Wednesday, January 04, 2012

More crap on netflix I watched during my week off:

I'm starting to get to the bottom of the barrel of netflix horror/thriller/suspense.  There are a lot of titles I've already seen and my queue is filled with excellent movies but every time I want to watch a movie I don't want to sit through some Godard or Bergman (as much as I love them).  My main interests over the last year or so are Spanish & French supernatural thrillers (the Spanish films are far superior) British and Australian horror/thrillers.  Some of them have been really good but most are okay, better than most of the straight-to-DVD garbage Americans crank out at least.  Here's a run down of some of what I've watched recently in particular order and not limited to horror.
  • Beneath the Dark (2010) dir Chad Feehan.  An indie "Twilight Zone"-esque thriller that's predictable but better than average with an underlying message about taking responsibility for one's actions and the long reaching consequences they can have.  It's not bad at all but don't fall over yourself to see it.
  • Vanishing on 7th Street (2011) dir Brad Anderson.  John Leguizamo = good.  Hayden "NOOOOOOOO!" Christensen = bad.  I was watching this alone and cracking myself up by making "Star Wars" references everytime Christensen was on screen.  Gong.
  • Vamp (1986) dir Richard Wenk.  Despite the suckiness of this movie it kind of fucking rocks simply because it's one of those 80s movies that just don't give a fuck.  Grace Jones goes batshit crazy in this one even though she doesn't say a word.  Gedde Watanabe cracked me up as well.  I wonder what he's doing now.  Pure schlock goodness.
  • Dead Cert (2010) dir Steven Lawson.  London hard cunts vs vampires.  Seriously, this movie wasn't great but it was actually kind of awesome.  I kind of wish it had been a Neil Marshall movie.  Worth watching for some of the performances and a drinking game based on the premise of drinking whenever you can't comprehend the argy bargy robble robble innit dialogue. 
  • Rammbock (2010) dir Marvin Kren.  A German zombie movie that turned out to be pretty good and I have little patience for zombie movies.  This falls squarely into the character driven zombie movie school in which the zombies are just a useful template.  This movie really worked for me because I liked the protagonists and their interactions.  Definitely worth seeing - especially since it was horribly dubbed like We Are the Night.
  • The Violent Kind (2010) dir Mitchell Altieri & Phil Flores.  Bikers vs undead Rockabilly...WTF.  If this movie had been made in the 80s it would been awesome but for some reason it just doesn't work.  I ended up having more fun dismembering gummi bears while watching this than actually watching the movie. 
  • Inheritance (2011) dir Robert O'Hara.  This movie took me completely off guard for several reasons.  The first was that it was a departure from the average horror movie that has a black cast.  Normally a black horror movie tends to be thugs vs monsters with a shitty Dirty South soundtrack and a production quality that is reminiscent of shitty rap videos.  Inheritance has just regular citizens in a tense situation.  Not the world's greatest horror movie and pretty damn predictable but worth a gander if you're looking for something off the beaten path.  Some of the acting was pretty solid as well.
  • Last of the Living (2008) dir Logan McMillan.  A Kiwi zom-com that was okay but not really worth the twenty minutes I watched of it.  Three dumb-asses fight zombies and make gay jokes.  Gong.
  • The Tomb (2009) dir Michael Staininger.  Once upon a time, during a magical time, Fangoria was the go to source for all our horror needs.  Now Fangoria has the same connotation as Wes Craven, that is - total fucking crap.  The hot goth-y chick bad guy didn't even get naked.  Gong.
  • Coffin Rock (2009) dir Rupert Glasson.  An Aussie stalker thriller that turned out to be a great watch.  Well paced with engaging characters and shot really well.  Worth watching but this is not an actioner or erotic thriller, it's a tense character drama.
  • To the Devil a Daughter (1976) dir Peter Sykes.  I was sold on this movie from the beginning which opens with a segment of dialogue that was sampled in White Zombie's "Super-Charger Heaven" (I still love White Zombie).  This Hammer flick stars Christopher Lee and his crazy ass eyebrows, Denholm Elliot, Richard Widmark, and Natasha Kinski and her sexy self.  I had a good time watching this and while it wasn't remotely as good as "The Omen" it was a satisfying mid-70s Satanic movie.  Plus there was one part actually creeped me out, if you've seen it you probably know the part I mean.
There were a couple of other titles I watched but turned off after a few minutes - Kill Katie Malone, for example, was laughable and I turned that off after about ten minutes.  I still have a lot of free time until school starts so expect a couple more rounds of reviews. 

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