shooting , the film was under budgeted because the producers were lousy, De Palma shot only 30 days and spent the rest of the time in hotel rooms waiting for the money to be delivered, to shoot the rest of his movie...so expectations i guess have to be low, even if De Palma said he still likes the film!
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DOMINO, Brian De Palma's new thriller, is released on VOD and some US big screens this week...:
https://theplaylist.net/depalma-domino-review-20190527/
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DOMINO, Brian De Palma's new thriller, is released on VOD and some US big screens this week...:
https://theplaylist.net/depalma-domino-review-20190527/
Cheers for the update, I'll keep an eye out for it...
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Great news (at least for me ;D), it seems that Dario will shoot next year his thriller/giallo "Occhiali Neri"/"Dark sunglasses", an old project he seems to care about and should have directed 20 years ago if he didn"t have issues with his producer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzl5mQfyVlo
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Great news (at least for me ;D), it seems that Dario will shoot next year his thriller/giallo "Occhiali Neri"/"Dark sunglasses", an old project he seems to care about and should have directed 20 years ago if he didn"t have issues with his producer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzl5mQfyVlo
Hopefully it will be a return to form... not optimistic though.
Oh, and I did get around to watching that new De Palma one... meh. It was OK, but nothing I'd watch again. :-\
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Great news (at least for me ;D), it seems that Dario will shoot next year his thriller/giallo "Occhiali Neri"/"Dark sunglasses", an old project he seems to care about and should have directed 20 years ago if he didn"t have issues with his producer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzl5mQfyVlo
Hopefully it will be a return to form... not optimistic though.
Oh, and I did get around to watching that new De Palma one... meh. It was OK, but nothing I'd watch again. :-\
Dario wrote the screenplay of "Occhiali Neri" so at least it's a personal subject for him, unlike "Dracula" and "Giallo" which were more "gun for hire" projects. From what i remember the pitch of the movie was quite intriguing:
after an accident, a prostitute becomes blind and teams up with a chinese orphan kid to find the killer of his parents...there's a bit of "Cat'o'nine tails" in this pitch!
I just hope Dario will find decent producers and crew for this new giallo.
And the De Palma movie "Domino"...terrible for me...it has a promising relevant subject but the lack of budget and De Palma's lack of inspiration kill the movie...some terrible scenes and acting in it, i'm afraid!
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It has been a while but i did see the new Suspiria. Well...well, well, ....it was good, it had something, it was beautiful and disturbing. It wanted to say something, but i didn't get it. It was full of symbolism and hints and it wanted you to think about it. But this feeling that i had, that it wanted something from you kind of made me feel a little bit too pushed. And the ending was just too much, mostly because of the cgi-feeling type of effect-orgy that wasn't as well executed as it could have been. It had the feeling of they just didn't put enough thought in the preparation of the scene of how they could do this, but only had the scene in mind and thought: let the cgi work out the difficult parts.
SPOILER ahead...
The acting was superb though, tilda swinton is scary as hell and i didn't know before watching that she also played the role of the old guy (and also the big, fat mothers witch!). There was something very strange from the beginning about the old mans character and i immediately had the feeling, that they put a younger actor into old makeup, but that it was tilda swinton playing that guy...wow.
This is also interesting, because it takes the playing and breaking of the gender stereotypes and roles like argento did in his movies to a different level.
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And now it seems that Dario is going to direct a tv series in a few weeks/months!:
https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3588669/dario-argento-directing-longinus-series-thats-suspended-real-supernatural/
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That sounds promising
"The show is the 79-year-old cult helmer’s first project since 2012 and “involves mysterious murders, esoteric elements and ancient enigmas.” but also there is a little skepticism in me, if he can do it visually as good as his movies.
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That sounds promising
"The show is the 79-year-old cult helmer’s first project since 2012 and “involves mysterious murders, esoteric elements and ancient enigmas.” but also there is a little skepticism in me, if he can do it visually as good as his movies.
It's for the small screen so i don't think it will be as visually impressive as his movies from the 70's and 80's, but it can be good, though....wait and see!
Argento was in France last summer for a tribute to his career and his new book, and he seemed in rather good health and still passionate about movies...above all i hope he is going to direct his old thriller project for the big screen "Occhiali Neri" ("Dark sunglasses") before his last breath...
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Recently I had a good re-watch of:
(https://i.postimg.cc/sx565W9t/61x-Zthy4n-LL.jpg)
The Film has three storys by Lovecraft directed by three directors, imbedded in a simple frame-story of Lovecraft himself trying to obtain the Necronomicon.
(https://i.postimg.cc/tTZmCw1R/51ya-Ne7-Kf-XL.jpg)
I found the film to be highly entertaining, it kind of changes from superb to cheesy to bad to atmospheric and has some great tentacle-rubber-glibber effects old school style.
I was searching for that one for a long time and found this very good french edition blu ray, which has a nice booklet about christophe gans for a very good price.
Another strange one i saw was:
(https://i.postimg.cc/9f3DnqGx/MV5-BMTA0-NTY3-NDcw-Mzle-QTJe-QWpw-Z15-Bb-WU4-MDQ3-Nz-I5-MDMx-V1.jpg)
This one is from 1972, is beautifully filmed and well acted, but the story and suspense elements are ridiculous. I had some good laughs and totally wondered how this movie was perceived in the 70's. It's kind of about catching a ghost and in those scenes, which would be the scary ones with meeting the monster in horror films, they point a lightbeam at it and try to move the beam to a cage to capture the ghost.
(https://i.postimg.cc/R0cW5Vdv/MV5-BNWU4-ODQ2-NTgt-M2-Jj-Ny00-MDEw-LWJh-Mm-Ut-Mjc2-M2-Mz-Yz-Aw-Yj-Vj-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
You have to see to believe! ;-) I cannot imagine that this topic and how they filmed it could scare anyone in the 70's, but the theme of death and immortality must have been way more tabu and seen differently in those time, while we are sourrounded by it and got numb.
I totally recommend this one, if you can take it!
And here we have an absolute hidden pearl of 80's cinema, a friend told me about it i had never heard of it before:
(https://i.postimg.cc/CLBLpxM9/91-Es-PNt-RKSL-SL1500.jpg)
This one is a masterpiece. It is a low-budget production but looks like a blockbuster. Very well filmed, beautiful sets and situation, the direction is superb, the actors all are outstanding and the story is great!
This is an End of Days movie and i highly recommend that one!!
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I've read praise this week about THE ASPHYX (and Robert Powell was awesome in the great HARLEQUIN) so i will order it ASAP!
Christophe Gans...he makes some nice looking movies and he was especially a great critic in the cool, warmly recommended cinema french magazine Starfix in the 80's...he is very passionate about talking about movies.
MIRACLE is great!! Tangerine Dream soundtrack rocks, the city is beautifully shot (what an opening in the museum!) and the characters are cool...the ending is, well...once you've seen it, you won't forget it ;)
The director Steve de Jarnatt is also a very cool down to earth guy, i talk with him from time to time on Facebook and he is always nice.
The fun thing is that MIRACLE MILE bombed at the box office in the 80's despite some good reviews but through the years it became a cult favourite with nice blu rays full of extras and re-releases in theaters in various countries...well deserved fate for this little gem and his director, in all cases! 8)
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Also a BIG, HUGE recommendation for those who have Sony Movie Channel in the States...please watch this, this month!!:
https://www.sonymoviechannel.com/movies/haunting-julia?fbclid=IwAR1FFhRJhOOoWMhu3Tpzx1L2Z5Fz7Ywi5GerTtg3xW2l8fAdxLfittkQtSk
It is, indeed, like MIRACLE MILE...:
This one is a masterpiece. It is a low-budget production but looks like a blockbuster. Very well filmed, beautiful sets and situation, the direction is superb, the actors all are outstanding and the story is great!
i highly recommend that one!!
Not really "horror" but more a psychological drama movie about the horror of loss and guilt...THE HAUNTING OF JULIA/FULL CIRCLE is one of the best, underrated gems of the 70's, gorgeously shot with an incredible lead performance from Mia Farrow and an unforgettable piano/70's synth soundtrack by Colin Towns.
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Absolutely love British horror films of the late 60's early 70's period, as such I have the Asphyx in my collection. In a way in reminds me of the Frankenstein story, kind of an interpretation of the late Victorian period interest in electricity, could it be used for evil as well as good.
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Absolutely love British horror films of the late 60's early 70's period, as such I have the Asphyx in my collection. In a way in reminds me of the Frankenstein story, kind of an interpretation of the late Victorian period interest in electricity, could it be used for evil as well as good.
A good thought there and i love those old movies also very much. I'm a huge Vincent Price Fan!
The Asphyx though stays a mystery to me, how they thought that would be a scary picture or how the people then would see it as a horror film. Frankenstein went way further in having a terrifying monster shown then (30s?), but the Asphyx has this strange touch to it, with the supernatural explanation and the "monster"-scenes, where they are confronted with the "evil", it kind of has a naivity and looks like a child's play.
Found this website:
britishhorrorfilms (http://www.britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/[/url)
And what about this one:
(https://i.postimg.cc/3NvR1MFq/MV5-BMTA0-Zm-Jk-YTQt-NDFh-Mi00-Ym-Y5-LWFh-MDIt-Nz-Ey-Zj-Fm-Zj-Fk-MTMz-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
I found this very entertaining, loved the special effects. It is kind of a british mix of King Kong and Godzilla. I wonder what Ray Harryhausen has thought of this.
@Guillaume
The haunting of Julia sounds very good, i'm going to keep an eye out for that!
What about your Suspiria re-watch? 8)
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Just watched ''GORGO'' on Youtube,the whole film is on.........brilliant stuff,i knew i would like it from the moment he pulls that rubber fish out of the sea ::)..plus i did'nt realise Tower Bridge was made of cardboard and drinking straws ;D...really enjoyed it ,thanks for the post.... 8)..
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Glad you liked and had fun watching it!
Just in case you shouldn't know this classic, i recommend Fantastic Voyage from 1966. This one is on another level, the special fx do hold up and can still fascinate today, well at least me;-)
(https://i.postimg.cc/JzRCHjyJ/MV5-BYz-Mz-M2-Qw-ZTEt-Nm-Ey-ZS00-Nj-E1-LThh-YTIt-Mj-Fl-Yj-Ey-M2-Ex-YWQ4-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/yYmzNLNs/MV5-BMTNk-ZGI2-NGUt-Zm-Jm-Yi00-ZDdm-LThh-ZDAt-OTc5-ODc2-Zjhh-Yz-Ey-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
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@Guillaume
The haunting of Julia sounds very good, i'm going to keep an eye out for that!
Absolutely love British horror films of the late 60's early 70's period
http://www.movieramblings.com/2018/06/25/from-the-vault-full-circle-1978/
Don't miss the Sony Movie Channel screening(s) because the last time they showed the film (in 2012/2013) the HD widescreen copy was very good, unlike the poor muddy copies you usually find on line of this film...it deserves to be seen widescreen, it's a visually and aurally gorgeous film...a slow burn gem, terribly moody and haunting!
And i haven't watched again SUSPIRIA yet cthulhu ;), even if i own the blu ray now!...i will let you know if i change my mind about the film when i'll watch it in a few days/weeks. ;)
Just in case you shouldn't know this classic, i recommend Fantastic Voyage from 1966.
I'm a big Richard Fleischer fan!!:
SOYLENT GREEN, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, 10 RILLINGTON PLACE, THE NEW CENTURIONS, MANDINGO, BLIND TERROR/SEE NO EVIL, THE VIKINGS, etc. He was a brillant, brillant director.
I remember mostly Raquel Welch in FANTASTIC VOYAGE ha ha, i have watched it a long time ago so i have to give it another viewing sooner or later...its "remake" INNERSPACE from the cool Joe Dante was big fun!
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I'm a big Richard Fleischer fan!!:
What?!?
I guarantee you that if you start a Richard Fleischer Fan Club, you will be the only member.
He was awful. He was an assembly line director. Just churn out a movie without any distinction. No art, no feeling...just a movie. I'm sure the studios liked him -- probably kept everything under budget and made movies that were safe and bland.
By the way, you mentioned some Fleischer movies, but failed to mention the only two good movies he did make:
TORA! TORA! TORA! and the Charles Bronson film MR. MAJESTYK.
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I remember mostly Raquel Welch in FANTASTIC VOYAGE ha ha, i have watched it a long time ago so i have to give it another viewing sooner or later...its "remake" INNERSPACE from the cool Joe Dante was big fun!
I think we wrote about it already some pages ago and i would say is totally worth a rewatch. Whereas you remember the beautiful girl i remember the beautiful fx;-) which have a timeless quality. It was a long search for me to get this one on blu as is with Innerspace. I don't find a version on blu and would love to see that one again. Joe Dante has done such great work: Piranhas, The Howling (needs a rewatch), Gremlins, Explorers, Matinee and the fantastic Small Soldiers.
@Whirlwind
I was glad that Shush and Ghosttrain showed up on this little island of special interest, it seemed that only very few people enjoy this genre and like to talk about thriller/horror and other obscure stuff, but with you i'm not sure. Because it is not quite clear what you're up to. So let's say you just find Fleischer to be a bad director, that's ok, and it is just your opinion
I haven't seen all the films Guillaume mentioned, but those i saw by Fleischer were very good movies: 20000 Leagues under the Sea, Fantastic Voyage, Soylent Green, Conan (well this one is a strange one;-)
So maybe you'd like to share with us which thriller/horror directors or movies you like, instead of just hitting another ones opinion.
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movies that were safe and bland.
"The Boston strangler","10 Rillington place", "Mandingo", "Soylent green", "The new centurions"...safe and bland movies? really? ::) :P
I think we wrote about it already some pages ago and i would say is totally worth a rewatch. Whereas you remember the beautiful girl i remember the beautiful fx;-) which have a timeless quality.
In fact i remember Miss Welch AND the fx AND especially the fact that the movie was very slow paced, static...but like i say i have to rewatch on BR ;)
Joe Dante has done such great work: Piranhas, The Howling (needs a rewatch), Gremlins, Explorers, Matinee and the fantastic Small Soldiers.
I like Mr Joe very much too and i would like he direct more movies...one of his last ones "The hole" was pretty good (even more in 3D it seems) and his "Masters of horror" tv episodes "Homecoming" and "The Screwfly solution" were excellent too...he still "has it"!
"Gremins" is probably my favourite maybe in part because it was one of the very first movies i remember watching on the big screen, in theaters, back in Christmas 1984! :) Timeless classic!
And there are some impressive creepy moments and atmosphere in "The howling", even if i like "An american werewolf in London" more ;)
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And there are some impressive creepy moments and atmosphere in "The howling", even if i like "An american werewolf in London" more
That brings me to a point, i love An American Werewolf in London and its safe to say that it is way better than The Howling.
But recently i saw Altered States again and was totally thrilled how good and outstanding it was. And then it came to my mind, that this one is a little older than two other masterpieces: An American Werewolf and Videodrome and i just had to think, that Altered States inspired both of those two. The effects in Altered States are hilarious and not only the Video effects, but also the prosthetic work is incredible! I always thought that Rick Baker was so inventive with American Werewolf and Videodrome, but i didn't know until then that he did all this before in Altered States.
(https://i.postimg.cc/0j9YXTCV/MV5-BZDRi-Zm-Vj-Mm-Yt-Ym-Q2-Mi00-ODQz-LWJi-ZGYt-ZGM2-ZTU2-Mm-Zk-MTZl-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/pXGfk15B/MV5-BMTk1-Nz-A3-Nzgw-OV5-BMl5-Ban-Bn-Xk-Ft-ZTcw-Mz-E0-NDAx-Mw-V1-SY1000-CR0.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/sfJ9G2Vq/MV5-BYj-I2-Mj-Fl-Mj-At-MGU5-Yi00-MGI3-LWJl-Nm-Et-Yj-Rh-YTY5-ZWE4-Yz-Az-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/RVV17zhF/MV5-BMWVj-MGM1-Nzct-NWY5-ZC00-MTJm-LTk3-YTct-ZTA1-MDY2-ZTBk-ZWU1-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/sXd97QGd/MV5-BNm-Q3-ZDIy-MDkt-MWQ0-Mi00-ZWRm-LWE0-ZDkt-Yz-A1-Mz-Ix-Nz-Mx-ZTgw-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/XqxwRsH4/MV5-BMz-Y0-YTg3-Zm-Qt-OTNl-My00-OGFh-LWIw-MWMt-OGMx-YTM2-MTU3-MDc2-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
Ken Russel is brilliant! Still searching for The Devils and Gothic on blu..
