Dario Argento and others thrillers/horror movies directors

[cthulhu]

I saw some interesting reviews of Final Destination - Bloodlines and thought i just check it out and then i found a box-set of the four FD movies for 20€ and bought it. I would say it was worth it, had some fun watching them but i couldn't make it for Bloodlines, so this one again will be a bluray for me someday.
The problem for me in Germany is, that i like to watch the original version but it's very hard to find a cinema which is playing the movies in english, so i tend to wait for the blu ray.

[Guillaume]

The enjoyable little thriller from 1987, AMSTERDAMNED by Dick Maas (THE LIFT, DO NOT DISTURB, PREY, SAINT...), got a sequel this year. The film was released in cinemas in early December in the Netherlands and was a modest box office success there, grossing almost €1,500,000. Dick Maas even received an award, as you can see in his photo, because the film had over 100,000 admissions in the Netherlands... so we might soon have an AMSTERDAMNED 3!


 https://incrediblefilm.com/en/movies/amsterdamned-ii/

https://www.filmfestival.nl/nieuws/gouden-film-voor-dick-maas-amsterdamned-ii

[cthulhu]

Good news and though i haven't seen the new one, i couldn't make it when i was in the damned amster, i love the first one and think it is a great movie and i remember that it got some good reviews when it came out, because it was a genre film done by our neighbours, and it was well directed and could hold comparison to Hollywood flics and the tone was like a surprised "wow!, that really works though it's a low-budget genre movie."

[Guillaume]

Good news and though i haven't seen the new one, i couldn't make it when i was in the damned amster, i love the first one and think it is a great movie and i remember that it got some good reviews when it came out, because it was a genre film done by our neighbours, and it was well directed and could hold comparison to Hollywood flics and the tone was like a surprised "wow!, that really works though it's a low-budget genre movie."

Exactly! It's a fun little thriller/slasher/giallo, the use of the city of Amsterdam is particularly good, including a boat chase in the canals worthy of a James Bond film!

[cthulhu]

Two more recommendations for all you thriller fans out there..;-)

The Parallax View - by Alan J. Pakula from 1974, with Warren Beatty

I like this one very much, is very suspenseful, well directed and the Story is real creepy.

Found a cool trailer for it:
The Parallax View (Modern Trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwJDc79h2fo

I'm looking out for old movies and i have a list, but some of them are either not released on bluray or the edition is way too expensive for me to import. I'm thinking about a region free bluray player, but this is not so easy to find. In dvd days you could almost crack everyplayer and make rc-free, but with bluray it's different.

The next one really surprised me how good it was, a must see i would say:

Year of the Dragon - by Michael Cimino, from 1985 with Mickey Rourke
The screenplay was written by Oliver Stone & Cimino and it is a very powerful directed and filmed movie with great acting by Rourke and the other Actors.

[Master Ray]

Never seen the first one but Year Of The Dragon is an absolute stone cold masterpiece that should be rated alongside the very best thrillers of the 80's... I remember seeing that at the cinema back when I felt so cool being able to get into an '18' rated film when I was only 15... hey, I was pretty tall and could muster up some facial hair even at that tender age... or perhaps cinemas just didn't give a crap back then!   

[cthulhu]

I also tried to get into a movie which was 18 rated and i was about 15-16 and my plan was to put on some glasses, with window glass in them, which should make me look older, more intellectual Don't know which movie that was, could have been a horror festival and i was there with older friends.

My first movie ever i went to with my grandmother, should have been a Bud Spencer movie. I remember i saw an advertisment on this round things standing in the city and i saw that picture of Bud with a hammer banging on that thing that drives something up to a bell, but there was a guy being lifted up and i thought that was so funny, i have to see this.

But when we arrived at the cibnema that movie wasn't playing anymore, i was saddened as hell, but a nice older lady at the ticketcounter said there was another movie we could watch and it was...The Empire Strikes Back..and then i was lost and became a Jedi

I think i was about 7 years old then, and that one was a impressing experience for me.

