Things I watched this weekend

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

As we don't seem to have a catch-all 'recent views' thread, I'll just put up a few potted reviews of movies I watched this weekend (on my shiny new player!).

The Devil's Nightmare: An early 70s Eruopean horror flick - Belgian, I think. Basically, a group of seven tourists who symbolise the seven deadly sins seek shelter in a castle. The family that own the castle labour under an acient curse that transforms all female offspring into succubi. Sure enough, a ravishing young woman who is secretly the Baron's illegitimate niece turns up and during the course of the night begins picking off the tourists in a grisly manner, usually somehow befitting of the sin they embody. A young priest-to-be who is part of the group escapes until the last, when he bargains with devil (played by a wonderfuly cadaverous old fellow) to save their souls in exchange for his own. The next morning, the tourists are all restored. The young cleric's bargain has saved them - or has it?

Not an awesome movie, and only competently made, but wonderfuly atmospheric and with some very good moments.

Horror Express: A 70s flick starring CHristopher Lee and Peter Cushing, as rival scientists who later strike up an alliance. It's a rather Alien-like story, as Lee unearths a fossilised 'missing link' in China and boards a train to Europe to take it back home for study. However, the fossil is posessed by an 'alein energy form' that soon begins shambling around the train knocking people off. It's a chaotic and often totally arbitrary plot, but everyone really looks their part and the charisma of the two lead players lends the film a certain charm. Telly SAvalas briefly strides across the screen as a wonderfuly arrogant and grandiose Cossack officer, but his appearance, which rescues the film from a slump towards the ned, is woefully brief.

Dracula, AD 1972

A Hammer production. Lee and Cushing revisit their Dracula and Van Helsing personas against the background of mod, 70s London. It's fairly standard fare, as a monion of the Count's named Johnny Alucard (gosh!) leads young people including Van Helsing's buxom grand daughter into ritual that revives his master. A fairly well-paced and tense Dracula/Van Helsing conflict ensues.

It's rather silly at times, in its attempts to infuse the hoary old Gothic tropes with mod sensibilities, but all in all it works as a minor but entertaining film. Lee does little except look gruesome, but Cushing turns in a fine performance, as do some of the secondary cast.

When Worlds Collide: This SF classic can seem rather talk-y at times, but it hlds up well. It was a lot like seeing a typical Golden Age SF tale brought to life, the sort of dialogues, the scientific protagonists and so on. The effects were considered advanced at the time, and still look pretty good, although clearly dated. A very good disaster movie that I ought to enjoy viewing again.

[Foxbat]

I only managed one movie this weekend but it was a biggie an I hadn't watched it for ages - Spartacus ...and what a movie!!

As for your choices, When Worlds Collide is worth a spin on anybody's shiny new player

I haven't seen The Devil's Nightmare or Horror Express before but they sound kind of interesting.

[polymorphikos]

When Worlds Collide really bugs me, because they keep breaking their own rules. Especially how the likeable rival tricks the reluctant hero into being on the ship, even though the hero was willing to give his place up to someone else who was actually of value. The entire film was like one big study in hypocricy on the part of the self-righteous characters.

I watched Bad Taste and The Haunting on the weekend. They were both pretty good. The Haunting's handling of Eleanor was very well done, even if it wasn't as scary as they say.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Yep, the emotional drama in WWC was really stilted. I liked the way everyone was so terribly stereotyped though.

[ravenus]

Not a weekend view but I finished watching 30 Days in Hell: The Making of The Devil's Rejects.

This is a 144 min documentary covering the entire shooting schedule for Rob Zombie's psycho road movie (which is a sequel to his earlier film House of 1000 Corpses), and it's pretty damn interesting, although best enjoyed in instalments (the DVD kindly allows you to watch it in 5 parts). It shows you in explicit detail the way all the scenes were shot in the film, each snippet ending with how the finished product looks. It's a superb look at the entire film-making process and gives you a really high level of respect for the people who take the efforts.

There's a lot of interesting detail about the creation of the various sets, props and especially the boatloads of make-up and gore effects. It also points out the various parts of the film where CGI was used to enhance the effect, comparing rough and finished shots.

What the docu really highlights is how much detailed and clear Zombie's vision was for his movie, especially all the influences he incorporated into it, yet making sure it worked as a coherent whole. He also seems a damn cool guy sharing an easy rapport with all his co-workers. There are also lots of interesting soundbytes from all the actors in the film.

TDR given its violent content and rejection of clear cut good/evil values may not be everyone's cuppa, but it's doubtless a brilliantly crafted and painstakingly executed film and this docu does a great job at showing you how it was all put together.

[hedgeknight]

My family and I watched Madagascar (I have a five year old!) and A Christmas Carol - traditional for the season. And my wife and I watched Phantom of the Opera (the latest version). Loved 'em all!
-g-

[cornelius]

watched sin city yesterday

don't know what to think of it. I like the set-up and all, but some parts seemed endless...

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by cornelius

watched sin city yesterday
don't know what to think of it. I like the set-up and all, but some parts seemed endless...

You mean inconclusive or interminable?

Sin City is not a coherent story per se but a collection of episodes and Frank Miller's original stories themselves are short and abrupt, the focus being on providing gritty atmosphere and incredible violence with caricatures of film noir, rather having a great story arc or particularly deep characters.

[cornelius]

yes, I know, I did some research on that. thx anyway. I liked the stories. the drama was a bit over the eddge, but that doesn't make it less likeble.overall, I liked the film, but it some parts were a bit too much of a rattle. maybe it's better to read it in the comics, I wouldn't know.

[ravenus]

Yes, most will disagree with me, but watching the Sin City movie gave me a very disjointed and "why BOTHER?" feeling given how faithfully they imitated the source material. As it stands, I feel it's more an expensive and technically accomplished advertisement for Miller's books than an adaptation of his work.

[sanityassassin]

I really enjoyed sin city and didn't find the broken storyline a problem. I watched L4yer cake a british ganster flick in the vain of lock stock and snatch , quite enjoyable although the amount of double-crossing was a bit hard to follow

[kyektulu]

I watched the new willy wonka and the chocolate factory this weekend, what a silly ending.
Talk about drifting off the plot.

[Culhwch]

I just finished watching the extended cut of The Frighteners, Peter Jackson's first 'Hollywood' film. It's not the greatest film in the world, but it is great fun. Good to see PJ make his standard cameo in one of the new scenes. Also interesting is that in the intro he points out that without this movie LotR would never have come about. WETA upgraded from one computer to some thirty for the production, and nearing the completion of the film, PJ was at a loose end as to what to do with them once they'd finished. Hence the idea for a effects-heavy fantasy flick, namely Rings. That, plus Michael J. Fox reminded him of a hobbit.

I may have made that last part up.

[the_faery_queen]

i love that filml. i thought it was so funny. and clever. and just odd

[sanityassassin]

I remember a movie poster for the frighteners in my local cinema it was there for over a year before the film acually came out and it looked great but in the end it was only an ok film