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Post by GL on Aug 27, 2012 8:37:24 GMT -8
Added an uncut copy of Species III to the collection.
Haunted High-After becoming stranded in a high school, a group of students find the cause to be a reawakened spirit of a demonic headmaster and his minions, forcing them to battle the deadly spirits to get away alive. This here turned out to be one of the more impressive and enjoyable Sci-Fi Channel original films for the channel. One of the more impressive elements here is the rather nice suspense displayed, which comes from the exceptional use of the creepy-looking school location displayed here, with it's endless corridors and hallways littered with lockers as well as the uncertainty of the early actions that get them trapped inside. As those are combined with their tormenting the students throughout with all manners of tactics including reanimation of dead bodies, hallucinations, demonic powers, mind tricks and much more, which when combined with the nice gore make for a great time overall. While the ending's fantasy-derived solution, atrocious CGI and rather lame feel do drive this down somewhat, as a whole this was quite a bit of fun.
Bounty Hunters-Agreeing to ditch their target for a potentially richer score, a team of bail enforcement officers gets caught up in a mob war to kill off their prize and must fend off the group targeting him for execution. A pretty big disappointment, as this one could've been a really enjoyable entry but instead is really flawed. The first problem is the fact that the good guys are so easily corrupted here that on several occasions they ditch their target to get after more money at the drop of a hat, not really traits to get you behind them. The other, bigger issue, is the utter lack of action scenes that are carried out here, as beyond one measly shoot-out and a mild brawl early on, nothing happens until the finale, which is back to greatness with a lot of fun about it, but until then nothing happens and it's pretty lifeless at times. While the finale is a bit of a boost, mainly in an outstanding female martial arts battle that's quite a bit of fun, it's not nearly enough to make up for this one.
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Post by TheCandyMan Xч on Aug 27, 2012 18:18:42 GMT -8
Glad you enjoyed Species 3. I never really got into any of the species movies. Sex crazed aliens are weird man.
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Post by GL on Aug 28, 2012 8:30:13 GMT -8
You haven't seen weird until you watch Japanese tentacle porn. The Species films are nothing.
Angel Heart-Agreeing to take on a case, a private detective finds his target's connection to Satanism and black magic far more dangerous than expected and tries to escape them before succumbing to their threats. This was a rather fun entry, though there's some definite problems with it. One of the main issues here is the rather convoluted manner in which the entire mystery is found out, which tends to run all over the place and features a lot of extraneous parts that really could've been streamlined over time as the investigation seems to go on forever without really coming to any real conclusion in most cases, being told rather than fully investigated. That said, the rest of the film is quite enjoyable with a thoroughly involving mystery that needs to be sorted out, a rather potent mixture of black magic and voodoo which creates a nasty atmosphere and a rather shocking twist that ends the whole affair nicely. Not too much wrong here, though, so the positives really overwhelm the negatives.
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Post by Fangtasia on Aug 28, 2012 11:21:38 GMT -8
Japanese tentacle porn? I'm afraid to even ask Decided to do a Walking dead marathon. I don't have to go back to work until Thursday! Woot woot.
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Post by GL on Aug 30, 2012 8:07:03 GMT -8
Trust me: it's for guys only. And even then I'm leery about who I recommend it to. You've got to be demented to watch them. And again male. That's the important one, so don't worry too much about it. Curse of Alcatraz-After finding a strange Indian relic boarded up on Alcatraz, the research team studying the remains find themselves under attack by a strange curse affecting the others on the island and force them to battle it off to survive. A pretty unimpressive offering, especially since this one had a ton of opportunities to be really great. The usage of history mixed into the storyline and the ramifications in the present is pretty chilling, and the infamous prison location where it all takes place is pretty unnerving. That said, there's not a lot else that it gets right. The quick pace means that it slowly builds up the excavation and research into the strange object that there's hardly anything happening, with all the stalking and killed crammed into the last half-hour of the film. The kills aren't that spectacular either, whenever we can see them, and the creepiness of the location isn't taken to it's most extreme here as the prison could've been utilized far better. These here hold it back quite a bit.