[cthulhu]

I saw another great old political thriller:

Black Sunday - by John Frankenheimer, 1977

First i have to rant a little, this also would fit in the what pisses me off section...
This one has been a long time on my wanted list, but the prices were really high for me, ranging from 40€-60€ for the bluray, but i really wanted to see this one, because all the Frankenheimer movies i saw were fantastic. So i finally decided to go for a seemingly great French edition of that movie, considering that it contains one bluray and two dvds with some interesting extras and a really wonderful 52page booklet i decided to go for it for about 33€.
It arrived yesterday and i was totally looking forward to it, the booklet is great, but of course in french, that sucks a little, knowing there must be some interesting background information in there but can't read it.

So i started the movie, you could choose between original and the french version, original also having a 5.1 mix besides the stereo, but....you cannot choose to watch it without subtitles! And the subtitles are french or breton. I almost flipped out. You have to choose which version you want to see in the main menue and cannot change the language while watching. You have to go back to the main menue and choose the other version. So i did that many times, changing the sound, language and couln't believe that you cannot choose not to have subtitles. I tried the dvd version, but here the same. I did some encoding of dvds and made some menues and i know that you can turn those things on and off and sometimes it's just a lazy layout, no ways implemented to change the language, disabling the skip button for advertisments before the movie, etc..
So i don't know what the heck has ridden these people putting out such a great edition of that great movie, but disabling to see it in the orignal version. There maybe can be some licence trouble behind that, but then just leave it..or it's a french thing, watching englisch movies with subtiles and also leaving out englisch subtitles..i don't get it and i'm not amused.
I will have to rip that movie and get rid of the subtitles, they just suck your concentration for the movie and distract your view.

Now about the movie: it's great!
Almost 2,5hours but not a second boring. Great story development, great characters and acting and a fantastic direction of Frankenheimer again, having sometimes the feeling of a documentary.

Here the french edition:

[Guillaume]

cthulhu:

WOW!!! Great minds think alike! I bought the french Blu-ray you just posted the cover of, yesterday at the Cultura store in my small town! I have fond memories of BLACK SUNDAY, but I saw it on VHS 15 or 20 years ago, so I bought this beautiful Blu-ray edition yesterday. I remember it as a tense film, and I can't wait to rediscover it in a better copy than my old awful looking Pan & Scan VHS! There are quite a few John Frankenheimer films that I really like:

"Year of the Gun," "Gypsy Moths," "French Connection II," "52 Pick-Up," "Grand Prix," "The Fourth War," "Ronin"... he was a great director, gifted in action films but also in more intimate works. Only his last theatrical film, "Reindeer Games," really disappointed me at the time.

[cthulhu]

Now, that's cool! Like our collector minds got the same wished for item simultaniously....and now i hope you don't also suffer a little nervous breakdown, because of this subtitle situation thing.  Please tell me how you deal with it or what is going on with that edition. I find it really disturbing to have to watch a movie with subtitles i don't want to and even more, if i cannot read and understand them. I wish you a great experience with that movie...

Frankenheimer movies i already have are: Grand Prix, The Holcroft Covenant, The Train, Seven Days in May, The Fourth War, Ronin and i found them all to be brilliant!...and on my wishlist are 52 Pick-Up, Seconds, French Connection II, and i want to see Prophecy from 1979! though it seems to be a bad one..and now i'll have to add Year of the Gun and Gypsy Moths..

..and btw..i just had a call with my friend and we have a date with the Tangerine Dream guy...next weekend..

[Master Ray]

52 Pick-Up is a very enjoyable film... it came out from Cannon who had a reputation for putting out mostly stinkers... but somehow put out a great ones as well like Runaway Train and the wonderfully bonkers Lifeforce...

[Guillaume]

52 Pick-Up is a very enjoyable film... it came out from Cannon who had a reputation for putting out mostly stinkers... but somehow put out a great ones as well like Runaway Train and the wonderfully bonkers Lifeforce...

Also "Maria's lovers" from the same director and Cannon producers is superb, and from the same team i would like to see "Shy people".

