Thanks for the recommendation, Balt.  Enjoyed The Perfect Host.  A little self-consciously tricky -- and it's certainly no Sleuth, a comparison which I think it invites -- but Pierce was excellent and the story was one of a kind.

Quoted from Heretic Thanks for the recommendation, Balt.  Enjoyed The Perfect Host.  A little self-consciously tricky -- and it's certainly no Sleuth, a comparison which I think it invites -- but Pierce was excellent and the story was one of a kind.

Sharp, glad ya gave it a shot.  I was extremely surprised by it... Another out of nowhere stream is "house of the devil".  Wow!  How the hell did they pull this one off in this day and age?  This guy should make tons more movies cos he knows exactly how to capture the early 80's with stunning results - right down to the film quality used.  This one has a super ominous, slow build and then goes crazy within the last 30 min.  True to the era it represents it ends in abrupt fashion.  Check it out if you all have yet to do so... Also of note, one of the most shocking quick out of nowhere kills in sometime.  

^^ Ti West's new film The Innkeepers has been making festival rounds and I think receiving fairly high praise for the most part.  I don't think there's news of a wide release as of yet.

If you can get your hands on his earlier one, The Roost, that's a pretty inspiring film.  Absolutely no budget and a great little shocker.

Another Netflix stream Gem I had stumbled upon was/is "Blood River"... Very deep flick that leaves you with some questions to fill in for yourself.  A great commentary on the evil inside of man...  A great take on a pretty tired idea.   Superb acting.  Superb filming.  Top notch.

Quoted from Heretic ^^ Ti West's new film The Innkeepers has been making festival rounds and I think receiving fairly high praise for the most part.  I don't think there's news of a wide release as of yet. If you can get your hands on his earlier one, The Roost, that's a pretty inspiring film.  Absolutely no budget and a great little shocker.

The Innkeepers gets a limited theatrical in February and VOD release shortly before. Yeah, I enjoyed House of the Devil a ton. Stream that, y'all.
What a pleasant throwback slow burn suspense film that was.

E.D.

Quoted from Grandma Bear I'll second that! It was a cold and grey morning here today so I took the dog for a walk then made a cup of hot chocolate in my crappy ss mug and went back to bed and watched Blood River. When I first saw it had only 1.5 stars at Netflix I groaned, but decided to give the first "ten" a look. I'm very glad I did. I found it to be much better than the rating they had. At least a 2.5 but maybe even a 3. Am a little tired of the religious nut jobs killing people. Find it quite cliche. There were also a lot of other cliche things and dumb moves by the characters, but the rest of it was high enough quality so I let it pass.  Definitely a recommend! Thanks Balt!

Glad ya checked it out -- The only big, big problem I had with the movie was the plot point I must have missed with

(spoiler)

Why she, Summer, didn't know where her son was.  Why were they in the desert and why would she leave without knowing where her son was or who her son was with?  It made no sense.  I wanted to go back and re-watch it again, but I've not had the time to do so the last few months.  

Otherwise I loved it for the basic, we've seen this take before only different nature of the film.  It's that one damn hang up I've got.  Why didn't she know!?  Why did she not see the body when he went to check the tire!?

Monsters is now on instant and i highly recommend it. despite it's terrible title, the dialogue, story, and direction are all superb. the ending is pretty awesome as well. the director's a newbie but he'll be directing some big budget flix for sure. he did quite a lot with such a low budget and crafted a movie about monsters that has a lot of feeling behind it.

Quoted from Baltis. Glad ya checked it out -- The only big, big problem I had with the movie was the plot point I must have missed with (spoiler) Why she, Summer, didn't know where her son was.  Why were they in the desert and why would she leave without knowing where her son was or who her son was with?  It made no sense.  I wanted to go back and re-watch it again, but I've not had the time to do so the last few months.   Otherwise I loved it for the basic, we've seen this take before only different nature of the film.  It's that one damn hang up I've got.  Why didn't she know!?  Why did she not see the body when he went to check the tire!?

I agree. And why was he so shocked when he saw the body?

There were a lot of things that didn't ring true at all. Pointing the gun at Clark...I think anyone, people not even that familiar with guns don't just stand there when someone points a loaded one at them. I loved the image of those horns behind his head though.

Some other things would have been torn to shreds if the script had been posted here. Like Summer saying you can't leave me here and in the next breath saying , yeah that sounds like a good idea. Small things that are easily forgiven because over all it was quite good.

Quoted from Grandma Bear I agree. And why was he so shocked when he saw the body? There were a lot of things that didn't ring true at all. Pointing the gun at Clark...I think anyone, people not even that familiar with guns don't just stand there when someone points a loaded one at them. I loved the image of those horns behind his head though. Some other things would have been torn to shreds if the script had been posted here. Like Summer saying you can't leave me here and in the next breath saying , yeah that sounds like a good idea. Small things that are easily forgiven because over all it was quite good.