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Don't know if it fits in this genre ? but my favourite ''dark'' ? film has to be ERASERHEAD.......anybody else here a fan of this or indeed anything else by the great (imho) Mr.David Lynch.?.... 8)...
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That one fits perfectly here! "In heaven, everything is f i n e..." ;-)
uhh, the first encounter with Eraserhead was a mood killer, it disturbed me quite a bit. I even have the Soundtrack on Vinyl.
And Lynch as a director also fits perfectly i would say. The new Twin Peaks episodes are mindblowing good! Just bought Wild at Heart on bluray and looking forward to have a good rewatch.
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But recently i saw Altered States again and was totally thrilled how good and outstanding it was. And then it came to my mind, that this one is a little older than two other masterpieces: An American Werewolf and Videodrome and i just had to think, that Altered States inspired both of those two. Ken Russel is brilliant! Still searching for The Devils and Gothic on blu..
Yeah "Altered states" is great!
The screenplay is very interesting and visually and aurally the film is a stunning experince!
Very influential movie you are probably right!...just look at the last bit/scene of the A-HA video clip "Take on me" and compare it with the ending of "Altered states"... ;) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914
From Ken Russell i've only watched a few of his movies..."Altered states", "The devils" and "The music lovers" are very good, "Whore" is fun (i like the lead actress Theresa Russell who is a bit underrated) but "Gothic" and "Lair of the white worm" aren't so good.
I would like to watch "women in love", "Mahler", "Valentino" and "Crimes of passion".
That brings me to a point, i love An American Werewolf in London and its safe to say that it is way better than The Howling.
AAWIL is one of my favourite (horror) movies, it's a perfect mix of comedy, tragedy and horror...very well acted (David Naughton and Jenny Agutter are very good), with stunning even today special effects and great set-pieces (the opening, the subway/station scene, the weird dreams, the ending), it's kind of flawless and probably Landis's masterpiece. That's funny how the best (were)wolves movies were released in the same year: AAWIL, "the howling" and "Wolfen"!
AAWIL One of my favourite horror movies next to some of Argento and Carpenter's films, also "A nightmare on Elm street", "The Keep" and "Full Circle". ;)
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So maybe you'd like to share with us which thriller/horror directors or movies you like, instead of just hitting another ones opinion.
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The horror/thriller genre is not a particular fave of mine. If I had to pick a director that I find I enjoy more than a few movies in that genre it would be John Carpenter.
I don't really look for a particular director to enjoy a horror/thriller film. I enjoy particular films. THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN, RACE WITH THE DEVIL...those films were really creepy and fantastic. And, though I love the original Universal Studios monster films, I find the Hammer Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing films far more effective in the creeps department.
Modern horror seems to be gallons of blood. I don't go for that. But I did find THE GREEN INFERNO to be a real hoot. Dopey woke college kids in a gruesome situation of their own doing. I saw the humor the director was going for, and I liked the film. Supposedly the director is a legend in the modern horror film genre. That means nothing to me, I just enjoyed the film.
(http://liberaldead.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/GreenInferno_BR_Cover_72dpi.png)
And I'll give a not considered a horror film choice as a fave of mine. The original PLANET OF THE APES. Sci-fi, yes, but if you watch the film through a horror prism, the film is pretty terrifying. A real nightmarish scenario. And what happens to Heston's two other astronaut partners...well, not many horror films can top that for disturbing terror.
Just look at this pictures below. You don't need Satanists and devils and monsters and gallons of blood to be terrifying. Heston in PLANET OF THE APES is in a terrifying nightmare:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51L%2Bfkls0UL._SX342_QL70_.jpg)
(https://l450v.alamy.com/450v/bkc0gh/planet-of-the-apes-1968-charlton-heston-plap-004foh-bkc0gh.jpg)
(http://charltonhestonworld2.homestead.com/files/CH-Apes-7.JPG)
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I also have ERASERHEAD sound track on vinyl,a very challenging listen to say the least..
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I also have ERASERHEAD sound track on vinyl,a very challenging listen to say the least..
Cool! And yes, i think i only listened to it two times;-) It is totally part of the Movie Experience and David Lynch also had a big part in it. Dunno if he wrote the music or...have to look again.
@Whirlwind
We already talked about the Green Inferno and since it is most likely to be a remake or new interpretation of the infamous Ruggero Deodato Movie i will have a look when i find that one for a cheap price. Eli Roth is more of a pseudo-legend in the modern genre, his Hostel is such a bad movie on amost every level, that i think he kind of ruined the genre with his violence for violence sake approach, that appealed to a younger generation, but has nothing to do with his often quoted influences from the Hooper, Carpenter, Craven, Romero area., who produced movies that had a substance and something to say.
I highly recommend: The American Nightmare to get an idea of what i mean.
"An examination into the nature of 1960s-'70s horror films, the artists involved, and how they reflected contemporary society."
(https://i.postimg.cc/T2BddNf7/MV5-BYTM2-ZTdi-YTgt-Mm-Vk-Ni00-Yzgw-LWJk-N2-Et-Mz-A2-Mz-Qz-OGVk-NGM3-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/ZYWYhztv/MV5-BMTIx-MDk0-ODE5-Nl5-BMl5-Ban-Bn-Xk-Ft-ZTcw-MDQ5-MTky-MQ-V1.jpg)
You don't need Satanists and devils and monsters and gallons of blood to be terrifying.
Yes, that's true and you know that this thread is not about that and Planet of the Apes fits good in here.
So i couldn't wait and watched Full Circle yesterday on youtube. It was a viewing with mixed feelings, because of the quality on youtube. You could see immediately that this was shot very carefully and the lights and shots were superb!, but the quality reminded me of the VHS area, where you just had to see this special film and saw it on a fifth-generation copy with many, many technical errors in it, with VHS loosing much quality with every copy, mostly meaning the picture gets much darker and has fake colours and the sound also suffered from it.
In this case it was different, very blurred, some bucking but the sound was ok and you just could get the idea that this will look terriffic with a good restauration.
And yes, Guillaume was right, this one is a fantastic special one!
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I was actually going to ask how many times you have listened to it........i played it once all the way through when i first got it,and about 50 seconds to a friend. ;D...According to Wiki,music by David Lynch,organ music by Fats Waller and ''In Heaven'' written by Peter Ivers.....I no longer have any means to play vinyl,and am certainly not in any hurry to buy the CD.. ::)... ;D...
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So i couldn't wait and watched Full Circle yesterday on youtube. It was a viewing with mixed feelings, because of the quality on youtube. You could see immediately that this was shot very carefully and the lights and shots were superb!, but the quality reminded me of the VHS area
And yes, Guillaume was right, this one is a fantastic special one!
Too bad your first viewing was a poor quality copy :'(
There are some dark looking scenes (the basement scene with Keir Dullea, for example) so it needs to be seen on a decent looking print indeed. The visuals of the film are gorgeous, with the locations, the very nice use of Scope cinematography and the natural autumn/winter misty light of London...here are some striking scenes/shots in the film:
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e3dnn0hGaUE/UGpzWQVpE5I/AAAAAAAAHHE/Kc2My1L38Gs/s1600/The-Haunting-of-Julia-woods-Mia-Farrow.png)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jq1qbCGIgNI/Uf3rOkoTYfI/AAAAAAAAu98/OWHR3HlifOU/s1600/august2013thehauntingofjulia15.png)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M0iPNreksu4/Uf3rQE4NikI/AAAAAAAAu-Q/j9ZwTgHWD0Q/s1600/august2013thehauntingofjulia16.png)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rkZXKJj0LYw/Uf3sGIN9uZI/AAAAAAAAu-0/l590oWJkEzs/s1600/august2013thehauntingofjulia21.png)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9LP0tUacz5A/Uf3s8Eu_joI/AAAAAAAAu_o/qFdRWwnKd_A/s1600/august2013thehauntingofjulia26.png)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LrX-T6Tq3vg/Uf3tXvc9r8I/AAAAAAAAvAo/-ufSWZoveKI/s1600/august2013thehauntingofjulia30.png)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6PXsse0PO18/Uf3tV2DgAuI/AAAAAAAAvAM/vmVCW4EFHxM/s1600/august2013thehauntingofjulia32.png)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-767-dvXH9ks/Uf3udjT1uEI/AAAAAAAAvA8/GUT0eov35pY/s1600/august2013thehauntingofjulia38.png)
At least, despite the poor Youtube link, what did you think of the soundtrack and Mia Farrow?
Your favourite scenes in the film?
Also about the story, the film's main mystery...SPOILERS
Do you think that the house was haunted or Kate's death led Julia to breakdown, schizophrenia and finally killing herself at the end, because she tragically couldn't cope with Kate's death...dying mostly the same way Kate died, the story finally coming "full circle"... ;)
I must say the gorgeous, sweet, nostalgic piano soundtrack and some of the film's scenes have "haunted" me for years now...that ending/final shot around the chair is incredibly unsettling and heartbreaking...hard to forget.
Here's the famous Colin Towns's soundtrack on YT...i especially like the "Theme from Full Circle" and "Kate"...enjoy!!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZDCmNOU9_E
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At least, despite the poor Youtube link, what did you think of the soundtrack and Mia Farrow?
Your favourite scenes in the film?
I'm going to write something about it, so for any who might want to see the movie sometime, there are some SPOILERS ahead:
The film really manages to create a mystery and the atmosphere of mystery. I absolutely loved the story which had some unexpected turns and there were these hints of conspiracy, or you felt that some of the protagonists were playing wrong and of course you wonder what is going on with Julia. It had more depth than a supernatural-haunted story and there were hints that this (the film) is a subjective pov of julia. So that Mirrors are important, maybe showing that she is reflecting herself.
(https://i.postimg.cc/prHLh30z/julia.jpg)
But also the cursed storyline was very interesting and really a bit scary how it unfolded and is also very important. Here we have kind of another twist showing reflection. A german boy was murdered, became a victim and the murderers were children, innocence became guilt. I don't know, maybe this is too much interpretation, but the revelations through the story were suspenseful and surprising and gave more layers.
There is this one scene, where Julia lies in bed on the right side of the frame in a dark room and on the left side the closed door shows a line of light underneath and Julia is sitting up and talking clearly and loudly into the dark: "don't be afraid!" and she is saying that TO someone. i think that shows that another person is talking right now - talking to julia, she is talking to herself, she is talking to the imagined ghost.
But is is not clear. The accidents that happen seem to be by chance, bad luck, a curse, or is Julia the curse?
There was only one thing that threw me out of the movie and made me wonder too much and it's at the very, very end so it didn't hurt that much;-) and maybe i'm too specific about it, but here is one change of tune in the song while the camera moves away from julia, where the theme keeps repeating and then it kind of "has" to change, it felt like they felt:" damn, we cant keep this on longer" and the tune goes up and thereby changes the mood slightly and it just threw me off. yeah, silly i know;-)
The score was very good, sometimes on the edge of too cheesy, because at first it just drags you with it, so emotional, but when you're into the mood of the film, it works very well.
This is really a beautiful, clever Movie from that time and i hope to see it again with a good restauration and transfer.
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Director Richard Loncraine about FULL CIRCLE after first screening in Cannes Market, May 1977:
"I wasn't so interested in the horror aspect of the story, what appealed to me was the chance to make a film in which there were two parallel stories, capable on entirely different interpretations. Curiously, nearly all the women who see the film think it is a ghost story, while men think it is the story of a breakdown."
there are some SPOILERS ahead:
there were hints that this (the film) is a subjective pov of julia. So that Mirrors are important, maybe showing that she is reflecting herself.
(https://i.postimg.cc/prHLh30z/julia.jpg)
SPOILERS!!!
Yes mostly a subjective POV of Julia...the mirrors, an obvious visual symbol of split personality/schizophrenia...first time Julia sees herself in the mirror brought by Mark, she is scared of her own reflection/guilt, also think of the early scene in the bathroom when she washes the blood of her wounded leg, she sees her own reflection/guilt in the mirror, then she cries and says (to her dead daughter we presume) "My baby, forgive me" ...
then at the end, when she stares at her reflection in the bathroom mirror (just before Olivia the "ghost" child appears in the mirror) Julia isn't scared anymore of her own image...maybe she has accepted her guilt, or madness...her fate?
One of the fascinating things about the ending scene is that we don't really know what Julia thinks sitting in that chair...is she really aware of what's happening?
The director Richard Loncraine said about the ending that it had a double way of understanding it, it's up to the viewer:
either Olivia the "ghost" was Julia's delusion and Julia kills herself with her daughter's sharp toy, or Julia accepts to be killed by the evil child/her daughter look-alike (if you believe there is a ghost)...but in both cases like Loncraine said "Julia finds her child and her solace."
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BP6f1qMz61E/Uf3ui2P2x0I/AAAAAAAAvB8/Iu11ypCnQz4/s1600/august2013thehauntingofjulia37.png)
there were these hints of conspiracy, or you felt that some of the protagonists were playing wrong
Yes at least in the first half, with Magnus's character and Lily's ambiguous feelings about Julia:
she seems to genuinely like Julia but she follows her brother's dodgy idea to set a seance in the house, to scare a bit more Julia and to have her money.
But also the cursed storyline was very interesting and really a bit scary
Indeed!
First time i watched the movie i found many scenes/shots to be scary:
the scenes with Julia alone in her big house (the "Don't be frightened!" bit for example), Magnus's unwelcome intrusion in the house/the basement scene, the sharp toy in itself is a bit sinister, the "dream" (??) scene with the hands, the seance scene, the genius unexpected shot during the mental home scene of Olivia's eyes "piercing" through Julia's face (or is it a delusion of the half crazy old mother thinking her dead daughter came back from the grave?)...
and the stunning ending of course, i find this great picture (you could make a poster of it, really) of Olivia silently looking at Julia and then moving towards her still very creepy to this day! Even the scene where Swift the alcoholic man is talking about his nasty childhood is kind of creepy, sinister...only because of the great lines and low key acting.
"Low key" in fact seems the key word in that movie...the acting and the quite subtle way it creates fear and dread, mostly offscreen without jump scares and blood.
There is this one scene, where Julia lies in bed on the right side of the frame in a dark room and on the left side the closed door shows a line of light underneath and Julia is sitting up and talking clearly and loudly into the dark: "don't be afraid!" and she is saying that TO someone. i think that shows that another person is talking right now - talking to julia, she is talking to herself, she is talking to the imagined ghost.
But is is not clear. The accidents that happen seem to be by chance, bad luck, a curse, or is Julia the curse?
That's the idea. There are questions but at the end no answers. You understand what you want to take of the film's ambiguous mystery/story:
is Julia's house really haunted? or is she talking to herself, in fact, during this scene?
Director Loncraine said that in this particular scene he wanted to "reverse" some of the clichés of the haunted house stories:
here in this scene and in the whole story the lead character isn't especially afraid of the "haunting"...because of her loneliness, despair, she WELCOMES a child , she welcomes the "ghost"...even when she learns that the child is a nasty, killer little blonde girl...
