It’s an American thing. I have a summer residence and property located on the edge of Appalachia. So yes, the movie does poke fun at those people…and in some cases it is quite accurate.
Mondo Trasho
-John Waters’ first full length movie. It’s mostly silent with soundtrack mixed with various rock’n roll songs and weird sound effects. It’s very strenuous at first but once you can get into it it’s just great trash.
[size=12pt]THE WICKER MAN (1973)[/size]
A legendary British horror movie, occasionally called ‘The Citizen Kane of British horror’; it was named the sixth best British movie of all time in 2004. Don’t know if it’s one of the best horror movies ever, but it sure is one of the sexiest. If you didn’t understand why Rod Stewart was interested in Britt Ekland, you will after watching her fertility dance in this movie.
Sergeant Neil Howe is sent to a small island to investigate a case of a missing girl. To his surprise, the locals tell him the girl doesn’t exist. Howe, a devoted Christian, discovers that these locals have abjured Christianity, and devoted themselves to ancient Celtic cults that - Oh my God! - glorify sexuality. The lyrics of their festive songs are full of references to copulation and they venerate a tree in the form of a phallus. Freud would’ve been delighted, Howe isn’t, and the situation becomes alarming when he finds out that the girl might be the intended victim of a horrible ritual, that will take place during the upcoming festivities …
The Wicker Man is certainly more literate, more ‘arty’ than the average horror movie; it has great atmosphere and is beautifully shot, the accents (quite strong but not too difficult to understand) add to the feeling of authenticity. The title is taken from a line of Julius Caesar’s “De Bello Gallico”, in which he describes how local tribes execute (local in what now is France) execute convicted criminals by burning them alive; however, in Caesar’s accounts the meaning of the ritual seemed to be radically different from what is suggested here.
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:11483, topic:1923”]
[size=12pt]THE WICKER MAN (1973)[/size][/quote]
Only seen it once, it was an OK film, worked well, but apart from the more cultural part, that in the end did all the difference, didn’t thought it was much far from those classic terror films from the sixties, mostly the ones with Aliens, (not so much the Romero classics).
Never watch it myself but read that the remake was an obnoxious affair.
Haven’t bothered with the remake either.
I’ve finally watched original Wicker Man couple of weeks ago, after it’s been on my radar for years. I don’t know, I’ve expected more. For “one of the best horror movies” it is very unscarry, feeling of dread was actually better pronounced in the hated remake. That said, some of the changes in the remake are really incomprehensible. For some reason they’ve turned the remake into a battle of the sexes story, and the result was really immaturely misogyny and anti-feminist movie.
The original is not very scary, no. Maybe it was more ‘shocking’ when it was released in cinemas, don’t know.
The original Wicker Man only made an impression on me the very first time I saw it. I watched it again, many years later and found it lacking. Its an old, and oft repeated theme in films - stranger comes into town, and the whole town turns out to be some witch cult. And something bad always ends up happening to the stranger.
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:11485, topic:1923”]Haven’t bothered with the remake either.[/quote]Nor me.
The Wicker Man isn’t a scary film, no, but the climax does have a mounting sense of indescribable horror at what’s about to take place, and its atmosphere and feel for the British countryside is quite unique, except perhaps for Witchfinder General.
Watched Alex Cox’s Searchers 2.0 (2007). Apart from its cheap, nasty HD video look, it’s actually quite entertaining and fun, Cox wearing his low budget (mostly) lightly. Anyhow, any film with credit card of “A Roger Corman film in association with BBC films” has to be worth watching, surely.
The Wicker Man is closer to a Thriller than to a Horror film. I liked it, but it ain’t masterpiece. Maybe 7,5/10
Yeah, unique alright - to me it looked like some sort of tropical plantation - I thought I saw banana trees.
Invasion, 1966… British cult-film that really works well because it’s shot in black-and-white. It has a macabre moodiness. B&W also enhances the the film’s aspect of having Asian-actors as the aliens. The script was constructed in a way that I stopped noticing after a few minutes. Some modern Asian horror-film directors may’ve even used this film as a template… as it’s all about a rural hospital being surrounded by an invisible energy-wall, and infiltrated by ‘alien-policewomen’ searching for an escaped criminal. It’s worth a look.
The Art of Steal (2013) Kurt Russell
Interesting cast in this one, I quite enjoyed it, nowhere near as bad as I thought it’d be. Worth a watch if you like that heist sort of film, or if bored. 6/10
The Bag Man (2014) John Cusack, Robert De Niro
Bizarre to say the least. The premise for this film is for a hit-man (Cusack) to retrieve a bag for a mob boss (De Niro) and wait at a sleazy motel for further orders, but he can’t look in the bag or the deal is off and he won’t get paid. Meah… not that good and I almost gave up on this, but watched it till the end just to see what the fuck was in that bag. 5/10
[url]http://imgur.com/gI8QHGR[/url]
Zulu (2013) Orlando Bloom, Forest Whitaker
This South African film was better than I expected. Good scenery, good acting by the two leads especially (Bloom) who was spot on IMO, and the action although good was quite violent for this type of film. Watched it without the subs, but English sub’s definitely needed for this, though !. 7/10
Dark Blue World/Tmavomodrý svet (2001) Jan Sverák
This is a very good movie, very well directed under a tight budget, with good actors and a consistent story. The similarities with Pearl Harbor (yeah I’ve see it), mainly in the romantic subplot of film can be obvious, with also a love triangle, but they stop right there, this one its in a very different league, it’s a much better film than Pearl Harbor.
It tells the story of Czech air force pilots that after the invasion of their country, flee to England and join the RAF to fight the Nazis, following the take over by the Nazis, return to their homeland after 1945, just to find out that the then ruling communist regime fearing the surviving pilots had become too much westernized, and instead of treating them as heroes throw them into concentration camps.
The cinematography is fantastic, and the few air battles air scenes are very good, brutal and looking very real, with some fantastic flying sequences. Both Czech and Polish squadrons were only used in the final days of Battle of Britain, when pilots became scarce.
The story told in flashback, is real sad it’s indeed a sad movie, And while watching it I remember a German friend born in East German, telling me how dangerous films like Good bye Lenine were, cause kept apart all the bad things they lives. I think there’s a film for everyone but really never forget his words.
Sad but true and great, all those words are can be said about this film, really a must watch.
Never heard of it, but sounds like a must watch
Finally got around to seeing the Carrie remake.
What…The…Fuck…
Well? What did you think? 
Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug - i’m not very happy with such extensive use of CGI in these movies and the barrellriding scene suffers from it the most - actually i thought it iwas pretty ridiculous scene up there with some most terrible lucasisms -
luckily enough, the rest of the movie is really good and last hour or so, with Smaug wreaking havoc around is pure fantasy feast
but still, where are those good times when first LOTR came out and fights with orcs were mostly real live fights and not something which makes you believe you’re watching some kind of an animated version
[quote=“Lone Gringo, post:11494, topic:1923”]Zulu (2013) Orlando Bloom, Forest Whitaker
This South African film was better than I expected. Good scenery, good acting by the two leads especially (Bloom) who was spot on IMO, and the action although good was quite violent for this type of film. Watched it without the subs, but English sub’s definitely needed for this, though !. 7/10[/quote]
Never knew this one had been remade.