Last Film You Watched + Your Comments?

[Dave Jay]

Seen quite a few over the past couple of weeks (some for the first time, some seen before). Can't be arsed with full reviews, so instead here's the scores on the doors:

THE NANNY - 8/10
DERANGED - 8/10
THE SINGING DETECTIVE (ORIGINAL SERIES) - 8/10
DREAMCHILD - 8/10
THE DEVILS - 10/10
CASH ON DEMAND - 6/10
IRONMASTER - 7/10
OBSESSION - 8/10
THE CHILDREN - 7/10
OVER THE EDGE - 9/10
TUFF TURF - 8/10
LADY TERMINATOR - 7/10
CREEPSHOW 2 - 5/10
STARSTRUCK - 8/10
NO BLADE OF GRASS - 9/10

[Harold Monroe]

just ordered over the edge, sounds great

i want tuff turf, do you have the uk dvd, dave? is it 16:9?

thanks

[Dave Jay]

Hey Harold - OVER THE EDGE is a fantastic teen rebellion movie. Possibly one of the best ever. It's absolute madness that the film was barely released back when it was made in 1979. It almost plays out like the dark flipside of DAZED & CONFUZED.

The UK Boulevard DVD release of TUFF TURF is a direct port of the US Anchor Bay release (most of Boulevard's New World titles are - even down to having an FBI warning at the start of some of them!). It's 16:9 and in good nick. You can pick it for as little as 99p on Amazon, so you can't go far wrong! Same goes for Boulevard's releases of HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN, THE BOYS NEXT DOOR, DEAD HEAT & REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS.

[Harold Monroe]

thanks for that very helpful info dave, have just ordered it for £2.49 all in from amazon uk. i love cult 80's movies.

im always on the lookout for stuff i might have missed, and these 2 sound really interesting

cheers again

[Dave Jay]

Yeah, TUFF TURF is extremely cheesy but great fun. Both should keep you entertained for a few hours!

[Dave Jay]

THE AMAZING MR BLUNDEN - was gonna watch either WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? or INSERTS last night, but after a shitty day at work I wasn't in the mood for something dark, so instead popped this into the DVD: a movie I haven't seen since I was a little'un, when it used to play on TV every year around Christmas time. And a good choice it proved to be as I was transported back to my younger days of sitting enthralled at this time-travelling ghost story for all the family. BLUNDEN is forty years old this year, but still entertains (though I do wonder what today's kids would make of it). Great cast, great atmosphere, a plot full of holes and Lynne Frederick's character is worse than useless during the climax but who cares? It hit the nostalgia spot and no mistake.

8/10. Bloomin' 'enry.

Funny to see Anchor Bay's UK DVD selling for at LEAST £28 on Amazon (and going way past the £100 mark at its most expensive). I picked up a second-hand copy on Wood Green High Street last weekend for £2.99! Goes to show just how ridiculous and out of touch with the real world the sellers on Amazon are becoming...

[jacksmith1983]

I agree with you Dave regarding the opportunists and wideboys on Amazon Marketplace, and for that matter E-Bay. Unpleasant, greedy individuals who take advantage of genuine film enthusiasts and clearly cannot differentiate between something which is legitimately rare and something which is simply no longer in print.

Is the Boulevard release of Tom DeSimone's Reform School Girls uncut do you know Dave? Reform School Girls was cut by 8 seconds by the BBFC for its 18 certificated VHS release back in the day and I cannot see anything on the BBFC site to indicate Boulevard resubmitted it for their DVD release. A bit cheeky then it would seem if the Boulevard release is unexpurgated as per the Anchor Bay US release, although not really an issue as this film would not present the BBFC with any problems in this day and age.

For the Boulevard release of Return To Horror High, which I purchased from Poundland a few months back, is also a direct port of the Anchor Bay US release.

[Dave Jay]

REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS is one of the few Boulevard/New World releases I don't have, Jack, as I already had the US Anchor Bay DVD. But since pretty much all of their other releases are direct ports, I don't see why this one wouldn't be. As for whether they bothered resubmitting it to the BBFC, well maybe not! Since these titles were pretty much sold as bargain bin filler, perhaps they thought they'd get away with just releasing them as they are (I also thought that there might be some issue with most of these titles having an FBI warning at the start).

