The Shining (1980) - Lisa's Review

The Shining has been one of those movies that has never fallen off my Top 20 Movies List.  Once upon a time it was in the top 10, but since then I've seen A LOT of movies, so it is a testament to how good the movie is to still remain so high in my estimation.  I'm generally not a big Kubrick fan, but this is his finest work IMHO.

The Shining is a movie I would expect everyone has seen.  Giving a detailed premise seems redundant, but for the sake of any future young 'uns who may happen upon this blog, here is a basic idea.

We follow frustrated and ex alcoholic author, Jack Torrance, who is looking for somewhere quiet and secluded, where inspiration may strike and enable him to do some writing.  A perfect opportunity comes up for Jack to act as a winter caretaker at The Overlook Hotel, which is closed from November to May due to severe weather conditions.  Jack is delighted to be offered the position, and despite warnings from the hotel manager about the previous caretakers meltdown and experience of cabin fever, he feels strong enough of mind to handle the seclusion.  He has the company of his long suffering wife Wendy and young son Danny over the period.

Jack is a very sullen and troubled character and his wife Wendy appears to be very put upon.  Jack seems to hold her responsible for his lack of success and inability to hold down a job since he lost his teaching career due to his violent tendencies.  With all this in mind, it was perhaps, not the best decision to take his young family to the seclusion of Overlook Hotel.

Alien (1979) - Lisa's Review

I have great memories of sitting in front of the sofa on the floor and watching this movie with my dad when my age would still have been in single figures.  Let me get this out there now - I don't like sci-fi movies as a whole.  I'm not a fan of the copious amount of sci-fi programs out there and I generally get bored pretty quickly if they start talking in sci-fi language.  That out of the way, I LOVE this movie (and several of its sequels).

For starters, the alien referred to in the movies title was designed by none other than one of my favourite artists H R Giger.  It was like nothing we had seen before and was ground breaking, influencing so many movies that followed.  It obliterated the template for science fiction movies and brought so much that was new to the genre.  There was so much more to offer here.  I won't go into a plot or premise, as the likelihood of anyone reading this having not seen Alien is non-existent.  I will say that even if you don't like sci-fi, give this one a go anyway.  It has a great script, fantastic acting, amazing cinematography and a set design like I've never seen.  Everything from how the Alien came to be on board the ship Nostromo, to the attempts to destroy it with limited options available, to how the story ended, was pretty near perfect.  You won't watch this movie and feel that you wished they'd done anything different.  This movie is pretty much as near to perfect as you can get for a science fiction movie.

Halloween (1978) - Lisa's Review

Halloween is a favourite of an awful lot of people I know.  I wouldn't say it was a favourite of mine, but it is a movie I would recommend any horror fan watch.  It was the first that spawned a lot of similar teen slasher style movies.  I'm thinking Friday the 13th / Nightmare on Elm Street.

The teenagers in these movies can pretty much be taken or left, replaced by the next young hopeful in the queue.  I think a lot of guys may disagree with me here seeing as Jamie Lee Curtis plays our innocent young schoolgirl Laurie in this movie.  The slasher is Michael Myers.  We never see an adult face, only that of his 6 year old self with the murder that started it all.

When Michael was 6 years old he murdered his sister on Halloween night with a very big knife whilst wearing a clown costume.  The murder scene itself in this movie is something that was incredibly weakened for me by the need for the sister to be shown naked after she'd been murdered, ok, so she'd just been shagging her boyfriend, but for me it turned what could have been a creepy, dark scene into something for the boys.  Also the ridiculous flailing about by his sister, the lack of any attempt to get up from her seat to get away or push her 6 year old brother over was a bit of a laugh.  It's sad really as the movies start is very strong, but would have been much stronger had these couple of elements been changed.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) - Lisa's Review

This is a movie I have watched a few times.  It does remain one of the better 'of the dead' movies.  Hey, the remake wasn't even that bad.  In all honesty I've never been a big fan of zombie movies, but I happen to be married to someone obsessed by them, so I've had to watch my fair share of them.

When I recommend this movie, it isn't a recommended for a general movie fan, but rather one for a fan of older horrors or more notably fans of zombie horror.

Our story follows 2 SWAT teams (yes, 2!) and a couple who work for a television company and their fight against the ever-growing epidemic of the rise of the undead.  The main location for the movie is a shopping mall which has escaped most of the zombies.  Our four leading characters are TV Exec Francine (Gaylen Ross), her boyfriend - traffic reporter Stephen (David Emge), SWAT member Roger (Scott H Reiniger) and his friend Peter (Ken Foree).  The four manage to rid the mall of the existing zombies, build a false wall which constructs a corridor that conceals the entrance they had been using and they took out trucks to block all the other entrances.  While showboating on one of the truck rides, Roger ends up getting bitten, but the remaining three try to care for him at first.  For a while they live it up, availing of everything you can do inside an empty mall.  This freedom leads to feeling not so free after all when they realise they are trapped inside due to the zombies outside.  They begin to think about taking their chances on the outside, but since there wasn't a complete consensus within the group they stayed, at least until Roger eventually snuffs it and starts to reanimate.  Peter does the needful and pulls the trigger.

An American Werewolf in London - Lisa's Review

I think I should say right from the off, this is probably going to be a very biased review as 'An American Werewolf in London' is right up there amongst my favourite movies.  It's easily the best werewolf movie ever made.  The effects, so groundbreaking in 1981 are still just as jaw dropping today, which is something given the lack of CGI effects then which are common place today.

