*** SPOILERS ***
So after a couple of Argento weeks, I was relatively pleased to have a Fulci offering this week. I didn't know a great deal about Fulci before starting 'The Nasties' and was pleasantly surprised with what I have watched so far. So what about 'City of the living dead'?
This movie rang bells with me and I wasn't sure why... then I remembered. This was a movie my husband (a BIG zombie fan) had watched many years ago and the memory got lost in the recesses of time. In more recent years, he was reading an online review which listed it as one of the greatest zombie movies of all time. Of course he had to go out and buy a copy. That was where my memory came from. He watched it and was mightilly disappointed with the outcome. This is from a man who has probably seen most zombie movies out there.
Our very basic premis starts with a pirest committing suicide and in the process opening the gates to hell where dead residents of a town called Dunwich reanimate and set about killing everyone in sight. We have a medium called Mary, who supposedly 'dies' at the start of the movie out of sheer fright when we see's the situation surrounding our priest. She is buried alive and when she comes to, she is rescued by a reported called Peter. They set off to Dunwich to attempt to save the world from the ensuing madness....
Sooo what did I think? Well there was a 'feeling' to the movie that I liked, which Fulci always manages to create. I liked the special effects (although you have to allow for its time). We have vomitting entrails, bleeding eyeballs (I particularly like this one), crusty zombies and a horrific drill death. The zombies in this one are very different to the normal shuffling, moronic ones. These ones are smart and can even teleport! You think they're far away and KABOOM, there they are, right in front of you. Jumpy!!! They also look different, more like burns victims I thought. It's nice to sometimes see different interpretations of the living dead.
The ending of this movie completely confused me. It seems I wasn't alone in this as I scoured the internet trying in vain to make sense of what happened. A young boy who survives the whole ordeal runs happilly towards Mary and Peter who have successfully managed to save the world, arms outstretched and smiling. Mary looks horrified and starts screaming? Mostly people seem to think the boy has been possessed by the spirit of our priest or is to become a zombie. I myself have no idea. It seemed to me they weren't sure how to end it so just stopped and left it wide open to interpretation. A bit disappointing I thought. I don't need it spelt out to me, but HANG ON!!!
So, gore -good, eerie feel - good, main characters - good, effects - good, storyline - hmmmmm... I feel this lets us down a bit. Sadly as I felt this movie drags a lot and you're watching a lot of very tiresome guff to get to the good bits, I can't give this one a recommended tag. I definately wouldn't give it an avoid though as it doesn't deserve it.
An ok watch, not going to trouble your brain but a high risk of sending you to sleep if you're feeling a bit tired.
Showing posts with label Fulci. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fulci. Show all posts
Saturday, 30 March 2013
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Zombie Flesh Eaters - Will's Review
What to say about our last movie?
Well, its a Fulci, with all that entails; multiple plot threads, hyper-realism, gore and an eyeball getting graphically damaged.
It also contains what is probably Fulci's most famous scene - the underwater fight between a shark (2 sharks actually, but probably both 'played' by the same shark) and a Zombie!
Well, its a Fulci, with all that entails; multiple plot threads, hyper-realism, gore and an eyeball getting graphically damaged.
It also contains what is probably Fulci's most famous scene - the underwater fight between a shark (2 sharks actually, but probably both 'played' by the same shark) and a Zombie!
Sunday, 18 March 2012
The House By The Cemetery - Will's Review
This movie is one third of the Fulci "Gates of Hell" 'Trilogy' (The Beyond being another third, and the non-DPP 'City of the Living Dead' being the other) As 'The Beyond' is one of only 5 movies so far o earn the 'VNAW Recommended' badge, I was looking forward to this...
From the outset it is a wonderfully shot film, looking so visually similar to The Beyond that i checked if it had the same DP (it did) - even the early exterior shots manage to have a claustrophobic feel to them, and the sequence of the first victim being dragged off is (and it seems odd to say this) beautiful.