There was only one thing that threw me out of the movie and made me wonder too much and it's at the very, very end so it didn't hurt that much;-) and maybe i'm too specific about it, but here is one change of tune in the song while the camera moves away from julia, where the theme keeps repeating and then it kind of "has" to change, it felt like they felt:" damn, we cant keep this on longer" and the tune goes up and thereby changes the mood slightly and it just threw me off. yeah, silly i know;-)
No it's not silly, i can see what you mean, the last track "changes" twice but i think it's precise editing, first to slowly reveal Julia's "change" (her death, when that great tracking shot around the chair reveal her deadly neck wounds) then when the end credits start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyumkItcZiY
I remember first time i watched the film in the mid 90's i thought that the film was going to end on the lovely, sweet cute shot of Julia accepting the "angelic" Olivia in her arms, that the film was going to end on the camera doing a half circle around the chair, "Stay with me...stay" and then fade to black, end credits...it would have been a beautiful poetic ending, already.
BUT it ended with the lights going out, the camera endlessly moving around the chair and slowly revealing the character's lonely, tragic fate (in my opinion the whole story is about her slow suicide because of overwhelming guilt and loss)...i was like OH MY GOD!! jaw dropping moment!...incredibly unsettling, moving but somewhat beautiful/darkly poetic.
The score was very good, sometimes on the edge of too cheesy, because at first it just drags you with it, so emotional, but when you're into the mood of the film, it works very well.
"Emotional" is the word! It sounds mavbe a bit "dated" now especially the 70's keyboards sound but that soundtrack is something...it really nails the sad, bleak, erratic wandering moods of Julia's character and the story...very pretty melodies and a big part of the film's atmosphere with the visuals and Mia Farrow's "ghost-like" performance. Loncraine said that he and Mia Farrow mostly agreed to make the movie when they listened to a demo track Colin Towns recorded in pre production before the shooting, Loncraine said "i could see a movie in that track".
Some of my favourite scenes/shots enhanced by the soundtrack are the opening credits scene, Julia's encounter with her new house, pictures of Kate all around the floor, the walk in the park, the car drive at night under the rain and the whole ending.
There is this one scene, where Julia lies in bed on the right side of the frame in a dark room and on the left side the closed door shows a line of light underneath
The frame compositions, the use of widescreen cinematography is really beautiful in that movie...all the scenes in the house for example, Loncraine said that he used Panavision, Cinemascope to make the house (and in that scene the room) like a character...Julia on the right side of frame, the closed door on the left side, the space is used skillfully in many compositions. A claustrophobic feel at times (lots of close up of Julia's face, showing us her feelings, without dialogues/lines).
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OK, folks, here's a guilty pleasure low grade horror film that maybe some of you have seen. Take THE EXORCIST and JAWS and mix them together and you get....
THE CAR
(https://bangshift.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/the-car2.jpeg)
This film might just be the top so-bad-it's-good movie ever made. The almighty Satan comes back to Earth...as a 1971 Lincoln Continental! Now how can you not love that?
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If you like that try ''Rubber'' a film about a tyre /tire that kills people.........i kid you not,so awfully bad ;D..
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"Rubber" was terrible in my opinion, at least the plot was so thin, that it should have been a short, not a full length movie.
And i quite like "The Car"!! ;D
ok the story is a bit silly, like a tired rehash of "Jaws" and "Duel" but the widescreen cinematography and the western locations are nice, and there are some cool effective scenes here and there (the opening or SPOILER!!! the wife in her house meeting a nasty fate...)
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If you like that try ''Rubber'' a film about a tyre /tire that kills people.........i kid you not,so awfully bad ;D..
Whaaaat? I love that movie! Really!! Got it on dvd and blu and after that i just went for everything by Quentin Dupieux. Rubber is about expectations and reason and is just a surreal and a little dadaistic wonderful picture.
The movie begins with this scene:
(https://i.postimg.cc/8CYHPpPK/333.jpg)
In the far distance a car comes from the left and slowly slaloms towards the viewer. A beautiful shot with lots of depth of field and a very nice focus, and after the car stops, a man gets out of the trunk, with a glas of water in his hands and talks directly into camera and to the viewer:
(https://i.postimg.cc/QMZNL5c0/zzzz.jpg)
Lieutenant Chad:
In the Steven Spielberg movie "E.T.," why is the alien brown? No reason.
In "Love Story," why do the two characters fall madly in love with each other? No reason.
In Oliver Stone's "JFK," why is the President suddenly assassinated by some stranger? No reason.
In the excellent "Chain Saw Massacre" by Tobe Hooper, why don't we ever see the characters go to the bathroom or wash their hands like people do in real life? Absolutely no reason.
Worse, in "The Pianist" by Polanski, how come this guy has to hide and live like a bum when he plays the piano so well?
Once again the answer is, no reason.
I could go on for hours with more examples. The list is endless.
You probably never gave it a thought, but all great films, without exception, contain an important element of no reason.
And you know why? Because life itself is filled with no reason.
Why can't we see the air all around us? No reason.
Why are we always thinking? No reason.
Why do some people love sausages and other people hate sausages? No fuckin' reason.
Cop Xavier: [honks the horn]
Come on! Don't waste your time explaining that garbage. Let's go!
Lieutenant Chad:
Just a minute. Let me finish.
[looks back at the audience]
Lieutenant Chad:
Ladies, gentlemen, the film you are about to see today is an homage to the "no reason" - that most powerful element of style.
[pours his glass of water on the ground before getting back into the trunk of the police car]
There is also a group of people in the desert, who watch the story of the movie going on...
Well, i just love this kind of surreal, bizarre and creative art. You have to let loose your expectations and your pre-visions of a linear story-telling and just go with the flow... 8)
(https://i.postimg.cc/JzPxvcwW/44.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/j2HQXy6m/tttttt.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/fbyCNtZS/45.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/85rb7271/rubber.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/NfLjRQg7/p.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/X7h78tqM/pppp.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/FHLFnGkY/wer.jpg)
There is a special on my edition, an interview with Quentin Dupieux. I think it runs just under 20 min. But his answers are filmed backwards and Dupieux talks to a plastic sexdoll.
(https://i.postimg.cc/qB17tNdv/ll.jpg)
That's funny! 8)
And yeah, The Car looks great!
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Only said it was awfully bad........not that i did'nt like it, i also have it on DVD.... :D..Love it....
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If you like that try ''Rubber'' a film about a tyre /tire that kills people.........i kid you not,so awfully bad ;D..
Yeah, I saw "Rubber." Not all of it, but enough so I got the picture. It was odd and thus interesting.
And i quite like "The Car"!! ;D
ok the story is a bit silly, like a tired rehash of "Jaws" and "Duel" but the widescreen cinematography and the western locations are nice, and there are some cool effective scenes here and there
You are right, the cinematography is quite good. That vast expanse of desert is really captured well.
"The Car" also has a top score by a top film composer Leonard Rosenman. And how can we not mention the film's great sound effect: the car's honking. I love that.
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"The Car" also has a top score by a top film composer Leonard Rosenman. And how can we not mention the film's great sound effect: the car's honking. I love that.
Indeed! If i remember well a track was even used at the beginning of "The shining".
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Only said it was awfully bad........not that i did'nt like it, i also have it on DVD.... :D..Love it....
Aha! Now i see!;-) I also could say that i love bad movies, but "awfully bad", that tricked me...;-)
When you also love Rubber, than you could and should try his other Movies: Wrong (kind of a drama about a lost dog, but it's Dupieux and it's Wrong!) Wrong Cops (a crazy comedy about a drug selling Cop and a cops who makes music and other stuff, with Marilyn Manson playing a 15year old) and Reality ("A wanna-be director is given 48 hours by a producer to find the best groan of pain, worthy of an Oscar, as the only condition to back his film.")
And here is Quentin Dupieux making music:
Mr. Oizo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmsbP13xu6k[/url)
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Without doubt the greatest so bad it's good film has to be (imho) ''Plan 9 From Outer Space''.....shaky props,appalling special effects (car hub caps as flying saucers anyone) ;D...main star dying during filming not enough money to re-film his bits so use another actor to replace him so we only see the back of him,i could go on but i am sure many of you will have watched it to know these things.... 8)...
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Without doubt the greatest so bad it's good film has to be (imho) ''Plan 9 From Outer Space''.....shaky props,appalling special effects (car hub caps as flying saucers anyone) ;D...main star dying during filming not enough money to re-film his bits so use another actor to replace him so we only see the back of him,i could go on but i am sure many of you will have watched it to know these things.... 8)...
Yeah, Ed Wood at his 'finest'.... and wasn't the man he hired to replace Bela Lugosi his dentist?
Just in case anyone hasn't seen it, Tim Burton's biopic about Ed Wood is excellent, probably his best film...
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"The Car" also has a top score by a top film composer Leonard Rosenman.
Indeed! If i remember well a track was even used at the beginning of "The shining".
Well, THE CAR wasn't the first to use it. It's a 13th century Gregorian Chant called the "Dies Irae." It's used in a ton of movies, going back to METROPOLIS from the 1920s. It is used a lot now, but, yeah, THE CAR definitely was an early film that made use of it. It definitely makes an impression in that film and does tie that music to Satan. Clearly, though, THE SHINING is what really made "Dies Irae" famous for filmgoers. All we are seeing in the opening credits is a car travelling through Colorado landscapes, but those credits are creepy as hell. It's the "Dies Irae" playing over that travelling car which makes it so darn scary.
But full credit to THE CAR simply for tying that music to the Devil. Other films use it for death - heck, it's even in STAR WARS when Luke's Aunt and Uncle are found dead - but THE CAR really did link that creepy music to Satan.
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According to Wiki it was his Chiropractor who replaced Bela Lugosi.......but whoever it was he was about a foot taller than the diminutive actor,and obv.looked nothing like him...sad fact was Lugosi was and had been a drug addict for many years and was reduced to playing roles in bad films,a sad end to what had been a great acting career..
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OK, I was rooting round Amazon Prime Video this evening and stumbled across Ken Russell's 'The Lair Of The White Worm' (1988)... such a wonderful oddity. Original trailer below...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QINhGh-U8Qo
Yes, it's cheap and cheesy but so tongue in cheek. Many moments when you'll be saying 'oh, that's ridiculous' but laughing out loud as well. A great cast camping it up, hopefully in on the joke. Deffo one to watch with beer and pizza, as I did. Anyone else remember this one? :)
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Good hint there Master Ray, i have seen that one but that's the only thing i remember. And a scene with a nail and a hand, some voodoo stuff...Hope it stays a while on prime, would like to re-watch and remember it. But i also do remember that i didn't think about it as tongue-in-cheek, but those things may change through time.
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Good hint there Master Ray, i have seen that one but that's the only thing i remember. And a scene with a nail and a hand, some voodoo stuff...Hope it stays a while on prime, would like to re-watch and remember it. But i also do remember that i didn't think about it as tongue-in-cheek, but those things may change through time.
Ken Russell once said that 'all my films are comedies' but he actively encouraged people to laugh at this one. It's very funny, just ramping up the stupidity with ridiculous lines ('Ooh, me spotted dick!'), outrageous scenes (Jesus, on the cross, being eaten by a massive serpent whilst a bunch of buxom nuns are defiled) and the hilariously dumb dream sequence posted below...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-T0KPF54Mc
I mean, Russell was a talented film-maker, he was obviously taking the piss with this movie... as I said, a fun watch. ;)
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After FULL CIRCLE another tale of loss, dead people and past haunting the present and the living with WAKING THE DEAD, a beautiful, sensitive, heartfelt, haunting "ghost story" between love story and politics...wonderfully acted by Jennifer Connelly and Billy Crudup with a cool soundtrack (Tomandandy, Lori Carson, Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel) by director Keith Gordon (yes, the lead actor of CHRISTINE, also seen in JAWS 2 and DRESSED TO KILL)...warmly recommended for those who love romantic tales, beautiful moving love/ghost stories...and now available on blu ray:
(https://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/101310_large.jpg?t=1563064476)
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Oh, I vaguely remember that one, think I only saw it the once back in the 90's. Must rectify that. Also, I think I've said this before, but Jennifer Connolly... the most beautiful woman who ever lived? ;) ;D
I seem to remember Mr Gordan directed a great film called STATIC, another one I should revisit....
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Thanks for the recommendation Guillaume, seems to be another good one to watch.
I was about to recommend some Peter Weir stuff here, after all the Rubber and The Car things going on, so i thought you all, if you haven't already, should go and watch: The Cars that ate Paris, but right now i'm tooo drunk and lazy to write more about it and put some pictures in it, so go and watch it!! 8)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xUMbjJhf1I
I think I've said this before, but Jennifer Connolly... the most beautiful woman who ever lived? ;) ;D
She is, indeed! 8)
She is wonderful in WAKING THE DEAD, easily one of her best performances and characters...too often she acted in not so good movies and/or uninteresting characters, but here she is great, i would say that it's her best performance. I also liked her very much in HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, PHENOMENA and even DARK WATER (that movie wasn't so good but Connelly was good in it).
Also Billy Crudup, underrated actor, is awesome in WAKING THE DEAD, he should have been nominated for the academy awards with some heartbreaking moments in the film.
I seem to remember Mr Gordan directed a great film called STATIC, another one I should revisit....
I'm not sure he directed it? but he was the main actor and wrote the screenplay if i remember well. He directed an interesting strange war film (A MIDNIGHT CLEAR starring Ethan Hawke, Peter Berg, Gary Sinise), also MOTHER NIGHT and THE CHOCOLATE WAR.
Thanks for the recommendation Guillaume, seems to be another good one to watch.
Yes, watch it, you won't regret it!
It's beautifully acted, affecting movie...if FULL CIRCLE was perfect for autumn moods WAKING THE DEAD is a winter tale for the romantics! :)
if you haven't already, should go and watch: The Cars that ate Paris
I haven't watched this one in years...i like very much Peter Weir's films...PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, THE MOSQUITO COAST, WITNESS, GALLIPOLI, FEARLESS, DEAD POETS SOCIETY, THE TRUMAN SHOW...brillant and still underrated director.
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.i like very much Peter Weir's films...PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, THE MOSQUITO COAST, WITNESS, GALLIPOLI, FEARLESS, DEAD POETS SOCIETY, THE TRUMAN SHOW...brillant and still underrated director.
I think he is! Such a variety of themes and all of them i did see, were perfectly directed. Don't forget Master & Commander!
I'm very interested in Gallipolli, haven't seen that yet, but i want to find a bluray version of it.
Also The Last Wave is a very special movie.
"A worthy successor to PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK in as much as the viewer is left with his or her own interpretation of what they have just seen. Events occuring in an everyday environment but where the line between fantasy and reality is so blurred, no lens can be found to bring up a sharp focus. It is a disturbing film which highlights and pays homage to the Aboriginal dreamtime."
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.i like very much Peter Weir's films...PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, THE MOSQUITO COAST, WITNESS, GALLIPOLI, FEARLESS, DEAD POETS SOCIETY, THE TRUMAN SHOW...brillant and still underrated director.
I think he is! Such a variety of themes and all of them i did see, were perfectly directed. Don't forget Master & Commander
"The last wave" of course! Also his last movie "the way back" was good...unfortunately Weir hasn't directed a movie since 2010... :'(
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So, I gave the hugely acclaimed 'Midsommar' a go the other night, from Ari Aster, whose previous horror flick 'Hereditary' was a big hit. Now, I liked it very much but thought it was desperately slow and overlong in places... which is my own bloody fault because I realised afterwards that I'd downloaded The Directors Cut, which added nearly half an hour (of what, research has shown, was mainly non-plot related character stuff) to an already two and a half hour flick, so I expect the normal version would be better paced. Trailer below before I go on...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vnghdsjmd0
'The Wicker Man meets Hostel', judging by the trailer, but it's a lot deeper and darker than that. Don't want to say anymore than that for fear of spoilers, but it's hugely creepy and well made with terrific performances (Florence Pugh, best young UK actress of the moment?) and some proper shocking moments. Great soundtrack too. Probably my favourite horror film of the year, be interested to what my fellow horror fans thought of it.
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So, I gave the hugely acclaimed 'Midsommar' a go the other night, from Ari Aster, whose previous horror flick 'Hereditary' was a big hit. Now, I liked it very much but thought it was desperately slow and overlong in places...