[cthulhu]

I finally got to watch The Long Good Friday and i can see why MR and Winterwulf were recommending it, thanks for that. It is an oustanding good movie, loved it very much. The beginning, almost 8 minutes without dialog, building tension and a story build only by observing action, a fantastic score which sometimes remindend me of a Goblin-esque DawnOfTheDead vibe, maybe the bass and drums and synths...really fantastic movie and the end... the end!!, what an ending!!..the last scene, is soo good!

Also watched French Connection II and it fitted so well in this great old thrillers bloody outstanding works sequence i had with Black Sunday, TLGF and this one.

@Guillaume
Yesterday i met the former manager of Tangerine Dream and did ask him about The Keep and a possible release as a soundtrack.
The story is that my friend is working for him for years and they became friends and he told me already years ago that he wanted to introduce us, because he told me that he is a total cool, grounded, nice and friendly guy and/but freak. So he really is that guy and had such great storys to tell, he also worked with Nina Hagen in those days and what he could say is (he was manager, making contracts etc. til '94, he was very close friend to Edgar Froese..) that the Widow of Edgar has all the rights (and she is at the moment a little busy, not in trouble! but busy legally, we could say) and that there were different kind of contracts out. Sometimes the client orders a soundtrack without the rights to it, they remain by the artist and sometimes the artist sells the whole rights. And that's something he could, if he has the time, look into. But i think somehow, because of the history of the film and production and especially the discontent of Michael Mann with the movie, that the rights are with the studio, but thats what i think and have not discussed with him.
Ok, that's not that much more of information than you already had, but maybe there's a slow development there...

[Guillaume]

cthulhu; Thank you for your message. I suppose we can only keep crossing our fingers again and again for a physical release of the complete soundtrack on vinyl and CD. After all, the official Blu-ray came out last year, while we'd been waiting at least 25 years for a DVD release.

Also watched French Connection II and it fitted so well in this great old thrillers bloody outstanding works sequence i had with Black Sunday, TLGF and this one.

I really enjoyed the final foot chase, and the abrupt ending is superb! The part where Popeye is drugged and in rehab is original and very good too (even if somewhat unrealistic since the character suffers few lasting effects in the final part). I think it's a very good sequel to the first FRENCH CONNECTION.

[Master Ray]

I finally got to watch The Long Good Friday and i can see why MR and Winterwulf were recommending it, thanks for that. It is an oustanding good movie, loved it very much. The beginning, almost 8 minutes without dialog, building tension and a story build only by observing action, a fantastic score which sometimes remindend me of a Goblin-esque DawnOfTheDead vibe, maybe the bass and drums and synths...really fantastic movie and the end... the end!!, what an ending!!..the last scene, is soo good!

Also watched French Connection II and it fitted so well in this great old thrillers bloody outstanding works sequence i had with Black Sunday, TLGF and this one.

@Guillaume
Yesterday i met the former manager of Tangerine Dream and did ask him about The Keep and a possible release as a soundtrack.
The story is that my friend is working for him for years and they became friends and he told me already years ago that he wanted to introduce us, because he told me that he is a total cool, grounded, nice and friendly guy and/but freak. So he really is that guy and had such great storys to tell, he also worked with Nina Hagen in those days and what he could say is (he was manager, making contracts etc. til '94, he was very close friend to Edgar Froese..) that the Widow of Edgar has all the rights (and she is at the moment a little busy, not in trouble! but busy legally, we could say) and that there were different kind of contracts out. Sometimes the client orders a soundtrack without the rights to it, they remain by the artist and sometimes the artist sells the whole rights. And that's something he could, if he has the time, look into. But i think somehow, because of the history of the film and production and especially the discontent of Michael Mann with the movie, that the rights are with the studio, but thats what i think and have not discussed with him.
Ok, that's not that much more of information than you already had, but maybe there's a slow development there...

Glad you liked The Long Good Friday, I personally think it's the very best UK gangster movie of all time.  No spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen it but the very last scene is a classic example of how you can deliver a brilliant performance without saying a word... and that blindingly good main theme playing over it as well?  Cinematic perfection!   

Also, endlessly quotable... SO many great lines of dialogue!