Unfortunately, this is limited to the pre-credit sequence; once the film proper gets going, it's just another (albeit competently made) 70's Italian horror movie.
And by 'Just another 70s Italian horror movie' I mean 'Large chunks of it make no sense, and the monster is sub-early Doctor Who quality'
The movie is about a family who move into a house because the dad is reasurching it, the house has its own graveyard, and the basement is boarded up. Clearly, the family have never seen a horror movie before, because the almost imidiatly open the basement, but then when weird stuff starts happening, it takes them fodder to actually attempt to flee the house and never come back.
There's a sub-plot with a girl from the past communicating with the boy of the family but, like all of the supernatural elements of the film, this dissent make sense in the context of, or tie into the reason behind, the murders that surround the house once the 'twist' is revealed.
To be honest, I found this one a little dull, unfortunately, crew aside, the only thing this movie has in common with the beyond, are some decent effects, and a nonsensical ending.
Body Count: 7
Boob Count: 1 Pair
Animal Body Count: 2
Most Memorable Death: Poke her with a Poker.
From the outset it is a wonderfully shot film, looking so visually similar to The Beyond that i checked if it had the same DP (it did) - even the early exterior shots manage to have a claustrophobic feel to them, and the sequence of the first victim being dragged off is (and it seems odd to say this) beautiful.
Unfortunately, this is limited to the pre-credit sequence; once the film proper gets going, it's just another (albeit competently made) 70's Italian horror movie.
And by 'Just another 70s Italian horror movie' I mean 'Large chunks of it make no sense, and the monster is sub-early Doctor Who quality'
The movie is about a family who move into a house because the dad is reasurching it, the house has its own graveyard, and the basement is boarded up. Clearly, the family have never seen a horror movie before, because the almost imidiatly open the basement, but then when weird stuff starts happening, it takes them fodder to actually attempt to flee the house and never come back.
There's a sub-plot with a girl from the past communicating with the boy of the family but, like all of the supernatural elements of the film, this dissent make sense in the context of, or tie into the reason behind, the murders that surround the house once the 'twist' is revealed.
To be honest, I found this one a little dull, unfortunately, crew aside, the only thing this movie has in common with the beyond, are some decent effects, and a nonsensical ending.
Body Count: 7
Boob Count: 1 Pair
Animal Body Count: 2
Most Memorable Death: Poke her with a Poker.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
Monday, 12 March 2012
Week 43: House By The Cemetery - The
Alternate Titles : The House Outside the Cemetery, Quella Villa Accanto al Cimitero
Year: 1981
Reviews / Author Comments due: 17/3/2012
DPP Status: Successfully Prosecuted
BBFC Status: Passed uncut in 2009
Wikipedia: The House By The Cemetery
DVD: R2 uncut as part of the "Gates of Hell" Trilogy, With City of the Living Dead, and The Beyond
Watch For Free: Details here
DVD: R2 uncut as part of the "Gates of Hell" Trilogy, With City of the Living Dead, and The Beyond
Watch For Free: Details here
Feel free to use the comments section of this post to add your own reviews and thoughts about this movie.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
SHOCKTOBER SPECIAL: A Cat In The Brain - Will's Review
NOTE: In honour of Halloween, We're taking a break from the DPP list.
This weeks movie was selected for 2 reasons:
1. Although it was too recent to make the DPP list, it was banned on release in the UK, and only passed in 2003 after extensive cuts.
2. It was Written and Directed by, and stars (as Himself) prolific Video Nasty Director Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, Zombie Flesh Eaters)
Famous Italian Horror director Lucio Fulci (playing himself) is beginning to become effected by the gore he sees day-to-day in his work. At first, he has trouble eating rare meat, then he is bothered by a neighbours chainsaw, and before long he is hallucinating terrible murders (most, I think culled from his previous movies), and even believes he is committing some of them himself.