I've watched it in theaters and i already thought it was desperately slow and overlong in places... ;D
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So, I gave the hugely acclaimed 'Midsommar' a go the other night, from Ari Aster, whose previous horror flick 'Hereditary' was a big hit. Now, I liked it very much but thought it was desperately slow and overlong in places...
I've watched it in theaters and i already thought it was desperately slow and overlong in places... ;D
Ha! Oh well... I still think it was a decent horror flick.
Just goes to show how 'Directors Cuts' aren't necessarily a good thing... I love 'Cinema Paradiso' in its original version but the DC annoyed me... I'm sure you have your own equivalent.
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I re-watched "The Mist" by Frank Darabont and if you haven't seen this, you should! 8)
This is after a Stephen King story and it works great. Darabont did also "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption", both very good movies. I cannot say how the screenply adaption is in comparison to the Books by King and i haven't read The Mist, but the movie is brilliant.
It is even so good, that i could easily forgive some real bad CGI there, but in those scenes the acting is good and they are combined with some practical effects. Anyway, like in all the good Stephen King storys the horror does not come from the monsters, but the humans. And here everything works so well. It's full of cliches and one dimensional characters, but Darabont and Kind use that to portray group dynamics in extreme situations and everything there happening is plausible and soon you begin to feel fear because you know the stupidity of humans and how they will loose all civilized behavior when they/we are frightened...(fear is the only enemy that i still know...)
And it has one of the best endings ever!
And for those who have Netflix, i highly recommend DARK.
I skipped this one for a long time and had some prejudice about it, because it's a german production. German and Genre jus don't fit. I thought they were just jumping on the let's go back to the 80's Stranger Things thing....but this is totally different. And it is german in th ebest way and so different from hollywood style. This series is so good filmed and atmospheric and develops an unususal time-travelling story. Unknown actors who are all very good and the story makes use of the time travell paradox and asks some philosophical questions. It has a marvellous soundtrack, makes very good use of the music from that time and every song played there has something to say about the story also. I'm really surprised about this how good that is. I should work on my prejudices..;-)
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Haven't seem DARK, I'll check it out before my last month on Netflix runs out (I tend to have Netflix for a few months and then cancel it for a while, not enough interesting content to keep me permanantly paying for it).
The Mist is, indeed, excellent, I seem to remember there's a special edition in black and white available...
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A friend told me that DARK is conceived as a three season series and the third season will only come 2020.
The b/w version of The Mist is on the bluray. Darabont is introducing it and talking about how much he would like to have done it that way, but the studio wouldn't let him and of course most people wouldn't go for a b/w picture. But nowadays you can shoot in colour and then just take out all colours afterwards. Kind of like "The Desaturating Seven" attacked your movie..;-)
PRIMUS - The Desaturating Seven (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw95wlggfYM[/url)
Haven't seen it in b/w yet, but i will.
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I re-watched "The Mist" by Frank Darabont and if you haven't seen this, you should! 8)
And it has one of the best endings ever!
Yes! First time i watched it (unfortunately not on the big screen because it was a very limited theatrical release here) i found the film especially the last part quite powerful...and the use of Dead Can Dance's song enhances the power of the ending! 8)
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Difficult to name my fav horror movies...so many...
I really like Rob Zombie movies !
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Difficult to name my fav horror movies...so many...
I really like Rob Zombie movies !
He has some skills! One of my favourite horror movies is The Devil's Rejects and his House of 1000 Corpses brought back my interest in the genre, which i kind of lost during the late 90's. I was a collector of Fangoria and Gorezone, going for anything that is Splatter but that changed and i felt the movies had nothing more to say or to show. As a fan of White Zombie i went to see HOTC and was just blown away. This was a rollercoaster-horror-ride for adults, it did get under your skin and just was so freaky and scary but totally entertaining at the same time, that it brought back my wondering: "why do i even like that stuff?"
Then came The Devil's Rejects and to me this is one of a kind masterpiece of terror-cinema. The most ambiguous film experience for me (on a level with Cannibal Holocaust- even to write that name feels sick..but also a masterpiece)
I have 4 different CDs from that movie (well, one of them is an enhanced version of the soundtrack, dialogue snippets in between the music)
Of course the Soundtrack with beautiful tracks from The Allman Brothers Band, Terry Reid, David Essex, ....
Than the Motion Picture Score by Tyler Bates, eerie, creepie, industrial, shocking, hell of a score.
And they did a whole and wonderful cool and funny fake-album by the band Banjo & Sullivan, the protagonists of the movie.
Both of his Halloween remakes are also very good, he gave it a new touch and widened the story about Michael Myers.
But his Lords of Salem and 31 were rather disappointing. I enjoyed his animated The Haunted World of El Superbeasto but wouldn't say that it is a special good one.
Looking forward to 3 from Hell, but i won't expect too much of it. The Devil's Rejects is just too good to have a follow up.
I've met him and his wife in a comic store in cologne, i was very young and totally nervous, but i asked for an autograph and he and sheri signed a magazine i bought about Lucio Fulci 8) precious little item;-)
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Blimey. Someone else likes Mr Zombie's Halloween pictures. I thought I was alone in that. :o
Also like TDR and HO1000C. Haven't seen LOS, but I noticed 31 seems to be on Amazon Prime Video, I'll check it out asap.
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Blimey. Someone else likes Mr Zombie's Halloween pictures. I thought I was alone in that. :o
Also like TDR and HO1000C. Haven't seen LOS, but I noticed 31 seems to be on Amazon Prime Video, I'll check it out asap.
please post back, I'm eagerly awaiting
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BURNT OFFERINGS directed by Dan "Dark Shadows" Curtis in 1975.
This film has just been released on blu ray under its weird french title "Trauma"..:
(https://static.fnac-static.com/multimedia/Images/FR/NR/7b/cd/ac/11324795/1545-1/tsp20190919113635/Trauma-Edition-Collector-Combo-Blu-ray-DVD.jpg)
I've watched this film on tv for the first time when i was a kid, in the late 80's...it gave me nightmares, especially the scenes with the "chauffeur" and the insane ending. 30 years later i"ve watched it on blu ray last week and i still think it's a creepy, pretty great movie! 8)
Great performance from Olivier Reed and excellent supporting character performances from Karen Black, Bette Davis, Burgess Meredith, etc. Stephen King is a big fan of "Burnt offerings", both the film and both the Robert Marasco novel...it was an obvious influence on "The shining".
A well acted, well written, subtle, slow burn creepy movie, I would warmly recommend it as one of the best "haunted houses" movie, next to "The innocents", "Full Circle"/"The haunting of Julia" and "The entity". Also worth checking are others Dan Curtis tv works:
"Curse of the black widow", "Dracula" (with Jack Palance) and "Trilogy of terror" especially the story "Prey"/"Amelia" starring Karen Black.
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That seems like another good suggestion, a movie i think i will like, too. In looked it up and in germany it's called "Landhaus der toten Seelen" like "The Villa of dead Souls". So maybe Trauma is not the baddest choice;-)
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That seems like another good suggestion, a movie i think i will like, too.
And unlike "Full Circle", you can find good looking blu rays of this film! ;)
There are US, UK and now french blu ray of BURNT OFFERINGS. 8)
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Of course i checked it out already and ordered the blu of Landhaus der toten Seelen 8)
Looking forward to it...
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I saw for the first time
(https://i.postimg.cc/YSLq9nTj/house-of-loong-shadows.jpg)
What a cast!! and it was so entertaining to watch them act out.
But to be honest, the movie kind of sucked.;-) I don't know how they thought they could do an atmospheric film with only one spotlight.
I found the camera work really bad sometimes. You have this huge mansion and the classic old house interior, but no great use of that. What a pity for that case.
But these guys
(https://i.postimg.cc/2S65p8wQ/house-of-the-long-shadows.jpg)
really did their best and i would recommend it. It is a strange 80's production, not a good movie i would say, but fun to watch.
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It may be a crap film but what a great poster/picture...
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I am a big fan of this genre of British horror film. I personally prefer the the spate of anthologies that were popular in the 1970's to 80's. My favourites --
From beyond the grave
Tales from the crypt
Asylum
the Monster club.
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It may be a crap film but what a great poster/picture...
well, maybe i was too harsh on this. i meant it mostly on a technical level. the same movie with a good director of photography and i would have applauded;-)
btw, how is operation: switchblade romance going?;-)
I am a big fan of this genre of British horror film. I personally prefer the the spate of anthologies that were popular in the 1970's to 80's. My favourites --
From beyond the grave
Tales from the crypt
Asylum
the Monster club.
what about Tales of Terror? I sometimes just have to put it in to see the scene of the wine tasting with Vincent Price Peter Lorree. Timeless marvellous!
and damn, i haven't seen any of those you mentioned and all seem to be good fun. will have a look out for them.
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Not one I am familiar with but as I say, I prefer the British vintage horrors. They are not to be taken seriously as horror films, I like the atmosphere and the locations and the long lists of legendary actors that can be seen in them.
I remember when my youngest lad was about 12 he would bring his friends round to watch some of my "horror" DVD's. They used to howl with laughter especially at Asylum after Richard Todd had chopped up his wife and wrapped the parts in string and paper, these parts later attacking him when he went to the cellar. Not very convincing but quite funny. That film alone with a cast including Richard Todd, Silvia Syms, Brit Ekland, Charlotte Rampling, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Robert Powel, and naturally my favourite actor, Peter Cushing.
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Ah, 'The Monster Club'... loved that one as a kid!
I also loved the 'Hammer House Of Horror' TV show, the episode 'The House That Bled To Death' proper freaked me out... any memories of that one, fellow horror fans?
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Not one I am familiar with but as I say, I prefer the British vintage horrors. They are not to be taken seriously as horror films, I like the atmosphere and the locations and the long lists of legendary actors that can be seen in them.
I think Tales of Terror
(https://i.postimg.cc/vmhfQ5HS/tales-of-terror.jpg)
fits perfectly in that description, maybe a bit too old, it's from 1962. Here is the wine tasting sequenz:
Vincent Price vs Peter Lorre in Wine Tasting Contest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSl41mW0NK4[/url)
Cool when the kids can have fun with those old pictures. I wouldn't be able to get my son to watch old flics and with old it would be befor 2000;-)
Ah, 'The Monster Club'... loved that one as a kid!
I also loved the 'Hammer House Of Horror' TV show, the episode 'The House That Bled To Death' proper freaked me out... any memories of that one, fellow horror fans?
Sounds great but i haven't seen it. Does TV show mean that there were episodes, like Twilight Zone or did they show whole movies?
Yesterday I saw this totally suprise super hit!
(https://i.postimg.cc/3RwpWWkr/turbo-kid.jpg)
Never had so much splatter fun since Braindead or Bad Taste by Peter Jackson. Really a wonderful surprise watching this. So good. The effects are superb, no cgi, gallons of pure wtf? A good preparation for GWAR next tuesday in cologne 8)
(sorry, the pics are a bit too big, had the presets wrong when copying)
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I am still waiting for my copy to arrive,i have had to order it from another seller on Amazon as the original supplier could not fulfill the order.............it should be here in the next couple of days.
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I am still waiting for my copy to arrive,i have had to order it from another seller on Amazon as the original supplier could not fulfill the order.............it should be here in the next couple of days.
I'm really curious what you will have to say about it.
Now i have seen
(https://i.postimg.cc/fTZ2ZKbs/burnt-offerings.jpg)
and it was everything Guillaume said. A bloody good horror movie! Loved it and it got under my skin and the ending... :o
And i think it's now clear for me where Sam Raimi got some inspiration for The Evil Dead.
But no spoilers here;-)
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Now i have seen
(https://i.postimg.cc/fTZ2ZKbs/burnt-offerings.jpg)
and it was everything Guillaume said. A bloody good horror movie! Loved it and it got under my skin and the ending... :o
And i think it's now clear for me where Sam Raimi got some inspiration for The Evil Dead.
But no spoilers here;-)
SPOILERS!!
Yes, THE EVIL DEAD for the scene when the father and son try to escape the house and are prisoners because of the "living" garden, trees...also obviously THE SHINING because of the very last scene with the families"s pictures and the father becoming "crazy", having morbid "delusions" (??) and trying to kill his son.
I remember having nightmares because of this film when i was a kid because of two things:
-the sinister chauffeur and his sinister grin during Oliver Reed's "delusion" scenes...the one with Bette Davis's slowly agonizing/dying is quite harrowing! :o
- the climax/ ending, when Reed comes face to face in the attic with his possessed "wife"...incredible shock ending, with the tension being almost unbearable when Reed slowly goes upstairs to search for his wife, slowly opens the previously unopened door/room and then sees the horrible, ugly truth with what, who his wife has become ...and then the kid being witness of his father's bloody violent "suicide", and then the kid's ugly fate...breathtaking.
Another incredible bit/scene is the first swimming pool scene when Reed tries to drown/kill his son...very unsettling.
I must say that the acting and writing are the film's big strengths. Writing because you can feel slowly the ties between the family members slowly deteriorating/decaying because of the "spirit" of the house. Also, Oliver Reed's performance especially is remarkable, you can feel the confusion and fear in his eyes, voice and gestures in his whole journey through this damn house; in the last scene for example when he confronts the "old lady"...Reed really "nails" his character and the climax scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYnHleegEhg
On the blu ray the screenwriter says that the young daughter of Dan Curtis (the director) died during the shooting, falling from a city building, and so that the shooting of the finale (Oliver Reed's stunt falling/crashing to his death) was quite weird, when Curtis courageously had to re-start and finish the shooting...
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Hey, cthulhu... Hammer house Of Horror was, indeed, a anthology show, made for TV, hour long episodes.
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Hey, cthulhu... Hammer house Of Horror was, indeed, a anthology show, made for TV, hour long episodes.
ah, sounds like a good show. haven't heard of it until now.
More spoilers, BEWARE ;), of Burnt Offerings coming
-the sinister chauffeur and his sinister grin during Oliver Reed's "delusion" scenes...the one with Bette Davis's slowly agonizing/dying is quite harrowing! :o
these scenes were really hard to watch. Bette Davis is horrible to look at. She goes for it and makes it so unsettling and the subtle make up is frightening. Really scared me.
- the climax/ ending, when Reed comes face to face in the attic with his possessed "wife"...incredible shock ending, with the tension being almost unbearable when Reed slowly goes upstairs to search for his wife, slowly opens the previously unopened door/room and then sees the horrible, ugly truth with what, who his wife has become ...and then the kid being witness of his father's bloody violent "suicide", and then the kid's ugly fate...breathtaking.
well, it didn't work for me as a suprise in the story path, i knew that much before and was awaiting the conclusion, but then when Karen Blacks face shows up, how evil she looks, her look in her face, that again came as a surprise to have to watch it.
the kid is such a good actor. he acts so adult-like, he in fact is the only one acting sensible later when the madness has set in, his responses to his parents are so well put, with total understanding of the situations and commenting on it with body language and looks. he is the innocence there in the madhouse.
On the blu ray the screenwriter says that the young daughter of Dan Curtis (the director) died during the shooting, falling from a city building, and so that the shooting of the finale (Oliver Reed's stunt falling/crashing to his death) was quite weird, when Curtis courageously had to re-start and finish the shooting...
wow. again an example of how life is stranger than fiction. and hard to imagine how he must have felt shooting this.
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More spoilers, BEWARE ;), of Burnt Offerings coming
-the sinister chauffeur and his sinister grin during Oliver Reed's "delusion" scenes...the one with Bette Davis's slowly agonizing/dying is quite harrowing! :o
these scenes were really hard to watch. Bette Davis is horrible to look at. She goes for it and makes it so unsettling and the subtle make up is frightening. Really scared me.
