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LXXVII: Society (Brian Yuzna, 1989)
Social satire which I decided to begin my horror course with. Billy Whitney doesn't quite fit into his uber rich family and snobby school - even though he is star of the basketball team and school debates. And as his sister comes out in society, her ex warns him that something disgusting is going on and is killed in a road accident. The truth is deeply surreal and grotesque, and the film flips from knowing Freudianism (father, mother and daughter are too close) to class critique.
What I never picked up when I saw it last - in 1989 - was how parodic of high school movies and exploitation pics it was - and how ropey the acting (deliberately?) is.
LXXVIII: Demon Seed (Donald Cammell, 1977)
Nicolas Roeg directs Colossus... Fritz Weaver is part of a programme to build a supercomputer and forgets all about the terminal in his basement when he walks out on Julie Christie after the death of their daughter. Christie is held hostage by a computer that wants to become human. Bonkers and terrifying.
LXXIX: Night of the Big Heat (Terence Fisher, 1967)
Non-Hammer sf reuniting Cushing and Lee with key Hammer horror director - though this is sf. The temperature rises on a Scottish island in the depths of winter - and what is surly Christopher Lee up to with the cameras and the mirror? Neatish low-budgeter let down by a too-speedy denouement. Pip and Jane Baker had hands (and fists) in the script.
Rewatches of Slaughterhouse-Five and Society go here, but aren't counted.
LXXX: Blood And Chocolate (Katja Von Garnier, 2007)
Werewolf adaptation, where a comic book artist working on a book about werewolves falls in love with a woman destined to be the leader of the pack ... of werewolves. I assume the chocolate had more importance in the book. The transformation is done in clouds of golden light rather than animatronics, and the film is inconsistent about wolfish nudity. Lightweight and forgettable, though neat enough action (and the accents make no sense - why are so many English and Amercan relatives living in Hungary?).
LXXXI: Bram Stoker's Legend of the Mummy 2 (David DeCoteau, 1999)
It was notable in Society how quickly the action got to a girl gratuitously wearing skimpy underwear. DeCoteau's USP is that it's jocks in skimpies. This shocker has nothing to do with Bram Stoker's Legend of the Mummy, let alone Bram Stoker, is also known as Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy and was shot in four days. It has to be seen to be believed.
Don't believe it.
A school or a university are working on an Aztec mummy as a summer project, only there's a descendant of the old priest around looking to sacrifice a virgin, as the resurrect mummy lumbers in search of a stolen amulet.
Just. Don't.
LXXXII: Radio On (Chris Petit, 1979)
Wim Wenders produced British road movie as a biscuit company DJ drives to Bristol in search of what has happened to his dead brother. Along the way he encounters an awol squaddies, an Eddie Cochrane loving Sting, a prepubescent dealer and a German in search of her daughter. Meanwhile generous dollops of Bowie, Kraftwerk and Dury, among others, fill the soundtrack. As dissatisfacting as all great seventies movies, this is worth tracking down.
Totals: 82 - [Cinema: 21; DVD: 58; Television: 3]
Social satire which I decided to begin my horror course with. Billy Whitney doesn't quite fit into his uber rich family and snobby school - even though he is star of the basketball team and school debates. And as his sister comes out in society, her ex warns him that something disgusting is going on and is killed in a road accident. The truth is deeply surreal and grotesque, and the film flips from knowing Freudianism (father, mother and daughter are too close) to class critique.
What I never picked up when I saw it last - in 1989 - was how parodic of high school movies and exploitation pics it was - and how ropey the acting (deliberately?) is.
LXXVIII: Demon Seed (Donald Cammell, 1977)
Nicolas Roeg directs Colossus... Fritz Weaver is part of a programme to build a supercomputer and forgets all about the terminal in his basement when he walks out on Julie Christie after the death of their daughter. Christie is held hostage by a computer that wants to become human. Bonkers and terrifying.
LXXIX: Night of the Big Heat (Terence Fisher, 1967)
Non-Hammer sf reuniting Cushing and Lee with key Hammer horror director - though this is sf. The temperature rises on a Scottish island in the depths of winter - and what is surly Christopher Lee up to with the cameras and the mirror? Neatish low-budgeter let down by a too-speedy denouement. Pip and Jane Baker had hands (and fists) in the script.
Rewatches of Slaughterhouse-Five and Society go here, but aren't counted.
LXXX: Blood And Chocolate (Katja Von Garnier, 2007)
Werewolf adaptation, where a comic book artist working on a book about werewolves falls in love with a woman destined to be the leader of the pack ... of werewolves. I assume the chocolate had more importance in the book. The transformation is done in clouds of golden light rather than animatronics, and the film is inconsistent about wolfish nudity. Lightweight and forgettable, though neat enough action (and the accents make no sense - why are so many English and Amercan relatives living in Hungary?).
LXXXI: Bram Stoker's Legend of the Mummy 2 (David DeCoteau, 1999)
It was notable in Society how quickly the action got to a girl gratuitously wearing skimpy underwear. DeCoteau's USP is that it's jocks in skimpies. This shocker has nothing to do with Bram Stoker's Legend of the Mummy, let alone Bram Stoker, is also known as Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy and was shot in four days. It has to be seen to be believed.
Don't believe it.
A school or a university are working on an Aztec mummy as a summer project, only there's a descendant of the old priest around looking to sacrifice a virgin, as the resurrect mummy lumbers in search of a stolen amulet.
Just. Don't.
LXXXII: Radio On (Chris Petit, 1979)
Wim Wenders produced British road movie as a biscuit company DJ drives to Bristol in search of what has happened to his dead brother. Along the way he encounters an awol squaddies, an Eddie Cochrane loving Sting, a prepubescent dealer and a German in search of her daughter. Meanwhile generous dollops of Bowie, Kraftwerk and Dury, among others, fill the soundtrack. As dissatisfacting as all great seventies movies, this is worth tracking down.
Totals: 82 - [Cinema: 21; DVD: 58; Television: 3]