Over on our Facebook Page, reader Sean described this thus; "the only Fulci movie that had me beat, I struggled through an hour then gave up", but then Lisa messaged me to say how much she was enjoying it... So, who was right?
Well.... Kinda Sean, but I can see Lisa's point; Lisa, you understand, is a bit of a gore hound - and this film is certainly not lacking in gore. There's the obligatory eyeball gag1, Maggot covered corpses, dismemberment, disembowelment, stabbings, bodies oozing goo of every verity, and of course, a cat digging through a brain, all in glorious hyper-realism (read: too gory to be real, hold on to your lunch).
For me though, the gore was pretty much all it had going for it; the acting was terrible (only Fulci wasn't utterly horrendous, and he's a director, not an actor!), the score cringe-worthy, the script insane, and the sound mixer needs shooting; I watched this with headphones, and the first scene change in the movie almost blew my eardrums, and caused my partner to ask me to turn them down as she couldn't hear what she was doing!
So it seems this is a love or hate film, and I can't say I was a fan... Lisa, we disagree again!
Body Count: 18
Boob Count: 10
Animal Body Count: 0
Most Memorable Kill: Chainsaw Beheading
1"Gag", for those not geeky enough to have read around these things, here refers to a special effect, rather than a joke
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
SHOCKTOBER SPECIAL: A cat in the brain - Lisa's Review
NOTE: In honour of Halloween, We're taking a break from the DPP list.
This weeks movie was selected for 2 reasons:
1. Although it was too recent to make the DPP list, it was banned on release in the UK, and only passed in 2003 after extensive cuts.
2. It was Written and Directed by, and stars (as Himself) prolific Video Nasty Director Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, Zombie Flesh Eaters)
For anyone not in the know, Lucio Fulci is a very famous Italian horror director famous for the goriest of movies. In this movie, he brings together the best examples of gore from his other movies. He manages to re-use these as he plays himself in the movie and we see how his involvement with such despicable material in his movies, slowly starts contributing to his mental breakdown. He eventually starts imagining brutal deaths and thinks he is responsible for these. So thats the premise... how did it pan out?
Ok, so the acting is dire. It says something that the best performance comes from Fulci himself and he is far from an actor. The gore isn't believable in a lot of places, the script is laughable and some of the gore is so obscene, all you can do is laugh open mouthed.. I suppose that's why we get the phrase 'Eyeball Gag' with reference to all means of horrid things happening to eyeballs... a Fulci favourite.
The good points? If you're a fan of gore, this movie has it in spades. Its like taking out all of the boring, slow bits from other movies and just letting loose with gore, obscenity and general rudeness. There are boobs a plenty in this one it has to be said, which is no doubt a plus point for the majority of male viewers. I also found that even though there are several violent scenes involving women, that have an overtly sexual nature, they didn't come across as titillating or exploitative to me at all.
This movie will appeal to some and not at all to others. I don't think its going to be one of those 'It was ok' movies. It certainly doesn't hold back, that's for sure. Among delights contained therein are: Decapitation, Disembowelling, Dismemberment, Chainsaws aplenty, Knife Stabbings, Several nasty Eyeball moments, A few horrendous beatings (very realistic too!), A psycho style shower murder (but this one is much more graphic) and cannibalism for good measure.
I won't go into detail about scenes from the movie, or give away the storyline, but I will say I really enjoyed this one. I have a penchant for nasty movies though, so if you're of a weak disposition and consider movies like 'Sixth Sense' and 'Final Destination' horror movies, then probably best avoid this one.
Deffo one for the die hard gore fan. BIG thumbs up!
Deffo one for the die hard gore fan. BIG thumbs up!
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
The Beyond - Will's Review
This week I have mostly been having flu.
This has nothing to do with the movie, but will effect the review, for one thing it will have less time spent on it than normal, and for another I was so ill when I watched the movie that I probably misjudged parts of it horribly, which is a shame, because from the films opening shot it is obvious that this is a cut above the previous 4 week's films, actually looking like a 'proper movie'!
