Topic: Movie thread.

It's the 100th anniversary of Häxan this year. Just watched it on HBO. One of the best movies I've ever seen.

Don't jinx it. That man will legit do steroids and prep for that role mentally.

I love that film with all my heart. I've see it at the cinema three times, with live music, live intertitle translations, etc.

It's wonderful - spooky, inventive, self-referential and quite scary.

There's a shorter cut, with Wm Burroughs doing a voiceover, kicking around, which I believe was distributed in the 1960s as a midnight movie. I've not seen that version though.

@Rambler have you ever seen the original cut of Blade Runner? I've seen one of the various directors cuts but I've always been interest in the original one that was released in the cinema to see how different it is and how bad the internal monologues are.

@jump
I've got some fancy boxset of it, with (I think!) five different versions: workprint, European release, US release, Director's cut and the Final Cut.

DC and US versions are superfluous, and the DC has been superseded by the FC and the US version is the same as the European but with the eye gouging removed.

The original European release is good - the VO fits with the idea of it being a film noir. It also doesn't have the unicorn so is more ambivalent about Deckard's status.
[Edited that para as it made no sense]

But! I'm not sure if the VO adds to the film as a whole. It's not the self-sabotage job that some think (to me anyway), but it could be seen as a bit of a parody and also gives too much exposition. Also some of the language in it is a bit choice, and jars badly for me.
It also has an upbeat ending, which is utterly daft (and is cobbled together from Shining outtakes!!). Glad they snipped off that bit.

The workprint is interesting - the editing is not very tight so give it quite a dreamy feel, plus it junks the opening info crawl in place of a dictionary definition of the word replicant, which I think is more fitting.

The disc of outtakes has some amazing stuff in it, especially from Rutger Hauer.

So it's worth watching but the FC is definitely the best, especially the way they've remastered it - it looks stunning.

Erm, I quite like the film, and could go on about it for days.

(Deckard = Decartes, etc, etc)

@Rambler wait, they chucked in bits of The Shining in the OG version? I really want to see it now to see if I can spot it.

I can’t say I’m a massive fan of Blade Runner. I did enjoy it and thought it was very good but I wouldn’t have watched it again if it was not for the sequel. I do like a bit of internal monologue in films as it’s so rare to see which is why I’ve always been curious about the OG cut.

It could have done with some comic relief like a wise cracking sidekick who keeps complaining he’s too old for this and he’s about to retire. Ridley can CGI the sidekick in and use the excuse the sidekick is buying doughnuts when he’s missing from key scenes in this Ultimate Final Cut.

@jump
Unfortunately is not the rivers of blood or the dead children from the Shining.

It's one of those films I saw at an impressionable your age and it's fascinated me ever since. I don't rate Ridley Scott that much as a director overall, but The Duellists, Alien, and Blade Runner as your first three films is pretty good going (I think that Alien is just as fascinating as BR, but it's a bit more of a standard haunted house flick)

A Blade Runner / Legend cross-over would be the obvious way to go.

As it is Spooky Season I have been trying to watch a horror movie every day, not the easiest thing when you work full time, and want to eat and exercise and play games but my streak is thankfully not yet broken. I haven't watched anything today yet, but it is a Friday so I should be good.

By far the best film I have seen so far is Butterfly Kisses - if you can go into this cold and have any real interest in found footage or just like how movies are made, I really highly recommend this one.

I also watched the Monster Hunter movie finally and I dunno if it is just the result of lowered expectations, but I didn't hate this. Like it isn't a good adaptation I guess, and it certainly isn't high art, but it is a lot of fun. I know a lot of people think WS Anderson's best film is the first Resi adaptation, but go back and watch that movie and then contrast the set piece moments to the set pieces in this. People who say WS Anderson hasn't evolved as a filmmaker are lying.

Everything else I have watched so far hasn't been great, with maybe the exception of Coming Home in the Dark. Like I personally thought in the end this was just kinda boring, but it is very well made, very well acted and like the opening half an hour or so is really, really strong, that I kinda want to recommend this to people anyway.

@Pizzamorg
Butterfly Kisses' description reminds me of Tesis - Alejandro Amenábar's first film. That is proper scary and gory.
Coming Home In the Dark sounds really tense.

For something a bit different, Begotten. It's dead old so you might've seen it. It's a splatter / gore version of a creation myth, and is on YouTube.