The movie follows best buddies David and Jack as they leave their native America for the Yorkshire Moors in a backpacking trip.  Sadly, although they are supposedly in the moors, filming was carried out in Wales and Surrey.  Having lived in Yorkshire for quite a few years, I see no reason why they couldn't film there, but hey ho!  Anyways, whilst hiking, they decide to go into a local pub (The Slaughtered Lamb) as it's getting a bit dark.  If you're paying attention you'll see no other than Rik Mayall in there as one of the yokels.   It's one of those bars where you walk in and a 'stranger' spotlight must appear above your head as the entire bar stops to stare.  I still think of this scene when I enter a bar where I wish I'd never set foot.  So, upon asking about a Pentagram sign on the wall of the pub, the locals aka yokels, make it clear American tourists, David and Jack are not welcome.  A concerned barmaid is concerned that they are going out into the moors in the dark, but they are sent on their way and told to keep to the path.  Unfortunately when they leave they are so busy talking about where to go and what to do, they veer from the path and onto the moors.

Audition - Lisa's Review

I became a Japanese horror fan 12 or 13 years ago and Audition was one of the first movies Japanese movies I watched.  I had watched a couple before this so was prepared for the odd style, which is just as well, as Audition is probably as odd as it comes.  From the off I'll say it.  I love this movie.  It's all kinds of strange, the words of an old rock song by a band called Crimson Glory sum it up quite succinctly... "Strange and beautiful... wicked and wonderful".  I'm deliberately not going to go into much detail on the story as it's a movie a lot of people won't have seen and they really should change that as it is well worth a watch.  It is also a movie where a lot is left to the viewers own interpretation.  There are quite a few interpretations of the movie to be found online, one of which I am most definitely on board with.  Again, it's not something anyone who hasn't seen the movie should read beforehand.  It's better to go into this movie with as little knowledge as possible.  I'll happily talk about my interpretation if any reader (are there any out there??) wants to know after having viewed the movie.

The Fly - Lisa's Review

I'll start this review by saying, I'm not a fan of David Cronenberg.  I did mention this previously in my review of Videodrome.  I did also state that there were a couple of his movies that I loved.   The Fly is, in my humble opinion, the best thing he's ever done.

I hark back yet again to my late pre-teens and early teens and beloved family memories of Saturday nights sat around the toploader VHS with whatever gem my dad had picked up from the local video store.  We generally ended up watching a horror movie and I very vividly remember my mums discomfort and embarrassment at some aspects of nudity and sex scenes in this movie.  Having watched it again a few times since then, I can see it is not sexually graphic at all, but it was certainly enough to leave me red-faced and have my mum reach for the remote and the FFWD button back then.

So, the movie... I will make no bones about it.  I adore this movie.  I'm a massive Jeff Goldblum fan.  Not only is he a wonderfully talented actor with an imposing presence, but he is absolutely beautiful with a voice that makes my lady parts sing!  Although he became much more attractive in later years, he is definately appealing in The Fly.  As the movie starts Jeff plays Seth Brundle, a socially awkward but immensely intelligent scientist, with a nervous tension that only comes with being an eccentric scientist.  I've always found this kind of character oddly appealing and Jeff Goldblum plays it perfectly.

A Nightmare on Elm Street - Lisa's Review

This movie is one I think I could confidently say that every horror fan has seen.  If not why not?  It's a cult classic from my childhood and one of Wes Cravens best in my opinion.  I remember my dad renting it from the video shop for our old top-loader machine.  The second time I saw it still sticks with me to this day.   As a 12 year old first year student in ART CLASS!!  Our teacher wasn't the most dedicated, so had a habit of letting us watch videos or TV, but this particular day he slid 'A Nightmare in Elm Street' into the player before leaving us to it.  As a class of 12 year olds, we were most impressed, but I do remember some kids in the class being freaked out by it.  Although I thought it was awesome at the time, my adult brain questions allowing young kids to watch an 18 certificated movie in school.  I've always been a big horror fan, brought up on them by my dad, but I'm sure there were kids some of those images stayed with.  Anyways, to the movie.

A Nightmare on Elm Street follows a few young kids (Nancy, Tina, Glen and Rod) as most horrors did at this time.  Although the movie initially concentrates on Tina and her boyfriend Glen, we later become aware that Nancy is the star of the show and is the one who will face evil in the inevitable showdown.   A fantastic new idea is utilized in this movie - a world of dreams.  We know that in a good horror movie, we love that 'heart in your throat' scene where the hero(ine) tries to get away from the bad guy.  Here the concept of the bad guy existing in your dreams is introduced and what a bad guy!  With knives for fingers and badly burnt and scarred skin, Freddie Krueger was introduced to the world, giving us one of our iconic movie bad guys alongside Jason and Michael Myers.  We all have nightmares, but generally we wake up and realise that it's just a dream and we're safe.  Imagine a world where if you fall asleep, the bad guy is going to get you.  The worst part?  The nightmare you are destined to have is much more than that.  Whatever happens to you in your sleep, happens in real life.  Here we have the concept behind 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and as far as I'm concerned it's genius!  Obviously a lot of people thought so as this movie spawned a franchise of 9 movies!  It also led to a TV series and comic books.