I don't know if the budget was any higher on this than on the last 4, or if Fulci and Salvati (Director and DP respectively) just did a better job of putting what money they had on screen, but this is the first nasty on our list not to look like a student film!
In the opening segment we meet a Painter / Alleged Warlock by the name of Shpike, who (along with a blind girl) is the current keeper of the 'Book of Eibon' a 4000 year old collection of prophecies - throughout the movie we will learn little of these prophecies, save for the fact that they tell us that the hotel in which the opening (and most if the rest of the film) is set, is built on one of the 7 gateways to hell.
Shpike is crucified and brutally murdered in the hotel by an angry mob, and so the gate-way is opened... Except it seemingly lays dormant for another 50 years until our Heroin, Ilisa, inherits the place from a rich uncle she was only vaguely aware that she had.
Speaking of the Shpike's murder, which is unnecessarily prolonged and gory (Yay!), there was one thing really bothered me about it, which sadly plagued almost every subsequent death in the movie; is apparently unfamiliar with the phrase "blood is thicker than water" - while there is plenty of the red stuff, it looks more like a full bodied merlot than actual blood.
Anyway, Ilisa inherits the hotel in a hell of a state (no pun intended), it's completely run-down, everything is inch-thick in dirt, building work is needed, the basement is flooded and baths are full of water so old and dirty that you couldn't see a submerged body in one untill it reached out and grabbed you... Which is odd, because it comes with staff; What exactly mother/son care-taking team Martha and Arthur have been up to these last few years is anyone's guess, but now they have the unenviable task of cleaning the dump up and getting it ready for re-opening, as Ilisa has decided to move in and run the place.
We also meet our other main protagonist John McCain (I think that's what my notes say - stoopid flu) - a doctor who seemingly knows everyone in town (to the extent that if he doesn't know them, he deems it odd, Joe- a not long of this world plumber, Emily- a blind girl with an uncanny resemblance to the girl from the films opening and Dickie - Emily's absolutely adorable German Shepard guide-dog.
Large chunks of the plot (and most especially it's surreal ending) go unexplained, but in that way that horror movies can sometimes pull off as 'dreamlike' - if you arn't a fan of ambiguity though, best give this one a miss - it rivals even Japanese horror in that department!
Finally, I can't review this movie without mentioning eyeballs! Until I get further down the list of movies I can't comment if this is a Fulci trademark or if it's unique to this movie, but the dude seems to love a good eyeball gag (in the special effects sense, Not the joke sense) at least half of the deaths in the movie seem to involve eyeballs being graphically punctured, removed or eaten by spiders - Nice! How this got removed from the List, while Axe got a prosecution, I will never understand...
Body Count: 6
Animal Body Count: 0
Boob count: 0
Most Memorable Death: Melted by Quicklime
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the "Reader Reviews" post for this movie.
This has nothing to do with the movie, but will effect the review, for one thing it will have less time spent on it than normal, and for another I was so ill when I watched the movie that I probably misjudged parts of it horribly, which is a shame, because from the films opening shot it is obvious that this is a cut above the previous 4 week's films, actually looking like a 'proper movie'!
I don't know if the budget was any higher on this than on the last 4, or if Fulci and Salvati (Director and DP respectively) just did a better job of putting what money they had on screen, but this is the first nasty on our list not to look like a student film!
In the opening segment we meet a Painter / Alleged Warlock by the name of Shpike, who (along with a blind girl) is the current keeper of the 'Book of Eibon' a 4000 year old collection of prophecies - throughout the movie we will learn little of these prophecies, save for the fact that they tell us that the hotel in which the opening (and most if the rest of the film) is set, is built on one of the 7 gateways to hell.
Shpike is crucified and brutally murdered in the hotel by an angry mob, and so the gate-way is opened... Except it seemingly lays dormant for another 50 years until our Heroin, Ilisa, inherits the place from a rich uncle she was only vaguely aware that she had.