[Kel E]

The Skull
First of all the copy I have is terrible pan and scan from tv. This is one of those creepy movies I dont mind viewing every year or so but I need the WS next time. Lots of familiar faces in this Amicus outing, there's even a woman sitting in the background of the auction who I would swear is the same as the villager who ignores Nick Adams' questions in Die Monster Die.
The threat around a skull is well done, and the shots of it flying about hold up in a dream-like way. Good performance from Peter Cushing. I only noticed in this last viewing that the skull has blood on its teeth at the end. As a side I wonder what happened to the props from this movie? The demon statues, or that familiar mask from Dr Terror's House of Horror's voodoo segment that turns up in Torture Garden as well--its visible in Christopher Lee's pool room. Probably ended up in the garbage I imagine but would be nifty to find out they were preserved by someone. Imagine having Dr. Terror's tarot cards! I'd be in a crowded train car in a jiffy and conveniently drop them.

[jockfun28]

Addams family values is on DVD??????

[Dave Jay]

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (1976) - Absolute belter of an old-school Spanish horror flick from a director who only helmed two theatrical features, which is a real shame. A little slow to start and not much to report plot-wise (British couple are chased around island by murderous kids) but director Serrador oversees a few truly standout scenes without resorting to 'fancy-schmancy' show-off directorial ticks. I don't want to give too much away, but one particular incident involving the wife's unborn baby is a genuine shocker.

Beautifully photographed and well-enough acted, although I found Lewis Fiander (who previously featured in Dr. Phibes Rises Again) a little stiff in places. Not much more to say, really. Eureka recently released a UK DVD that looks superb (and sports fantastic cover art). So if, like me, you've managed to go this far without catching this minor classic, then go out and hunt it down now!

Highly Recommended. 8/10

[thehamish]

Addams family values is on DVD??????

YES!!! just found it for a pittance on A*****n. MINE!!! there's even a double bill (guess with what, tee hee)

[drterror666]

Er, The Beverly Hillbillies?

[jacksmith1983]

Addams family values is on DVD??????

Addams Family Values has been available on UK Region 2 DVD for years. It is the 1991 The Addams Family which for some reason has never been given a UK DVD release. It is however cheaply available on US Region One DVD either by itself, or as a double-bill including both films.

The Addams Family (Paramount R1): amazon.com : amazon.co.uk

The Addams Family / Addams Family Values (Paramount R1): amazon.com : amazon.co.uk

[jockfun28]

Well Addams Family was distributed over here by columbia Tri Star & carried the Orion logo, could have been a package deal with Silence of The Lambs which was on Columbia's 20:20 vision label for the less comercial releases, However Paramount might have bought the US right's outright from a studio that was teetering on chapter 11, who knows it is probably owned over here by MGM or Studio canal, can't see anyone rushing to put it out as the US disc has been available for so long

[Kel E]

The Vikings
I didnt like it. Some great location shooting but the story felt really bland and something was off with the pacing. Kirk Douglas as a beardless viking( laughable how they tried to explain it) dominated the story even though Tony Curtis was presumably the central character. And what was with the crazy helmet he wore? Borgnine made a decent viking but Spartacus was far more lively.

[TheRoadWarrior]

The Vikings
I didnt like it. Some great location shooting but the story felt really bland and something was off with the pacing. Kirk Douglas as a beardless viking( laughable how they tried to explain it) dominated the story even though Tony Curtis was presumably the central character. And what was with the crazy helmet he wore? Borgnine made a decent viking but Spartacus was far more lively.

Weren't helmets with pointy horns, enough?!

[TheRoadWarrior]

Thinking of watching TWO LANE BLACKTOP again, by the time you read this I'll have watched it, so technically, that's been WATCHED.

[Kel E]

Weren't helmets with pointy horns, enough?!

Apparently not. He had to have this helmet with eye flaps--its hard to describe.

[Kel E]

Escape From the Planet of the Apes

Finally got back to viewing the movies in the series.
I have a really old box set--probably the first they released. Despite not being anamorphic it actually looks pretty good on a large tv.
This is probably my second favorite after the first although i think all of them have their merits-even the fifth. It follows the book fairly closely except reverses the roles for the apes and humans.

Mighty Joe Young 1949--had planned to watch the Road Warrior but that got delayed so re-watched this instead after many years. Overall a decent family friendly movie from the makers of King Kong with a couple of cast hold overs from it. Armstrong was good in a more humorous part than denham and the animation was state of the art for the time. Everyone knows Willis O'Brien's assistant on the film Ray Harryhausen but his other assistant Pete Peterson isnt so well known. He continued to work with O'Brien, and came to animation after being a crew technician. Like O'Brien his life had some personal tragedy, but also a crippling illness --and yet he continued to do animation experiments. If you google his name some long lost footage experiments of his turn up on youtube. There's a colour shot of demon-like moon creatures rising over a hill which is incredibly fluid for a mass figure animation sequence.