Yes, this scene is "awful"!...also again Oliver Reed's acting here is fantastic, just when he hears the motor of the car and suddenly realizes it's not a real doctor who is coming...he kind of collapses on himself, against the wall...impressive. And yes, Bette Davis's acting and make up in this scene are really unsettling. The second chauffeur scene when Reed is working in the sunny garden is also very very effective...this great close up of Reed's face, frightened, shaking, in sweat.
well, it didn't work for me as a suprise in the story path, i knew that much before and was awaiting the conclusion
Yes, it was probably newer in 1976 this kind of "twist"...there are clues almost from the beginning that Karen Black/Marian becomes haunted when she goes in that room...haunted by the lullaby, the pictures in that sinister room/attic. One thing i loved when i watched the film in the 80's is that you will never know if there was really someone in the room/attic...probably not, just the evil spirit of the house, but it makes at times for an almost unbearable tension, suspens when the characters go upstairs and are near that mysterious locked door...it's powerful and leads to a big payoff at the end!
when Karen Blacks face shows up, how evil she looks, her look in her face, that again came as a surprise to have to watch it.
Yes!! She is still creepy, her look, eyes in 2019!! Can you imagine the impact this ending (and the chauffeur scenes) had on me when i watched the film in the late 80's?? ;D :D
The fact that at first during the climax the character"s face isn't revealed to Reed and the viewer is also deeply powerful...i guess it's the Hitchock great lesson in suspens/tension (remember the ending of "Psycho"!!) and Roeg in the "Don't look now" finale.
the kid is such a good actor. he acts so adult-like, he in fact is the only one acting sensible later when the madness has set in, his responses to his parents are so well put, with total understanding of the situations and commenting on it with body language and looks. he is the innocence there in the madhouse.
Yes, he's very good, not overacting...the overall acting/casting is quite remarkable in this film. There are 2/3 very effective moments of acting from this kid, when Reed in his car tries to escape from the house, also when Reed decides to goes upstairs to search for Karen Black, and finally when the kid, stunned and frightened, sees the house crumbling on itself and on him.
wow. again an example of how life is stranger than fiction. and hard to imagine how he must have felt shooting this.
Yes...maybe that this tragic event also enhanced the relentless dark tone of the film, who knows...if i remember well Curtis also says in the audio commentary that the first nightmare/funeral scene was linked to his childhood memories.
BURNT OFFERINGS is a very effective "haunted house movie" that deserves to be praised as much as more famous "classics" from its era like AMITYVILLE, THE SHINING and THE CHANGELING.
I also recommend the BURNT OFFERINGS novel by Robert Marasco...also effective, very good.
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It seems that Dario Argento will be back on the big screen this year! 8)
He said last month in Italy that he will direct "Occhiali Neri" ("Dark sunglasses"), an old thriller/giallo project co written by him and Franco Ferrini ("Phenomena", "Opera", "The Stendhal Syndrome", "Sleepless", "The Card Player", etc) in the early 2000's!
Argento should have directed this thriller in 2002 but at the last time the money wasn't there because his producers went bankrupt...instead Argento directed "The Card Player" but now he seems he has recovered the rights of his screenplay and so he will direct "Occhiali Neri" next spring in Roma...Argento said that the film will be shot mostly at night, in Roma and its rocky rural countryside.
The pitch has a "Cat'o'nine tails" vibe with a blind prostitute (played by...Asia Argento!) teaming with an orphan chinese kid to find and arrest a serial killer. :)
Dario Argento has also announced two horror tv series projects but it seems that "Occhiali Neri" will be directed first! I can't wait!
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Sounds interesting, but as you know I haven't been terribly impressed with his recent output... oh well, lets stay optimistic!
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Sounds interesting, but as you know I haven't been terribly impressed with his recent output... oh well, lets stay optimistic!
Yes, good or not good we have to wait and see but i'm still happy he is going to direct one (last??) film for the big screen, almost ten years after "Dracula 3D"! Last summer Argento was in France and he seemed in rather good health and still enthusiastic about everything at 79 (years old), so crossed fingers!
I'm curious about "Occhiali Neri" because it seems a story closer to Argento's heart than "Giallo" and "Dracula", i mean he co-wrote the screenplay, where his last two movies were much more "producers's projects"!
I've also seen that the americans of Scorpion Releasing have just released three new Argento films on Blu Ray:
"Phantom of the opera", "Sleepless" ("Non ho sonno") and "The Card Player", all three of them featuring audio commentaries, Argento interviews, etc.
I must get hold of the Dario autobiography once it gets translated.
It's now available in English!:
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Here are the cover visuals of the new Argento Blu Rays:
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(http://www.devildead.com/covers/covers/0887a0f489f29cf48fd6a1a0d07cbe4ehires.jpg)
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I re-watched "The Mist" by Frank Darabont and if you haven't seen this, you should! 8)
like in all the good Stephen King storys the horror does not come from the monsters, but the humans. And here everything works so well. It's full of cliches and one dimensional characters, but Darabont and Kind use that to portray group dynamics in extreme situations and everything there happening is plausible and soon you begin to feel fear because you know the stupidity of humans and how they will loose all civilized behavior when they/we are frightened...(fear is the only enemy that i still know...)
And it has one of the best endings ever!
I just re-watched it on blu ray...it's still a great, tense, haunting, relentless and finally heartbreaking movie...fine acting from everyone from Thomas Jane the lead actor to the supporting characters and the screenplay is unfortunately relevant with the people going crazy today with religions and science, people committing ugly things to each others and themselves under ugly, sad extreme circumstances.
True, the last 10/15 minutes are the film's peak, quite unforgettable, with their apocalypse visuals and nasty tragic ideas, enhanced by this incredible Dead Can Dance song...an ending, once seen, never forgotten. One of the best horror movies of the 2000's, for sure.
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I know what you mean when you say it is relevant and that's the strength of the movie, that it shows how the humans stupid, selfish, fanatic behaviour driven by fear, is the only real horror.
Here is another 40th celebration and i got me this fine edition of The Brood
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A very cool package containing a small double sided poster, 6 Postcards and lots of extras.
It was released in 1980 in the UK and is still a very unsetlling, dramatic picture. It has aged a bit i would say regarding the editing and portraying of violence, some effects which just shocked you those days don't work so good nowadays, because the level of violence now seen in almost any picture for any age is way beyond what was seen as allowed and to be showed then and until the end of the 90s. The masks for the "children" look very bad.
But the theme, the acting, the story are very good and intense.
And this movie i think would be totally unmakable in these stupid pc-times, with self-proclaimed SJWs attacking everything they think is attacking something by opinion.
Imagine nowadays a story in which a woman, who was traumatised and cannot cope with her rage inside, is giving birth to violent children-like beings and she is the danger and bad one here. I think releasing such a theme would spark some riots by feminists etc..
Anyways, brilliant movie by a brilliant director.
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It was released in 1980 in the UK and is still a very unsetlling, dramatic picture. But the theme, the acting, the story are very good and intense. And this movie i think would be totally unmakable in these stupid pc-times, with self-proclaimed SJWs attacking everything they think is attacking something by opinion.
Imagine nowadays a story in which a woman, who was traumatised and cannot cope with her rage inside, is giving birth to violent children-like beings and she is the danger and bad one here. I think releasing such a theme would spark some riots by feminists etc..
Anyways, brilliant movie by a brilliant director.
indeed!! Cronenberg himself said the film was inspired by him and his ex wife parting ways, it was about their divorce!!
I re-watched it a few years ago on blu ray and it is indeed one of Cronenberg's best movies, a bit underrated...it's unsettling disturbing and the "set-pieces" with the "kids" are very effective...the finale is quite incredible! And Oliver Reed!! What an actor and fantastic presence he was, between this and "Burnt offerings"! ;) I would say "The brood" is my favorite Cronenberg movie ex aequo with "Videodrome" and after the terribly moving "The dead zone".
So last night i re-watched as a tribute to Kirk Douglas...Brian De Palma's "The fury"!
Underrated film in the Maestro's career, it has a great tragic family story some great set-pieces as often with De Palma, Kirk Douglas is very good and so is the lovely Amy Irving and the bad guy John Cassavetes, and the great John William's main title.
And that ending is HISTORY! ;D 8) 8)
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I had a little Cronenberg retrospective the recent time, i bought and re-watched The Dead Zone, Videodrome and Dead Ringers.
Well, i haven't yet re-watched Dead Ringers in the new edition i finally got, but to me it is my favourite cronenberg. Jeremy Irons delivered a unique and outstanding performance, i think kind of unparalleled in movies.
The Dead Zone was also a terrific re-watch, a fantastic thriller with a great Walken.
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Aw, so funny that you mentioned 'The Brood', I downloaded it a few nights ago, haven't seen it since I was a kid! I have pretty much no memory of it. So looking forward to it!
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Cool, then i'm very curious what you will say about it. And i hope i didn't spoiler anything for you in my post.
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Cool, then i'm very curious what you will say about it. And i hope i didn't spoiler anything for you in my post.
Well, I finally got around to watching 'The Brood'... and I agree with your comment, it is a truly fine horror film, probably one of Mr C's top five. Yes, it's very slow to start, yes, it probably looks a bit tame to modern audiences... but the concept behind it is just so disturbing!
I'll also put out another vote for Oliver Reed being one of the most under-rated actors of all time. Most people regard him as a drunken buffoon, his various antics taking precedence over his performances (and to be fair, he didn't do much to dissuade the idea and he probably had more fun than any other human being in this world ever had! :D ) but his performance here was just so heartfelt, nice to see him play the good guy for once.
As a sidenote, I also downloaded 'Rabid' the other day, another one I vaguely remember from my VHS days... also really enjoyed it, not as good as The Brood, but a lot faster paced and more commercial. Marilyn Chambers put in a good role and there were some terrific shock scenes. I believe there was a remake last year, anyone seen it?
Now, I need to find a good download of 'Shivers'... another films I haven't seen since probably the 90's.
Also, here's a little bit of oddness, a trailer from the early 80's that linked 'Shivers' and 'Night Of The Living Dead (the quality is a bit shit, sorry) for a video release... I saw this trailer before I saw either film, I was only about 12 or something, and it really freaked me out! Anyone else remember this creepy clip?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GceL1E9-DHI
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RIP Stuart "REANIMATOR" Gordon!! :'( :'( :'(
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Sad indeed. I always rather liked 'Dolls'...
I mentioned the 'Rabid' remake a couple of months ago, watched it the other night... surprisingly decent. Worth a punt, IMHO.
And I downloaded Claudio Simonetti's album 'The Very Best Of...', basically some of his horror movie themes (including his most popular Argento themes) from over the decades, re-recorded and 'rocked-up' if you see what I mean... a hugely enjoyable listen, apparently he plays live gigs as well, I'd love to see one of those...
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Sad indeed. I always rather liked 'Dolls'...
Yes "Dolls" is good, "From beyond" and "Fortress" are also fun...one of Gordon's last film "Edmond" was surprising, different from his early films but fine too! I've never seen his "Space truckers" film so i've ordered the blu ray. Last week i watched "Reanimator"...this one is a timeless classic, beautifully acted written and scored! One of the best horror films from the 80's for sure.
And I downloaded Claudio Simonetti's album 'The Very Best Of...', basically some of his horror movie themes (including his most popular Argento themes) from over the decades, re-recorded and 'rocked-up' if you see what I mean... a hugely enjoyable listen, apparently he plays live gigs as well, I'd love to see one of those...
I"ve seen Goblin live in Paris, May 2009 and it was fun! but i would like to see Simonetti solo on piano and keyboards, he did so many haunting anthems for movies! The cds i often listen from him are his Goblin soundtrack "Non ho sonno" ("Sleepless") and "Il Cartaio" ("The Card Player")...both are catchy albums.
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Some more details about Argento's new film:
https://thefilmstage.com/daft-punk-to-score-dario-argentos-new-film-black-glasses/
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Some more details about Argento's new film:
https://thefilmstage.com/daft-punk-to-score-dario-argentos-new-film-black-glasses/
Interesting news! Can't say I'm a huge fan of Daft Punk, but their Tron soundtrack was really rather good.
Oh well, maybe Dario's new one might be a big return to form?
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His screenplay is a twenty years old project, he has the director of cinematography Luciano SUSPIRIA/TENEBRE/DRACULA 3D Tovoli, Asia and Daft Punk on board, and it will be shot in Roma and its countryside at night and it seems that this time, unlike for what happened on GIALLO and DRACULA 3D, the producers will de decent...so i'm really curious to see the final results. In all cases i'm happy that he is going to direct this autumn (or next year?) a new (last??) movie at the age of 80!
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Happy birthday Dario Argento!
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I think this here is a very good place to tell you about my wonderful re-discovering of John Carpenters: Christine, Starman and Escape from New York.
Dedicated to Master Ray...;-)
So i found a cheap Blu of Christine and Starman. 5€ each.
Christine: I kind of just was curious and didn't expect too much of the presentation and the subject, thought: Ok, Carpenter is a really good director and Kind is a good writer and could tell an interesting story about a Killer-Car so maybe this movie has something. Maybe i was comparing it in my mind to Rhea-M, which i don't remember, just remember that it sucked;-)
But i must say, that Christine still is a wonderful, good movie and for me still works perfectly. The actors are all good and the direction and special effects are tremendous! Brilliant stuff there, which made me wonder how they did this. It just looked fantastic and couldn't have been done better digitally.
After that i thought that Carpenter has the same skills as Spielberg, just on an alternative and not mainstream level.
Starman was just a very entertaining and romantic movie, again Carpenter shows that he can direct and make 10$ look like a million. Very nice naive picture, kind of a feelgood movie for me.
And yes, Escape from New York i just had to get into my collection and seeing it again on Blu after all these years, it still is a good movie to watch, especially when you have to notice that many genre and satirical elements just have become reality.
My recommendation for you lovers of strange and dark cinema is:
The Lighthouse
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This one is a hell of an eerie, strange, atmospheric picture. Everything is so dense and rich, the sound, the images and for me, cthulhu, is one of the best ever movies to capture a Lovecraftian mood, without even referring to Lovecraft, but there are many aspects of him in there. Both actors are brilliant and i would call this an outstanding masterpiece.
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I have watched trailers for ''The Lighthouse'' looks brilliant,,really dark and atmospheric......right up my street.i am waiting for the price to drop a bit on Amazon and then i will order a copy......
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This one is totally dense in its atmosphere. They even chose a very uncommon frame ratio, so you will have black areas left and right, but this all adds to the atmosphere. I've read that they used old literature and books to "invent" a language, i don't know if anybody really spoke that kind of language in those days, but to hear the actors perform the dialogs, the rhythm and the words adds as another part strongly to the strange atmosphere. This is all very well crafted, every aspect of filmmaking is very well put together.
Now i'm open to "The Witch", which is the first movie of the director. Didn't care about it before, but after seeing The Lighthouse i'm now very curious about it.
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Checked out ''The Witch''....looks excellent,have ordered DVD (new not used) for £4.99 no carriage charge either from Amazon.........no more film ideas today please,my wallet cannot cope.. ;D..
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cthulhu, yes!! The Lighthouse is a total masterpiece! I remember watching it first time, so immersed into the weird atmosphere and the old-school frame rate with beautiful, artistic imagery... Brilliant!
By the way, your nickname reminded me of the Cthulhu movie from 2007 which at least I enjoyed for the atmosphere of it - made me check the IMDB, lots of one star reviews for this one... Did you like it? :)
If someone knows films with similar atmosphere, do let me know :)
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hey Tarsier,
thanks for that suggestion. I'm kind of a collector of Lovecraft adaptations, but that one i haven't seen! Cthulhu hasn't seen Cthulhu, damn, IÄ IÄ fthaghn;-)
I checked it out, it seems to be a rare item, trying to get it sometime.
Well, an atmosphere like The Lighthouse..difficult. Have you seen Stalker?