Speaking of the Shpike's murder, which is unnecessarily prolonged and gory (Yay!), there was one thing really bothered me about it, which sadly plagued almost every subsequent death in the movie; is apparently unfamiliar with the phrase "blood is thicker than water" - while there is plenty of the red stuff, it looks more like a full bodied merlot than actual blood.
Anyway, Ilisa inherits the hotel in a hell of a state (no pun intended), it's completely run-down, everything is inch-thick in dirt, building work is needed, the basement is flooded and baths are full of water so old and dirty that you couldn't see a submerged body in one untill it reached out and grabbed you... Which is odd, because it comes with staff; What exactly mother/son care-taking team Martha and Arthur have been up to these last few years is anyone's guess, but now they have the unenviable task of cleaning the dump up and getting it ready for re-opening, as Ilisa has decided to move in and run the place.
We also meet our other main protagonist John McCain (I think that's what my notes say - stoopid flu) - a doctor who seemingly knows everyone in town (to the extent that if he doesn't know them, he deems it odd, Joe- a not long of this world plumber, Emily- a blind girl with an uncanny resemblance to the girl from the films opening and Dickie - Emily's absolutely adorable German Shepard guide-dog.
Large chunks of the plot (and most especially it's surreal ending) go unexplained, but in that way that horror movies can sometimes pull off as 'dreamlike' - if you arn't a fan of ambiguity though, best give this one a miss - it rivals even Japanese horror in that department!
Finally, I can't review this movie without mentioning eyeballs! Until I get further down the list of movies I can't comment if this is a Fulci trademark or if it's unique to this movie, but the dude seems to love a good eyeball gag (in the special effects sense, Not the joke sense) at least half of the deaths in the movie seem to involve eyeballs being graphically punctured, removed or eaten by spiders - Nice! How this got removed from the List, while Axe got a prosecution, I will never understand...
Body Count: 6
Animal Body Count: 0
Boob count: 0
Most Memorable Death: Melted by Quicklime
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the "Reader Reviews" post for this movie.
The Beyond - Lisa's Review
*** CONTAINS SPOILERS ***
So here commences with review No 5! Given that I'm the video nasty 'virgin' I'm quite impressed at myself. It's become quite the little distraction when giving Isaac his bottle... good job he's not old enough to know what I'm watching though. So on to the movie..
My first comment has to be... That's more like it! I actually thoroughly enjoyed this movie and will be keen to see more from Lucio Fulci. The die-hard horror fans amongst you will be aghast at that, but no, I haven't actually seen anything by this guy before. I have been a big horror fan since my dad introduced me to the many Stephen King movies (when he was still good) when I was about 7 or 8, but everything I have seen has been post these sort of movies... Sorry I deviated again...
So whats to like about 'The Beyond'? More like what's not to like. This movie has a bit of it all...haunting, spookiness, gore, not too bad acting (we won't get carried away and call it good), great effects, a storyline, creepiness, intrigue... ahh no sex or boobs though - sorry guys!
To start with I really like the opening sequence to the movie which is set in 1927 where a group of villagers murder an artist (quite horribly) that they believe to be a warlock. The cinematography is lovely to watch (even if the subject matter isn't)and is shot in sepia which do the effects the world of good. They look all the more gorey, realistic and creepy. The scene which contains flagellation of the artist by way of something sharp and nasty is genuinely horrid and made me wince. You haven't even been introduced to this first victim, yet you feel genuine empathy and distress for him. This is achieved not just by some quite good acting, but also by fantastic make-up, a great attention to detail with the sound of the movie and great cinematography. Not only does the tearing flesh, pouring blood, nails hammering through flesh and acid melting skin look real and horrific, it also sounds it. Fantastic opening sequence. However 'Ms soundtrack fixation' must point out that a really eerie soundtrack is replaced by the usual bontempi organ later on.... what the hell is going on? You had it spot on guys!!!