Not heard of Thesis before! I'll have to add that to my list. I gotta be honest Butterfly Kisses isn't really a great straight horror film, the found footage horror movie at the core is probably the weakest element, but it is everything they layer over that that makes it sing.

I actually watched Begotten back in film school. Still freaks my ***** to this day. Weird ass movie.

The Belko Experiement

It's another take on the Battle Royale formula. Corporate office workers trapped in a building, forced to kill each other down to the last person. I enjoyed this as much as say...Cube or Escape Room. Nothing revolutionary, but worth watching once during the spooky season.

Is red notice any good?

@Magician I saw Belko Experiment a few years ago mostly as James Gunn wrote it. Yeah it's alright and I can't really find fault with it but I can't really put it over any other Battle Royale-esque movie either with in particular Series 7, The Hunger Games and The Hunt standing out alot more to me. Oh and The Circle, I really liked how they show people's logic when deciding on who to kill.

Sadly, tonight's movie was another stinker, Rigor Mortis. I had a recording on tape off of the TV of Mr. Vampire when I was a kid, absolutely played the ***** out of that movie, just loved it. When I heard there was a modern take on the Jiangshi I was hype AF. Sadly, while the visuals are really striking in this movie, it might be the most impenetrably incoherent movie I've ever seen. That includes some weird ass art films I have watched in my time.

@Pizzamorg I almost didn't recognise you with your new pfp.

I think I've had this for a while! What did I have before, was it the Lamb from Cult of the Lamb?

@Pizzamorg I think, I don't remember lol. I like the new one though #24HourCinderella.

I watched Hocus Pocus 2, I wasn't expecting much but I wanted to watch something I could vaguely pay attention to whilst I work out. One thing I didn't get is why is there no Thora Birch or Venessa Shaw in it? Not having any of the original kids seems like a miss and they are both still working. Chuck them in with a cameo and then you can start to build the cinematic Hocus Pocus Universe!

After a month of nothing worth checking out at the cinema there's now Smile, Amsterdam and The Woman King out. Decisions, decisions...

Today's movie was a good one, called 'The Stylist', based on a 2016 short of the same name. The same person directed both (this is their feature debut), however, I understand they had writing help for the feature version.

It definitely feels like an expanded short rather than a true feature and I do think some of the pacing decisions and general minimalism of a lot of it might be off putting for some. However, I just thought Najarra Townsend's central performance was so strong and while it isn't exactly scary, the movie is one of the most intensely deeply anxiety inducing I've seen in quite a while.

I think I still prefer the 80s Maniac and the 2012 remake, but this one features a unique female perspective and a redhead bombshell at the centre of it all so it more than justifies its reason for existing for me.

Weekend movies (just copied my Letterboxd reviews). Starting up on some spooky stuff for the season.

End of Evangelion (Blu-Ray)

Disappointed that I couldn't give it as high a score as the series, but I ultimately don't think it's a satisfying end to the story.

From what I can gather this takes place during the events of the last two episodes of the series (which took place inside protagonist Shinji's head in a more abstract form as the studio depleted their budget), with the movie showing what's going on in the actual physical world during the events.

Without getting into too much spoilery territory, the first half is fairly strong and features a tense, large scale military assault with with some cool (& sometimes greusome) action with the protagonists on the ropes. The second half features some stunning animation with a lot of trippy (& outright weird) moments, but it ultimately doesn't tell you anything that the series doesn't, IMO. We still get the general gist of what Shinji chooses, but there's absolutely no followup to show how or if the extended cast/world at large is able to move on (which I thought was sort of supposed to be the point). Honestly the world still ends up looking more f***** than at any other point in the series (I think I actually prefer the seemingly more open ended finale of the series).

Trailer:

The Slumber Party Massacre (Tubi)

Teen slasher flick that sees a wild eyed psychopath dressed head to toe in denim terrorize a group of high school girls with a foot long power drill.

First watched it last October & remember enjoying it, so decided to seek it out again and it was just as good the second time around. It doesn't seem to do anything particularly fresh (in fact some shots seem directly "inspired" by Halloween), but it does a great job of hitting all the typical notes well (very gratuitous nudity, brutal slayings, fun fakeouts, etc.) all in a brisk runtime if under 90 minutes. Will definitely become a yearly regular for me.

Trailer (couldn't find an HD one):