From Wiki:
Stalker (Russian: Сталкер, IPA: [ˈstaɫkʲɪr]) is a 1979 Soviet science fiction art drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky with a screenplay written by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, loosely based on their 1972 novel Roadside Picnic. The film combines elements of science fiction with dramatic philosophical and psychological themes.[5]
The film tells the story of an expedition led by a figure known as the "Stalker" (Alexander Kaidanovsky), who takes his two clients—a melancholic writer (Anatoly Solonitsyn) seeking inspiration, and a professor (Nikolai Grinko) seeking scientific discovery—to a mysterious restricted site known simply as the "Zone", where there supposedly exists a room which grants a person's innermost desires. The trio travel through unnerving areas filled with the debris of modern society while engaging in many arguments.[citation needed]
(https://i.postimg.cc/4djyM2DR/stalker.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/RFWqgxbT/stalker-2.jpg)
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CHRISTINE...timeless classic, like HALLOWEEN.
The direction casting special effects and soundtrack (both the score and the songs) are flawless indeed...yes CGI digital effects at their best never will achieve the stunning results of the on set/mechanical car effects shown in CHRISTINE, it's timeless where often CGI effects don't age very well.
Trivia: when CHRISTINE was shown at the famous french horror/fantasy film festival Avoriaz in 1984, the Jury almost gave a "Prix d'interprétation"/Best Perfomance Prize to the car "Christine"...because how much the jury was impressed by the car, thinking it/she was a real actress, full of life! 8)
STARMAN: bittersweet romantic comedy...the last shot never fails to move me! Karen Allen should have been nominated for the Acadamey Awards in 1985, like her co star Jeff Bridges.
ESCAPE FROM NY: So moody, again beautiful scenes shot at night...and the ending with Kurt destroying the tape and going out of the frame with the unforgettable Carpenter theme playing is just wonderful...
ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13...will be re-released in french theaters in October the 14th... 8) :D
After that i thought that Carpenter has the same skills as Spielberg, just on an alternative and not mainstream level.
I like some of Spielberg movies but Carpenter will be forever buried in my heart and soul ha ha!
JAWS is still a big favourite for me though...i've watched it on the big screen last week...because many big american movies are pushed to the big screens in 2021, in France many old movies are re-released on the big screen!
So JAWS was great fun on the big screen...beautifully written, acted, scored, directed...that mechanical shark again with no digital effects...still scares me!!
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Cthulhu, yes I know Stalker, really loved the atmosphere in the movie... Only problem however, I've actually never seen it till the end - I remember years ago, I started watching it probably five times and every single time I fell asleep on the sofa! ;D I need to find the movie again and give it another try :)
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Thanks for the shout-out chthulhu! I do remember posting my lengthy history of John Carpenter movies... I do go off an a ramble sometimes (especially after a few drinks), I must re-read that thread sometime to investigate what the heck I was on about... ;D
As for Christine... I think I said that I regard it in the same way that I regard The Dead Zone... good film but the book was far better, got more into the characters and far more moving. But hey, both books were proper door-stoppers, I guess you gotta sacrifice something just to squeeze it into a two hour movie!
Starman is, IMHO, just a bloody lovely film. Yes, a bit cheesy in places but terrific performances from Bridges and Allen and no matter how many times I watch it there are still a few moments that make me think that someone is chopping onions nearby (because it couldn't possibly be the case that I'm one of those emotionally repressed males who has to be stoic in real life but weeps like a little girl who just fell over and skinned her knees when something vaguely sad happens on TV... ;D )
The Lighthouse... well, it's been on my to-watch list for long enough, I will be sure to get hold of it and report back!
So, to put a new name into this thread... how about Alexandre Aja? He might have been brought up before but he's done some absolute belters, High Tension / Haute Tension, the Hills Have Eyes remake, the Piranha remake, the recent hit (and very good) Crawl and a couple of excellent but under-rated flicks, Horns and Mirrors. Opinions, anyone?
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Well, i do think we had Aja here before. I think Ghosttrain also got a taste of "Haute Tension" while we were writing about it.
But the man has some craft! I haven't seen Crawl and Horns yet, but good to be reminded of those films, will check them out.
I received The Witch (did i beat you Ghosttrain?;-), think i'm going to see that today, kind of hanging around today, skipped work, pretended to be sick, had too much headbrainfkc the last days, need some time out.
I t seems that the french have their special relationship and love for cinema going well in corona times. Very good move to show good old films. Here in germany, they all fear to go down, because of the lack of movies being released on top of the restrictions, but they could do it like the french. Show movies!
And Master Ray..you're not alone weeping like a girl when cheesy stuff is on the telly..for me it just needs a fake heartbreaking story of a child or tragic relationship or sad moments, combined with some sader synthie music and although i don't even likme the characters, i will cry like a baby;-)
The Stalker thing...well, i've seen that movie only once years ago and always wanted to see it again. That means i've got it right here on dvd, but the almost 3h of a russian language movie...kind of a hard decision to make to watch it. I need someone who would also go for it, to share that experience..
I had that falling asleep thing with AKIRA (did you know that the movie is placed in 2019? kind of creepy regarding the story..) i always fell asleep before the end, in those times it kind of just was too much to proceed for my brain. the animation is overwhelming, my brain shut itself of;-)
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Yes i did get a taste for ''Haute Tension''....(thank you very much)......and yes you did beat me to it with ''The Witch''.....due any day now say Amazon.....
And don't even go there with the weepy thing..i take after my late father who was 6'2'' weighed about 18 stone,ex Royal Navy/prisoner of war,covered in tattoos who used to blub like a good'un watching Lassie films and the like......nothing wrong with that (imho)...not Lassie for me ......but it does'nt take much.. ::)..
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;D
great to picture this!
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My hard faced Mother did'nt think much of it....
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And don't even go there with the weepy thing..i take after my late father who was 6'2'' weighed about 18 stone,ex Royal Navy/prisoner of war,covered in tattoos who used to blub like a good'un watching Lassie films and the like......nothing wrong with that (imho)...not Lassie for me ......but it does'nt take much.. ::)..
Six words. The Railway Children. 'Daddy... my Daddy!' :'(
Bloody hell, this thread has gone a bit off course, hasn't it? ;D ;D ;D
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As for Christine...good film but the book was far better, got more into the characters and far more moving.
"Christine' is an old favourite for me, i've seen it the first time in the mid 80's it made a big impression on me, i was a kid...so maybe it's a bit of a nostalgic feel but i still like the film after all thesse viewings on tv, dvd, blu ray, theater, after all these years!
Then i read the book when i was a teenager and remember being a bit disappointed because it was a gorier, much more grand guignol story especially with the ghost/rotting corpse of LeBay still haunting the car and talking to, mocking/insulting the poor Arnie!
I think that Carpenter was wise to not put the ghost in the film and to not use gore effects, and to put more emphasis on the mysterious jealous possessive sexy car itself/herself and the "relationship" with Arnie. i mean, it's a moody slow building atmospheric character study movie and Carpenter was so good with this style of direction at the time. Overall it's a film where Carpenter is the most at ease with his great style of direction and the content/characterization/performances.
But yes, i remember indeed that King in his book got more into the friendship between Arnie and Dennis.
I t seems that the french have their special relationship and love for cinema going well in corona times. Very good move to show good old films. Here in germany, they all fear to go down, because of the lack of movies being released on top of the restrictions, but they could do it like the french. Show movies!
All the "big" Hollywood movies will be released next year...maybe...so yeah more space and time for "old" movies restored on the big screen!
We are lucky, indeed, to have some old movies in theaters...when i studied and worked in Paris i've seen lots of old movies in theater, each week.
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When i was watching Christine and Starman, i noticed how perfectly Carpenter uses the setting and all the items that he has got so well, to make it look huge and real.
There is a scene in Starman, when they are chased and i think there is a traffic jam. In one shot he has the protagonists on the street or bridge like and in the far, there are i think like 3 Helicopters. But the whole scene was so introduced and build up, that it looks like all the military is there. And i think in the comparison to Spielberg, he would have had all the military there to achieve kind of the same impact, Carpenter is the one who has clever solutions to work with the unseen movie tricks, to give the illusion of a crowd of thousands.
When watching the car morph, i was so thrilled. I just knew that it had to be backwards filming, but the whole thing looked so unreal good that i was thinking the whole time about how they did it. I guessed that they used different camera speeds or intercut the same scene with different versions, like destroying several cars and mix the takes. But it seems that they just lit the whole scene so well and crashed the car, filmimg it backwards, that's it.
Not to forget the build up to it and mood and whole setting, with Arnie also morphing and changing and watching, that gives the scene more depth.
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Was very impressed by:
(https://i.postimg.cc/nchqLctT/witch.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/dQB8vZgL/witchh.jpg)
It also has a unique, dense atmosphere, and a powerful cast..scary movie. Inspired by old tales and real confessions and writings from those times, so again the dialogue has an important role in this movie, like in The Lighthouse.
I think the director has some real talent, will look out for his coming works.
Curious what Ghosttrain will have to say about it...or whoever also saw that movie.
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I am still waiting for my copy could be a few more days yet.....Mail Plane had to return to UK due to the weather and forecast bad for next couple of days..will keep you posted......i am really glad you liked it.
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When i was watching Christine and Starman, i noticed how perfectly Carpenter uses the setting and all the items that he has got so well, to make it look huge and real.
There is a scene in Starman, when they are chased and i think there is a traffic jam. In one shot he has the protagonists on the street or bridge like and in the far, there are i think like 3 Helicopters. But the whole scene was so introduced and build up, that it looks like all the military is there. And i think in the comparison to Spielberg, he would have had all the military there to achieve kind of the same impact, Carpenter is the one who has clever solutions to work with the unseen movie tricks, to give the illusion of a crowd of thousands.
Carpenter's use of widescreen cinematography, Cinemascope is unmatched, even when his budgets are low (ASSAULT OF PRECINCT 13, HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, PRINCE OF DARKNESS...) you think that the films had a much bigger budget because how much the cinematography looks beautiful and how much Carpenter uses the frame well, with lots of space and depth.
When watching the car morph, i was so thrilled. I just knew that it had to be backwards filming, but the whole thing looked so unreal good that i was thinking the whole time about how they did it. I guessed that they used different camera speeds or intercut the same scene with different versions, like destroying several cars and mix the takes. But it seems that they just lit the whole scene so well and crashed the car, filmimg it backwards, that's it.
Not to forget the build up to it and mood and whole setting, with Arnie also morphing and changing and watching, that gives the scene more depth.
They used on the set if i remember well 17 cars, more or less damaged/broken. The special effects work for so well even after 37 years after the film's release.
The "Show me" scenes is legend!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oezKQEF0deY&ab_channel=Movieclips
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Very good move to show good old films. Here in germany, they all fear to go down, because of the lack of movies being released on top of the restrictions, but they could do it like the french. Show movies!
Indeed, I bet people everywhere wants to re-visit some good old movies! I'm glad that in Prague there are quite many small cinemas, showing weird old stuff! My favourite being Kino Aero... and favourite in Aero, once in a month they have ''Aero naslepo / Blind Date with Aero'': until the last moment you don't know which movie they will show! You don't pay anything before the movie, just leave a tip after. As a bonus - if you have seen the movie/it's a movie you don't want to watch, you have 20 minutes to leave the theatre & they'll give you a free beer for your wasted time :D I never left before movie ended, and saw some remarkable movies I probably wouldn't have watched otherwise - ''Dragged Across Concrete'' is worth mentioning :)
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Dragged Across Concrete, although rather overlong, is a bloody excellent film. ;)
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@Tarsier
This really sounds great. Such good offers to bring the audience into the seats again. Especially with the free beer..;-)
But i've just read that a huge cinema company, i think the're from england, is going down and shutting like thousands of theaters, because the studio again delayed the start of the new James Bond. There are about 45.000 jobs being shut down..this is so sad! Ithink it's about Cineworld and Regal Cinemas closing all Theaters in UK and the US.
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When i was watching Christine and Starman, i noticed how perfectly Carpenter uses the setting and all the items that he has got so well, to make it look huge and real.
There is a scene in Starman, when they are chased and i think there is a traffic jam. In one shot he has the protagonists on the street or bridge like and in the far, there are i think like 3 Helicopters. But the whole scene was so introduced and build up, that it looks like all the military is there. And i think in the comparison to Spielberg, he would have had all the military there to achieve kind of the same impact, Carpenter is the one who has clever solutions to work with the unseen movie tricks, to give the illusion of a crowd of thousands.
When watching the car morph, i was so thrilled. I just knew that it had to be backwards filming, but the whole thing looked so unreal good that i was thinking the whole time about how they did it. I guessed that they used different camera speeds or intercut the same scene with different versions, like destroying several cars and mix the takes. But it seems that they just lit the whole scene so well and crashed the car, filmimg it backwards, that's it.
Not to forget the build up to it and mood and whole setting, with Arnie also morphing and changing and watching, that gives the scene more depth.
I love this film and watch it allways when its on TV … today is the first It movies in german TV, great, too …
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Hey Silver Cloud,
are you from germany? And do you mean the Stephen King IT movie from the 80's with Tim Curry?
Since i had such a great rediscovering of the John Carpenter movies i've just ordered The Fog. This one i amost can't remember and i kind of thought that it would be too lame to watch. But now i'm really looking forward to it
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Dragged Across Concrete, although rather overlong, is a bloody excellent film. ;)
That was a masterpiece! Dunno, I didn't find it too long, but that was probably due to my current mood when I saw it - you know, kind of meditative, slow, Sunday mood ;D
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So after Christine, Starman and Escape from New York, i re-watched The Fog and this one didn't work forme like the others did.
I found it to be beautifully filmed, the score was fantastic and so good for the atmosphere again, this is something that Carpenter is really a unique master of, but the whole movie left me thinking that the times have changed so much since then and the whole movie, i felt it to be very naive. It just didn't work like it wanted to, but i enjoyed every minute of it watching.
Christine for example, though it is as old as The Fog, got me really involved and was working so well, i think even better than whe i watched it in those days.
I don't know what i want to watch next...Vampire, Ghosts of Mars or Village of the Damned...?
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I don't know what i want to watch next...Vampire, Ghosts of Mars or Village of the Damned...?
I think that 'Vampires' ages well, like a good wine...first time i watched it in theaters in April 1998 i felt it was "pretty good but not great Carpenter" but 22 years later i've watched it many times on vhs, dvd then blu ray...again it's not major Carpenter, it's slightly repetitive, it has a few cheesy parts, the ending is rushed BUT it is still a solid B movie with cool characters and casting (James Woods, Sheryl Lee, Daniel Baldwin, Tim Guinee and Maximilian Schell) and it's also beautifully shot as usual with Carpenter, the New Mexico locations work well the Western vibe is pretty cool the cinematography is beautiful and i also like the bluesy rock soundtrack by Big John Himself...
at least i can say that i like "Vampires' more than "Ghosts of Mars"!
First time i watched "Ghosts of Mars" on the big screen i found it rather fun but it's a film i like less and less each time i watch it...it's a kind of lazy noisy B/Z movie rehash of much better Carpenter movies, some of the action scenes, dialogues and characters aren't too good and the plot and pace are sloppy. Of course because it's Carpenter it has some good things (Natasha Henstridge is a pretty good lead, some of the Mars sets, make up and atmosphere are interesting) but overall...it's the Carpenter i like the least ex aequo with his poor "Masters of Horror" episodes, the anonymous "The ward" and the half failure of "Escape from L.A.".
"Village of the damned"...it doesn't have a good reputation but i like it. Again, i didn't think much of it in the theaters in 1995 but i liked it more on further viewings, vhs then laserdics then dvd!
It has an "old school" charm, it's beautifully shot with elegant pretty cinematography and i like its "has been" casting, Christophe Reeve really delivers a solid performance here.
By the way, about Carpenter, there's a book now available in stores...:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51zilhEOQFL._SX348_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
A 463 pages character study of Carpenter's works, with new interviews of the Master himself, his wife the producer Sandy King and the CHRISTINE actor Keith Gordon...a book to be put under the Christmas tree, maybe?
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Thank you, Guillaume! If i hadn't already found a cool price blu of Vampires and decided to buy it, i would have done it after reading your recommendation. It sounds great how you described it and i'm looking forward to it!