As the movie progressed, although I enjoyed it, I did wish I could watch an entire movie with the effects, sepia overtone and mood of the first scene. We did however pop forward to what was the present day when the movie was filmed. Our lead actress Liza (which is almost Lisa if you put your mind to it!) has inherited the building where this atrocity has happened and wants to go into business with it as a hotel. Renovation work on the building seems to resurrect something horrid and all sorts starts to kick off.
Something I'm learning is that a lot of these movies have very ugly children in them and this one is no different.. cue wierd looking ginger child with horrific eyebrows. Her mother and her are called to the hospital where her dads body is laid out in the morgue beside the mummified remains of the poor guy who met his demise in the first scene. The make-up here is fantastic, I don't think modern effects have done anything to improve what's achievable these days. Soooo, the mother goes in, but doesn't look too traumatised by the state her dead husband is in wierdly enough... I think she deserves to meet a nasty end... I wasn't disappointed. You are treated to a scream from outside the room, cue ginger child running in (who thankfully has the nounce to look horrified). Her mother is unconscious on the floor conveniently beneath an overturned jar of acid (I'll let you work out what happens). You're left to wonder why the scream and why she ended up on the floor. The effects and makeup which follow are very impressive. I particularly liked the 'foamy' blood creeping across the floor towards the feet of the child... messy!
There is an odd 'freeze frame' where the child screams here which is very oddly placed and just looked stupid, but hey ho.
Not long after this, we are introduced to Emily, a strange blind girl with an awesome alsation dog called Dicky (snigger) who is the owner of the most awesome contact lenses I have seen in a movie. I want a pair! They looked ace! She has a wierd, echoey voice (like the kind thats usually used in flashbacks) that is the first clue all is not normal with her. I won't give away who she is and why all is not as it seems there, but I did love the revelation as to who she is.
As the movie progresses, the ginger kid gets herself a pair of the cool contact lenses, indicating she is now part of whatever the blind girl is... the only hint at whats going on is the ominous line "The blind see things more clearly".
I won't give away any more of the storyline as its fun to watch but be warned it doesn't all tie together in places and some things don't altogether make sense. There are some scenes where the more astute viewer with a memory would think "huh?" but try not to get too tied up in that. It doesn't really matter that you can't explain everything and that some things don't entirely make sense. It doesn't take away anything from the movie or spoil the enjoyment.
Scenes which do warrant a mention are the body nailed to the wall in the haunted room, a tarantula face eating scene (which is both hilarious for some of the fake spiders whose legs all lift at the same time when they walk, but also very creepy but the sounds as they nibble their way through someones face), Body in the bath scene (this is awesome!!! Watch for the housekeepers death!), Dicky the dog doing what needs to be done (how dare Emily send him in to fight zombies to save her.. zombies which incidentally were fantastic!!!).
A special mention has to go with how the ginger kid is dispatched... fantastic! How the hell did they DO that back then? Awesome in every way. I rewound it several times and it still looked as good after several watches. I can't give it away, you HAVE to watch it.
The scene which is played out as the movie ends again is great. The 2 lead characters find themselves, I suppose in 'The Beyond'. The backdrop.. or however they did it, is awe inspiring. Its a true horror genius that's come up with some of the scenes in this movie and the wasteland they find themselves in is well and truely desolate and immensely depressing... and littered with mummified bodies for good measure.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this movie. I would heartilly recommend it to anyone. Yes, it did have gore, but not enough to kick up a fuss, just bloody good gore and great effects. The acting is very good for this kind of movie and the movie score is impressive as are the general sound effects used. My favourite part however was the cinematography and general mood Fulci has created with the film. Top Notch!
Makeup - 9/10
Soundtrack - 8/10
Gore - 10/10 (although not wall to wall gore, it was a perfect amount for the movie)
Overall - 8/10
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the "Reader Reviews" post for this movie.
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