I've went back, just now, and reevaluated some key scenes.

1.  They were on a 2 week trip.

2.  They left Ben with her parents.  So "she" thought.  He, Clark, dropped him off... Remember this is set in the 70's to early 80's.   This still doesn't account for her not calling and checking on her son at the various hotels they had stayed, though.  <-- this is my biggest gripe with the film.

3.  She never looked in the trunk... Only he did.  He then quickly shuts the trunk and starts screaming about not having the spare.

4.  I believe Joseph had some kind of power over the people he crossed... divine power or something, because she quickly became enamored with him and took his word at face value.  Thus she didn't question the gun pointing action.  (good eye on the horns, by the way)  And why, after he talked to her and kind of eased her mind she was ok with them leaving.

5.  When Clark and Joseph went back to the car, I'm not all together sure the body was there or not.  I just don't understand if Clark had buried the body in the desert already and Joseph had a hand in its placement back in the trunk -- or he was messing with Clark's mind.  

6.  The end of the movie is very fitting with the blood flowing down the desert ruts like a river... I think this is a nice touch, and they handled the 4th wall rather well too.

Overall, still a fantastic flick.  I think the acting is very focused and the story they told was as good as it has ever been told before -- And it's been told a lot.

With this being set in the 70s (I thought) it made me think how nice it was to see some of the modern conveniences like cell phones not being used. I'm tired of horror films where someone has to say "there's no signal". Maybe that was part of why this worked so well too. Lack of modern technology to come to the rescue. Increases the feel of isolation. One of the main ingredients for good horror/suspense IMHO.

Anyway, check it out people and don't turn away from the low rating at Netflix.

Pontypool

I watched this last night. Whilst finishing my footbal extravaganza, I found myself thinking about this movie, alot. Has anyone else seen this???

Its a Zombie flick at it's nature. A seemingly washed up radio jock walks into his job at an AM radio station. His two assistants are there. He rambles on about shite, then they get phone calls. People are mutilating each other in small town Pontypool, Ontario. Googled the town name, quickly, came up as a big town in the UK.

They believe its a joke, at first. Turns out it's very real. The part I love best about this story, the virus is embedded in the English language. A warning sounds through in french, yes, their Canadian, not to speak in English anymore. Certain words trigger the virus.

There's a couple of very chilling scenes. Especially when one of the jock's assistants starts to lose it. They other two lock themselves into the sound booth. She mutilates herself and destroys herself against its windows.

The acting is spot. The shots are stylish and well done. I don't think I've ever misunderstood a movie this much, but still loved the ride.

The book was written in 99' . The author did the screenplay. Tony Burgess. In his second release of "Pontypool Changes Everything" - The book, 2009...

He apologized to readers. The book wasn't meant to make sense. It was meant to confuse. If you watfch this film, which I do recommend, you will see why...

James

Quoted from jwent6688 Pontypool I watched this last night. Whilst finishing my footbal extravaganza, I found myself thinking about this movie, alot. Has anyone else seen this??? James

I was totally caught off guard by the quality of the film.
It's a contained tale where I was never bored.
Stephen McHattie does a great job of anchoring the film.
The virus trigger reminds me of a Laurie Anderson song.

Language is a Virus (from Outer Space) - Laurie Anderson from Mondo Kane on Vimeo.

And what was up with that bizarre black and white scene after the credits?

Regards,
E.D.

Watched this last night and was quite impressed by the acting and stylish direction.  For a movie that never really changed location, it never seemed to drag at any point.  McHattie's presence helps the film immeasurably, but the supporting actors were pretty good, too.  Unfortunate title, though.

But, I have to say I felt the film lost its way at the end there.  It did a fine job of creating atmosphere out of basically nothing, just a few phone in calls and news reports.  But, once the doctor inexplicably shows up(through the horde of voracious "zombies" that were supposed to be outside) and graces us with his knowledge, the story still never really seems to make sense.  And they try so hard to explain it.  I felt the writer didn't even have an explanation, just a bunch of jumbled theories.  And the last part with McHattie on the radio saying kill is kiss, this is that, etc...that I found kind of unintentionally funny.  And it felt like they took the easy way out with the final countdown scene.

As far as music videos, the one that instantly springs to mind is Radiohead's "Just."



But, I'm pretty sure the director of that video, and the director of Pontypool, "borrowed" this idea of words spreading madness from this Twlilight Zone episode called "Need To Know" starring a young William Peterson.

Do way better than decent cancelled TV series count on this thread?
The series may sound like a dozen other shows, but there's nothing like it produced.

"Terriers" is not available on DVD, even though it was cancelled a year ago.

But now you can watch the critically adored series on Netflix Instant!

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/wh.....ctivity-says-goodbye

E.D.

I love netflix...I have netflix and roku...don't pay cable anymore