And the book also seems a very interesting one. I would go for the coloured version, but it seems it costs about 60€, a bit too much for me at the moment...maybe this is more a job for the easter bunny to get me a copy;-)
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As for Christine... I think I said that I regard it in the same way that I regard The Dead Zone... good film but the book was far better, got more into the characters and far more moving. But hey, both books were proper door-stoppers, I guess you gotta sacrifice something just to squeeze it into a two hour movie!
About Stephen King, here's a cool new documentary, with interviews of the King himself through the decades, clips of the movies from his novels, etc. Shown at the end of the week on the cool German/French tv Arte, and directed by a french movie journalist, but already available on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCBycQIPrKU&ab_channel=ARTE
Thank you, Guillaume! If i hadn't already found a cool price blu of Vampires and decided to buy it, i would have done it after reading your recommendation. It sounds great how you described it and i'm looking forward to it!
Yes let us know what you think of VAMPIRES! ;)
About the book...yes the coloured version is a bit expensive but because i'm a huge fan of Carpenter i'd be interested to own it sooner or later...the writer Troy Howarth has also wrote a book about Dario Argento, in stores soon. 8)
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Stephen King: " I admire John Carpenters Christine and i loughed through it. But not because i think it's funny, the laughter you have when you discover that somebody knows what you meant"
Cool, just shuttled through the documentary about Stephen King, thanks for that link, and directly came to that scene about 17:20 in...
Well Vampire...i like it very much! It was pretty much exactly how you described it, and i loved the ending, didn't feel it was rushed. I could think about some "there could have been" and "i missed that and that" but i won't, because i had great fun and entertainment. It's nowhere near They Live or The Thing or Assault...but it's a pretty good genre movie (vampirewesternaction;)
It would be perfect for a triple feature of Near Dark, Tremors and Vampire...;-)
And i liked that Baldwin Guy! They are all clones, aren't they!? Kind of spooky..Carpenter should make a movie about the Baldwin Hollywood Clones...;-)
And it's not very long agao that i saw the Twin Peaks Series from beginning to end and to see Sheryl again was great!!
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Stephen King: " I admire John Carpenters Christine and i loughed through it. But not because i think it's funny, the laughter you have when you discover that somebody knows what you meant"
Cool, just shuttled through the documentary about Stephen King, thanks for that link, and directly came to that scene about 17:20 in...
Well Vampire...i like it very much! It was pretty much exactly how you described it, and i loved the ending, didn't feel it was rushed. I could think about some "there could have been" and "i missed that and that" but i won't, because i had great fun and entertainment. It's nowhere near They Live or The Thing or Assault...but it's a pretty good genre movie (vampirewesternaction;)
It would be perfect for a triple feature of Near Dark, Tremors and Vampire...;-)
And i liked that Baldwin Guy! They are all clones, aren't they!? Kind of spooky..Carpenter should make a movie about the Baldwin Hollywood Clones...;-)
And it's not very long agao that i saw the Twin Peaks Series from beginning to end and to see Sheryl again was great!!
It was wonderful. wasn't it? I was dreading it somewhat, seeing as the original 90's show was one of my fave shows ever, but my expectations were met and exceeded!
Getting back to Dario Argento, I just noticed that a bunch of his movies are available, full and uncut and in very good quality prints, on Youtube. Well worth checking out!
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Well Vampire...i loved the ending, didn't feel it was rushed.
SPOILERS!!!
I LOVE the very last scene between the three characters especially the blunt crual last dialogue between Baldwin and Woods, something like "You have two days to escape but i'm going to find you and sorry i'll have to kill you..."...the farewell small bit between the two friends is bitter and quite moving i must say!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gczFR-Y00_g&ab_channel=c0l0s022
when i'm writing "rushed ending" i'm thinking of the scene before, the slaying of the vampires happening very fast very quickly in a few shots/fade out shots?, like if the budget wasn't enough at the end of the shooting for showing a bigger final showdown between the team and the vampires...or maybe Carpenter just wasn't so interested by that scene because we already saw lots of killing in the rest of the movie and also because the real "goals" of the finale was the sad end of the friendship between Woods and Baldwin.
And i liked that Baldwin Guy!
Yes he is good! The good clever thing in the screenplay is that Baldwin's chracter becomes somewhat the real hero, he is more nuanced, layered than the blunt rude character played by James Woods. The fact that Baldwin's character is bitten by Sheryl Lee's character and hides this to Woods's character until the end is an involving bit in the screenplay. I also like another crual idea the fact that Sheryl Lee is a "living camera" and sees all the murders that Valek is doing.
Overall i think that the characters in the film are interesting...Montoya, Jack Crow, the young priest/padre, the old priest. and that the performances are fine...Carpenter said when interviewed during the french theatrical release of the film in les Cahiers du Cinéma, that what he liked the most in the screenplay were the characters, he especially liked the old priest character, his dilemna, the fact that he betrays the Church because he has the fear of death...Carpenter adds that he understands perfectly why the old priest has this fear of death and so wants eternal endless life...a challenging idea!
It would be perfect for a triple feature of Near Dark, Tremors and Vampire...;-)
Indeed!
The soundtrack is cool too...the opening scene with the music is great, i remember thinking in theaters 1998 that the film would be fantastic just because of the opening scene, with that camera flying over the cool landscape, with this great track playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrnLleT6Pr0&ab_channel=Coruna21
(Notice Carpenter's musical nod to the "Suspiria" main theme, between 0;30 and 0:45 during this opening scene!!)
I also love the "Crual highway" track and the scene with this track playing (just after the car crash when Sheryl, Daniel and James are walking on this "crual highway", looking for a new car...it's the kind of scene and track i never tire of playing! thrilling!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF5iqyXGPBI&ab_channel=NK-89
Getting back to Dario Argento, I just noticed that a bunch of his movies are available, full and uncut and in very good quality prints, on Youtube. Well worth checking out!
THE CARD PLAYER/IL CARTAIO...that one is underrated i think, it's fun and i like the lead characters, the lead actress Stefania Rocca is great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R39slORgMWE&ab_channel=JAYVS.HORROR
INFERNO...incredible surreal movie with incredible visuals and direction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BEB9cGW2uA&ab_channel=nuuroUwU
THE STENDHAL SYNDROME...Dario's last masterpiece...Asia Argento is great, again fantastic Dario direction and an INCREDIBLE Ennio Morricon's soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro8BF51_tnI&ab_channel=HGC
TRAUMA...underrated with a young already talented Asia Argento and the fantastic Pino Donaggio track "Ruby rain":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7g-VTq7g0A&ab_channel=Ouine01
SLEEPLESS/NON HO SONNO...with a cool warm Max Von Sydow lead performance, a great Goblin come back and the famous creepy tense great opening train sequence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk7pBHwmmvU&ab_channel=Ouine01
THE CAT'O"NINE TAILS...second Argento movie and a huge success at the italien box office in 1970/71...far from my favourite but still a pretty good thriller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZSm8pcP4_c&ab_channel=FlogodCinema
DEMONS...produced but not DIRECTED by Dario! It's silly but...great fun!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE3xNWzsYpg&ab_channel=SelectorBrow
Tell me if i missed some Dario Argento films on Youtube!!
German/French tv Arte is screening next week for Halloween the stunning and beautiful OPERA.
Viva Argento! 8)
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@Master Ray
I found the new, 3rd season of Twin Peaks the best, and one of the very best ever shows produced for Television. Unbelievable good and exciting.
@Guillaume
Exactly what i felt with this ending. This moment was very moving, almost unexpectedly and so very cool to have it. kind of a reason d'etre for the movie in my opinion.
I found the old priest also a very interesting character, but here i felt that it was not used to the fullest. Maximilloan Shell is good, but he could have been so much better used. I felt his role was too small in that movie, and that came to my mind after his revelation of his motive. But i'm not complaining, just thinking..
The music/score was very good but i would be curious about the effect of a pure synthie carpenter soundtrack in this setting.
I didn't notice the Suspiria hommage, thanks for pointing that out. Really cool!
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@Guillaume
Exactly what i felt with this ending. This moment was very moving, almost unexpectedly and so very cool to have it. kind of a reason d'etre for the movie in my opinion.
Yes it was a very nice ending, you feel very sorry for Baldwin's character, his curse his tragic fate...these guys are tough but hey they are human beings with feelings too! Even a blunt rude tough guy like Jack Crow can only embrace his "brother" at the end!
I found the old priest also a very interesting character, but here i felt that it was not used to the fullest. Maximilloan Shell is good, but he could have been so much better used. I felt his role was too small in that movie, and that came to my mind after his revelation of his motive. But i'm not complaining, just thinking..
Yes he is a bit under used...the young priest is more at the heart of the screenplay, he is also changing through the movie, like Baldwin's character. The only ones characters not changing through the story are Jack Crow and the Master Vampire Valek!
I didn't notice the Suspiria hommage, thanks for pointing that out. Really cool!
Carpenter said in the Cahiers du Cinéma interview for "Vampires"'s release that he changed slightly a few notes of the "Suspiria"s main theme to not make a simple obvious rip off of it, but some people noticed his tribute with this musical intro!
Carpenter is a HUGE fan of Dario Argento, he is a fan of "Suspiria", "Inferno", "Phenomena", "Opera", "The Stendhal Syndrome"...in the Cahiers du Cinéma interview he said that "Phenomena" was a very disturbing movie that put him really ill at ease ("i will never show "Phenomena" to my children" !) and that "Suspiria" was "the best and most beautiful horror movie ever made", "Inferno" is also a big favourite film for him. He said "You know i've stole/stolen so many shots and even scenes from Dario's films!"
Here are the two Masters of Horror last year in Cannes!:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6sO93BX4AEJrJm.jpg)
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I t seems that the french have their special relationship and love for cinema going well in corona times. Very good move to show good old films.
Maybe it won't last because the virus is spreading more and more in the whole country :'( so there are more and more restrictions BUT at least we have here next week for the "Halloween" season an old movie re-released in theaters...an old movie, a TIMELESS CLASSIC that i have never watched on the big screen...until next week!!
(https://media.senscritique.com/media/000017073487/source_big/Les_Griffes_de_la_nuit.jpg)
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Ah, sad news, RIP Daria Nicolodi, at the age of 70. A fine actress and often Dario's muse (through good and bad times). :'(
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She was Dario's muse indeed from 1974 to 1985, she (co) wrote SUSPIRIA, INFERNO and maybe a bit PHENOMENA; she was more in the fantasy/occult/witch tales world than Dario obviously so thanks to her we have these masterpieces SUSPIRIA and INFERNO.
Daria Nicolodi's best performance by far in a Dario Argento movie was in DEEP RED, she was very good in it and her duo with the late David Hemmings was compelling. It seems that she also chose Goblin to make the soundtrack so thanks to her to ask Dario to give a chance to this new band, they created a fantastic music for that film and then SUSPIRIA!
RIP Daria and my thoughts are with the Argento family... :'(
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Joe Dante's GREMLINS!!!
Also, Phoebe Cates speech about her fathers death... surely one of the most bizarre and disturbing moments in popular 80's cinema?
Indeed!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueVPUsyrT0s&ab_channel=theartofmancraft
Rewatching again the film on blu ray, i was thinking too about a CGI remake...it would be a disaster!!
the special effects team did wonderful impressive inventive work in 1983 on "Gremlins"!! the close ups especially on Gizmo and the Gremlins"s faces are expressive, beautifully done.
Lots of cult scenes here:
the opening in Chinatown, the kitchen and Christmas tree fight scenes, the bar, the swimming pool at night, Mrs Deagle, the hand in the letter box, the theater, the death of 'Stripe' the leader of the Gremlins, Phoebe Cates's Christmas speech , etc
I think it's a timeless horror fairy tales for the whole family, at least when i was a kid i think my love of cinema and horror/fantasy movies came from watching GREMLINS on the big screen...and two days ago it was still a pleasure to rewatch it after all these years!
So thank you Mister Dante!
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Bumping this one!
Simply because I watched 'In The Mouth Of Madness' for the first time in the best part of three decades. I did a big old retrospective of John Carpenter movies on this thread a couple of years ago which seemed to get some appreciation. But I said I'd disliked ITMOM and never watched it again...
Blimey. WHAT was I on when I first watched it! It's a stone cold 90's classic! OK, not on a par with The Thing (very new horror films are) but I absolutely loved it. Great storyline, terrific performances, creepy as hell and it escalates into a terrifically odd ending. Why the heck did I not love this one on first viewing?
Anyway, anyone else got any horror film / horror film director appreciations going on? Let's get this thread going again...
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Bumping this one!
Simply because I watched 'In The Mouth Of Madness' for the first time in the best part of three decades. I did a big old retrospective of John Carpenter movies on this thread a couple of years ago which seemed to get some appreciation. But I said I'd disliked ITMOM and never watched it again...
Blimey. WHAT was I on when I first watched it! It's a stone cold 90's classic! OK, not on a par with The Thing (very new horror films are) but I absolutely loved it. Great storyline, terrific performances, creepy as hell and it escalates into a terrifically odd ending. Why the heck did I not love this one on first viewing?
Great to read that you liked it much more on a second viewing! It's a radical controversial unusual (in its storytelling) movie in Carpenter's career but now it seems it has a cult status/good reputation!
I remember watching the film the first time on vhs in 1995/1996 and thinking it was a fantastic weird original unique creepy brillant movie from the opening credits to the end credits!
So i was also a bit frustrated/angry that i watched it only on tv, on vhs, because at the time of its theatrical release i missed the last screening :'(..the film made a big impression on me when i watched it on vhs so i thought how much more powerful the film might have been on the big screen!
You're also right about the "terrific performances" and the "terrifically odd ending", the nihilistic ironic funny and creepy ending is brillant! when the poor John Trent finally realizes he is himself a character trapped endlessly in the writer's crazy world, and bursts into madness/despair...incredible!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AUr3BtuRUI&ab_channel=ClayDavis90
I love the 'hard rock" main theme too...by the way John Carpenter has just released his last "Lost themes" album.
Anyway, anyone else got any horror film / horror film director appreciations going on? Let's get this thread going again...
Last weeks i had again a "Phantasm" series mini marathon, i reallly like Don Coscarelli's works, i'm a big fan of the first "Phantasm", and "Bubba ho tep" and "Kenny and co" are pretty great too. I remember being a bit disappointed by his last movie "John dies at the end" but i just received the dvd to give it another chance soon.
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It's great to give movies a second chance and to see something different in it than the first time. I love ITMOM also very much, because of its atmosphere and the slow and clever breakdown and disturbingly way of the protagonist going insane. And mostly because it has so much of Lovecraft in it. As The Thing has. Well, at least to me..;-)
Last weeks i had again a "Phantasm" series mini marathon, i reallly like Don Coscarelli's works, i'm a big fan of the first "Phantasm", and "Bubba ho tep" and "Kenny and co" are pretty great too. I remember being a bit disappointed by his last movie "John dies at the end" but i just received the dvd to give it another chance soon.
This surprises me Guillaume. I totally love John dies at the End. When i found out that this movie was done by Coscarelli, i rented it and it was one of those rare movies, where you get sucked in at the very first second and never get out of a flow of surprises and wonder and pure fun!
The acting is pure gold, so funny and Paul Giamatti brings so much to it in his little role.
I hope you will watch it again and give it another chance!
I want to recommend Below by David Twohy.
This one surprised me on many levels. I find it to be a very well craftet, very suspensefull and atmospheric movie. The submarine interior is well filmed, the actors are all very good, very intense. And you can see Zach Galifianakis in an unusual role.
(https://i.postimg.cc/xTTJ2Bd1/below.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/QNq9vjhz/beloww.jpg)
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This surprises me Guillaume. I totally love John dies at the End. When i found out that this movie was done by Coscarelli, i rented it and it was one of those rare movies, where you get sucked in at the very first second and never get out of a flow of surprises and wonder and pure fun!
The acting is pure gold, so funny and Paul Giamatti brings so much to it in his little role.
I hope you will watch it again and give it another chance!
I'm going to watch it again ASAP and who knows maybe i will use Master Ray's words about ITMOM:
"Why the heck did I not love this one on first viewing?"