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Post by GL on Aug 31, 2012 8:03:35 GMT -8
The Wicker Tree-Agreeing to travel to Scotland on a missionary trip, a Christian couple find their host family part of a clan that practices Pagan rituals and worship that are intending on using them for one of their next ceremonies. This here was a really poor and rather frustrating sequel that doesn't really have as much going for it as it's predecessor, though even taking it on it's own terms it's not that great. One of the film's main flaws is it's inherent inability to really get itself in a groove as to where it wants to go, whether this is about the pagan society or the different customs on the island corrupting the couple. This makes the film wander around and showing them experiencing the different ways of life there or showcasing how the locals live, never once preparing for the ceremony, what exactly it entails or why the whole affair is to go down. The one explanation given isn't anything to really get worked up over, either, as it's just plain idiotic and takes away from the films' connection to the original as well. With a dreary pace really only getting interrupted in the final minutes, this only has bounteous nudity to get it going, leaving this one a colossal disappointment.
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Post by GL on Sept 3, 2012 8:09:36 GMT -8
Added an uncut copy of The Beast Must Die to the collection.
Hands of a Stranger-After losing his hands in a tragic accident, a gifted pianist finds that the surgically replaced hands he now has take a murderous life of their own and must try to stop them from acting out the deadly urges. This here turned out to be pretty much a fun and enjoyable effort, brought along by the film's central point of a lot more focus on the hands' murderous qualities. Since they're far more crucial to the film's plot rather than any other side-quality, the fact that this is able to put more focus on that is an enjoyable affair as this gives us plenty of good scenes including the carnival altercations, the murder of the blind man and the stalking of his girlfriend in the movie theater, where it has more creepy qualities than expected. While there's still some focus on the surgeon and his radical experiment here, the fact that this one seems to spiral between being a serious horror effort and more campy material during the examination scenes makes this one loose some steam along the way, and the rather underwhelming finale does it no favors. Otherwise, this one was quite entertaining.
Mad Love-After an accident leaves him with crushed hands, a concert pianist's wife goes to the obsessed doctor in love with her to help him get over the accident, and when he agrees, the serial killer's hands he chooses for the operation have a life of their own after the successful surgery. This was enjoyable for what it was, though it's still quite flawed at times. As was the case most often with these early 30s horror efforts, not a whole lot of time is spent on actual horror, as the love affair showcased isn't all that well thought-out, leaving this one to just completely meander around during the beginning. While this makes his transformation into a psycho all the more credible, the actions don't move the film along into the horror arena. It's also pretty incredulous to believe the complete lack of knowledge gathered into who's hands were used, as the police investigation turns up nothing and the reporter never solves it, but for such an important procedure to take place, the fact that there's hardly anything known about that isn't brought up makes this section wholly unbelievable. While not a lot of action is done to suggest that this is a horror film, it certainly looks the part with it's impressive visuals, great layout and rather chilling sets as well as the fun final twenty minutes when the ruse has been uncovered, which does drag it out of the doldrums but is hardly enough to make it an out-and-out classic.
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Post by GL on Sept 4, 2012 7:46:01 GMT -8
Silent Scream-Agreeing to accompany a professor to a cabin in the woods for a psychology experiment, a group of students find themselves stranded with a savage killer knocking them off one-by-one, forcing them to try to get away alive. Pretty much standard issue slasher fare here, not that it's a bad thing by any stretch and actually has some solid points to it. The atmosphere, with it's wintery woodland setting out in the middle of nowhere, the growing realization of what's going on and the different traps create a pretty nice set-up here, and then the fact that the killer tends to show up whenever it's necessary to off someone makes for some really enjoyable moments as well. The pace is great and the kills are outstanding, so it's got a lot going for it even though there's a few flaws. The final twist reveal is a total cheat and really works against the film, the characters' actions are plain idiotic, and the cheapness does shine through on occasion. Otherwise, this one's pretty fun.
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Post by GL on Sept 5, 2012 7:48:26 GMT -8
Growth-Arriving on an island to sort through an inheritance, a group of friends find the supposedly-finished research on parasites intended for human evolution advancement are still swarming on the island and try to fight them off before succumbing to the deadly creatures. This here was a pretty disappointing effort that really could've been quite fun. There's a great deal here about the changes that are undergone once becoming infested with the creatures, which is where the film gets a lot of mileage out of by having it really just emphasize the changes undergone once they're infected and getting both some nice gore shots and plenty of gross-out moments. There's also some pretty decent action shots here of the swarming parasites going after victims and there's some fun to be had there, but the main thing that really hurts this one more than anything is way too many loose strands in the story. Far too much goes unexplained or even questionable about it's inclusion, which has a pretty big impact on the story when there's a twist in the last few minutes to try to make sense of everything. Otherwise, this here isn't too bad.
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Post by stalker on Sept 10, 2012 13:34:50 GMT -8
Premium Rush.
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