PHANTASM is still one of my favourite horrror/sci fi movies...again i watched it on vhs for the first time in the early 90's and the film totally "broke" me, i found it incredibly haunting, creepy, upsetting, and especially moving...the film is all about the fear of loss, loneliness, death, being orphan and i was 13 years old at the time so the film totally "spoke" to me!
The atmosphere and soundtrack in PHANTASM are amazing!
BELOW...i watched it in 2003 at the time of its theatrical release...i was a bit disappointed, but again, a second viewing on blu ray/dvd, who knows??
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I just got this kind of deja-vu feeling...didn't we already discuss these...? ??? But anyway, good to talk more about it.
I also regard PHANTASM as one of the real classics and a unique movie, which had some influence. I remember really liking the characters, found them so cool and touching and the whole summary of direction, effects and acting and music brought a wonderful atmospheric piece together.
Beware, the Sphere...;-)
(https://i.postimg.cc/mk479GHF/20210209-104939.jpg)
Think you've said that you also own this 4-disc DVD edition...
Does anyone of you know this very cool, old, strange film
Colossus - The Forbin Project
(https://i.postimg.cc/Vk7yHfsm/colossus.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/Jz7VqDLp/colosus.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/rFN2xGvd/colossusu.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/d38PWG3x/klooo.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/zDWrXY7F/koloss.jpg)
I cannot say this is a very good movie, but i found it very interesting and loved to watch it. It has some wonderful matte-shots, the sets are also very cool designed. But the story and acting and some directors choices seem strange sometimes and very outdated. It has the flair of a very good and well done low-budget project by a newcomer.
It is not really suspenseful, and you almost only can shake your head about the dramatics and the "acting" and display of the danger, the colossus computer.
But what i love about such movies, is to get a feeling of the imagination about the future of those days and the topics being adressed. This is the well known computer-decides-that-humans-are-too-stupid-to-survive theme, but his could be a very first one to adress that in such a way.
Also the camera work was sometimes outstanding, i found it a pleasure to watch.
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I just got this kind of deja-vu feeling...didn't we already discuss these...? ???
ah ah very probably!
like Ulisse Moretti/Max Von Sydow is saying in Dario Argento's SLEEPLESS "my memory is playing me some bad tricks" :D
The PHANTASM sequels are enjoyable but they all lack the poetic and touching mood of the first one, i think...ah if only Coscarelli had directed only one PHANTASM in his career!...the "twist" ending of the first one is great fascinating and strangely moving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNvP3pJWTQE&ab_channel=VincentPrice
I have yet to watch his first movie JIM THE WORLD'S GREATEST and so, give another chance to JOHN DIES AT THE END and SURVIVAL QUEST.
Colossus - The Forbin Project
I've watched the blu ray a few years ago and i rather liked it!
Yes it's very early 70's "sci fi" so a bit "kitsch" but the visuals are interesting, indeed...the Scope cinematography and the sets. And the screenplay is interesting too. My favorite sci fi movie from the 70's and ever, i would say, is SOYLENT GREEN...very sad bleak disturbing movie.
COLOSSUS...was directed if i am right by Joseph Sargent, who later directed the brillant THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE and much later JAWS THE REVENGE.
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ah ah very probably!
like Ulisse Moretti/Max Von Sydow is saying in Dario Argento's SLEEPLESS "my memory is playing me some bad tricks" :D
Had to think about Lost Highway and Bill Pullman saying after being asked why he hates videocameras: "Because i like to remember things my own way"
COLOSSUS...was directed if i am right by Joseph Sargent, who later directed the brillant THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE and much later JAWS THE REVENGE.
Funny that you mention that, i've just ordered THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE on blu and i'm totally looking forward to this!
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Well, after these comments I must revisit PHANTASM... I think I watched it in the 80's on VHS and remember little about it other than the orb drilling into the guys skull and re-distributing his blood all over the place... ;D
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I totally loved "The Taking of Pelham 123" by Sargent and it was like a fantastic time-travel. It felt totally fresh, had this kind of old vibe to it, that seems to be lost in recent productions. Kind of a playful, improvised, feeling authentic conversations style. Don't know how to describe it.
The in re-watched the movie made by Tony Scott, with Denzel Washington and John Travolta...well...ok, i can say that i did enjoy it. It was a good re-work instead of a re-make and they had some very good scenes in it. But most of the action stuff was so over-styled that it just lacked tension. A good double bill though;-)
And i want to recommend "The Endless". Maybe it's been already recommended here, but i just saw it and it was really a very good, suspenseful independant horror-scifi-thriller. Not perfect and some flaws for me, but none of them were of that kind, that brings you out of the narrative while watching. Very promising duo that made that movie and both guys also star in that movie and they do it very good.
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This is really a beautiful, clever Movie from that time and i hope to see it again with a good restauration and transfer.
There's still no FULL CIRCLE/THE HAUNTING OF JULIA blu ray yet, but i've read that the channel "Shudder" has shown it a few weeks ago so you can find a cool looking HD print of it, on line, somewhere... ;)
I totally loved "The Taking of Pelham 123" by Sargent and it was like a fantastic time-travel. It felt totally fresh, had this kind of old vibe to it, that seems to be lost in recent productions. Kind of a playful, improvised, feeling authentic conversations style. Don't know how to describe it.
I have great memories of this thriller. The ending is especially great, and smart!
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What a fantastic Title! :D
Beware!!!, here comes:
(https://i.postimg.cc/kghzyjt2/dr-terror.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/0jdhdPpv/dr-terror.jpg)
Totally enjoyed watching this. This has almost anything the lonely, nerdy old-school horror movie dumb nostalgic type of strange creature i am loves about those things: werewolves, attacking plants, vodoo combined with great played jazzy orchestra music and lots more... ;)
Cristopher Lee and Peter Cushing are great to watch, as are the other actors like a very young Donald Sutherland. It was always joyful to watch, never boring and sometimes just really beautiful filmed and lit while the actors also seemed to have fun playing their roles.
(https://i.postimg.cc/g20189r9/schreck-lee.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/G3F01J6f/terrorrs-hous.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/MKnLtC11/womamwolf.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/7Y9p5PHM/cushing.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/HnCfyV83/lee-hand.jpg)
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A few years back British comedian Steve Cougan did a parody of that film called ''Dr.Terrible's House Of Horrible''....includes stories such as ''Frenzy Of Tongs'', ''Curse Of The Blood Of The Lizard Of Doom'',''Lesbian Vampire Lovers Of Lust''..........and my favourite title ''Voodoo Feet Of Death'' ;D......it is very funny indeed..
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That sounds great! My favourite title there is definately "Lesbian Vampire Lovers Of Lust" ;D
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The score was very good, sometimes on the edge of too cheesy, because at first it just drags you with it, so emotional, but when you're into the mood of the film, it works very well.
I've just found today these really nice covers of the soundtrack!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxH04ei_SPk&ab_channel=hyperboreal
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The score was very good, sometimes on the edge of too cheesy, because at first it just drags you with it, so emotional, but when you're into the mood of the film, it works very well.
I've just found today these really nice covers of the soundtrack!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxH04ei_SPk&ab_channel=hyperboreal
Beautiful!
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The score was very good, sometimes on the edge of too cheesy, because at first it just drags you with it, so emotional, but when you're into the mood of the film, it works very well.
I've just found today these really nice covers of the soundtrack!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxH04ei_SPk&ab_channel=hyperboreal
Beautiful!
Yes, that guy did a brillant guitar work from this beautiful haunting piano soundtrack!
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Here is a recommendation for those who like to watch strange and very strange, obscure low-budget horror movies.... 8)
(https://i.postimg.cc/52vfth1W/cthulhu.jpg)
Wow, what can i say!? For me this is one of the better, very good Lovecraft adaptations. But this movie is really very strange. First, the quality ranges from superb masterpiece to awful home-made video.
I don't know what it is, it seemed to me that this was shot on early digital equipment. You see wonderful images, framing, lighting, but it lacks a little of the depht of field effect film lenses have.
The movie has great moments and is mostly very good and beautifully filmed and the scenes are good. But then you also have those moments when you just think: "why the hell diidn't they shoot that again or just made some cuts, close ups, etc.." kind of feeling. This leaves me a bit curious about the production.
And there is this totally gay subtext, but it isn't a subtext, it's a huge part of the story, of the drama of the characters. That surprised me the most.
(https://i.postimg.cc/VL2YmYxF/cthulhu-aa.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/3Nc3y7dY/fhfhhhf.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/SRsyNjQg/wewrrr.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/CLRF3ZQ1/cthhhulli.jpg)
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I haven't seen this one...for the moment!
And here's a great news, we don't know yet the names of the casting and the editor, but Dario Argento is going to direct, AT LAST!, at the end of this month his old thriller project OCCHIALI NERI/BLACK GLASSES and here's what his faithful co screenwriter Franco Ferrini (PHENOMENA, OPËRA, TRAUMA, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, NON HO SONNO, THE CARD PLAYER, DO YOU LIKE HITCHCOCK? and...ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA) has to say about the story of the film...:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpKrNmVoAXo
Intriguing...i can't wait!!
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cthulhu, glad you found this! I loved the movie with all its quirkiness - it had this weird atmosphere. I remember watching it many times, but that was over ten years ago...
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I just checked out DVD on Amazon only avail.Region 1.....Googled Region 1 ...will not play on Region 2 (Europe) player.........it says you can re-programme your DVD player......that is not an option for my steam powered unit plus a person who has a job wiring a 13 amp plug... ::).... ;D....
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cthulhu, glad you found this! I loved the movie with all its quirkiness - it had this weird atmosphere. I remember watching it many times, but that was over ten years ago...
Thank you, for that suggestion here! Since you told me about it i had it on my list and recently it had a nice price to it, so i ordered it. And yes, quirkiness maybe a very good description..;-)
@Ghosttrain
That's a real pity. I have many Region Code 1/NTSC dvds in my collection, most strange movies are not published here. So i got myself dvd-players which either were region free by design or i could hack them. And hacking is not that difficult!! Sometimes you only have to do some combination on the remote while the disc-tray is open or something like that.
If you tell me what you have for a player i could look if there are any tricks to get it region free.
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Cheers........i have been in the market for a new DVD player for sometime now, and yes a multi regional one is what i will look for....The one i currently own is a Sanyo........it must be nearly 15 years old... ::).....things move very slowly in my world.. :)...
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You could check out this website:
Unlock Sanyo DVD Players (http://www.dvddemystifiziert.de/codefree_en/sanyo.html)
maybe yours is listed there too and you can unlock it.
I don't know if you consider to upgrade to blu ray? I would recommend that, i think you also like old pictures. The quality of a good blu ray production from an old movie like let's say 2001 or Lawrence of Arabia is stonishing. At least for me it's pure joy to mostly re watch those movies and have a cinema like quality. Of course you would also need a full-hd television to look at.
For blu players it is harder to find a code free one, i couldn't get one and there are some, not many, US coded discs and editions i would like to have. But i'm very satisfied with the amount of productions for the european code.
And my last genre movie re-watch, which fits good in this thread, especially for Guillaumes taste, is
(https://i.postimg.cc/FsHfSPRB/manhunter.jpg)
by Michael Mann.
Saw this very long ago and got it on blu recently. I chose to watch the director's cut, which meant that the new scenes weren't worked on and were very different poor quality to the rest of the images. That threw me out somtimes of the flow.
But it was a great thriller a very fine and suspenseful movie. Very creepy performance by Tom Noonan.
I almost forgot, the full movie Cthulhu is also on youtube:
Cthulhu (2007) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soDSk0e9-ok&t=4s)
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Very creepy performance by Tom Noonan.
yes he's incredible, creepy and also somewhat moving, sympathetic...all the scenes between him and Joan Allen are great, and the use of music on these moments is inspired (the Shriekback's tracks "Coelocanth" and "This big hush", also The Prime Movers's "Strong as i am") I mean, the tiger scene, so out of this world!!!
The theatrical cut is perfectly fine in my opinion so i tend to prefer it to the director's cut in part because like you say the picture quality isn't very good in the director's cut, they haven't restored the missing bits.
In the DC there are more little scenes with Molly's character (Kim Greist), i like the "Time is luck" bedroom scene between her and Graham/Petersen in the hotel for example, i guess putting not these bits in the theatrical cut enhanced more the loneliness and breakdown of Graham's character, isolated, far from his family. The scene at the end when Graham comes to visit the family which should have been the target of Dollarhyde is interesting i think, it has a slightly ambiguous feel.
The interviews on the Blu Ray special release are interesting i think, especially the composers/musicians and the director of cinematography Dante Spinotti who has made an outstanding work in this film, like in Mann's next films ("The insider", "Heat", "The last of the Mohicans...) ..."Manhunter" is still an hypnotic and fascinating film, after all these years, its dream-like icy disturbing atmosphere is quite unique, i think! I don't really think of others thrillers/serial killer movies with this kind of surreal dream-like mood, Mann's "The Keep" has this kind of atmosphere but it's a gothic horror/war movie..
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Thanks for the links.........Manhunter also avail.on YouTube......
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I'm going to write something about it, so for any who might want to see the movie sometime, there are some SPOILERS ahead:
The film really manages to create a mystery and the atmosphere of mystery. I absolutely loved the story which had some unexpected turns and there were these hints of conspiracy, or you felt that some of the protagonists were playing wrong and of course you wonder what is going on with Julia. It had more depth than a supernatural-haunted story and there were hints that this (the film) is a subjective pov of julia. So that Mirrors are important, maybe showing that she is reflecting herself.
(https://i.postimg.cc/prHLh30z/julia.jpg)
But also the cursed storyline was very interesting and really a bit scary how it unfolded and is also very important. Here we have kind of another twist showing reflection. A german boy was murdered, became a victim and the murderers were children, innocence became guilt. I don't know, maybe this is too much interpretation, but the revelations through the story were suspenseful and surprising and gave more layers.
There is this one scene, where Julia lies in bed on the right side of the frame in a dark room and on the left side the closed door shows a line of light underneath and Julia is sitting up and talking clearly and loudly into the dark: "don't be afraid!" and she is saying that TO someone. i think that shows that another person is talking right now - talking to julia, she is talking to herself, she is talking to the imagined ghost.
But is is not clear. The accidents that happen seem to be by chance, bad luck, a curse, or is Julia the curse?
There was only one thing that threw me out of the movie and made me wonder too much and it's at the very, very end so it didn't hurt that much;-) and maybe i'm too specific about it, but here is one change of tune in the song while the camera moves away from julia, where the theme keeps repeating and then it kind of "has" to change, it felt like they felt:" damn, we cant keep this on longer" and the tune goes up and thereby changes the mood slightly and it just threw me off. yeah, silly i know;-)
The score was very good, sometimes on the edge of too cheesy, because at first it just drags you with it, so emotional, but when you're into the mood of the film, it works very well.
This is really a beautiful, clever Movie from that time and i hope to see it again with a good restauration and transfer.
Best news of the year, FULL CIRCLE/THE HAUNTING OF JULIA has been restored and will be released on Blu Ray in England, Australia and America in the spring!!! Colin Towns' famous music will also be available on CD in these Blu Ray releases:
https://viavision.com.au/shop/the-haunting-of-julia-1977-imprint-collection-218/
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Dario Argento is my favourite horror director of all time, although his recent work is a bit questionable (got GAILLO queu'd up on Netflix, but bad reviews keep me away from it... I'll get around to it one day...)
I love Argento's stuff because it is so grandiose, amazing set-pieces with fantastic music and photography... the horror movie as art, truly.
Have you finally seen Dario's last film, DARK GLASSES (original title: OCCHIALI NERI), released two years ago?
I think you might like it, as much as SLEEPLESS for example. It's a solid, brilliant comeback from Dario, and perhaps a swan song because Dario made this film at 81 years old. A tense, fast-paced thriller, and better than that, an unexpectedly touching film. I wholeheartedly recommend DARK GLASSES/OCCHIALI NERI!