just watched "The Way of the Gun" on Netflix on demand

bad ass movie. I must have missed that one in the theaters. what a pleasent surprise.

Okay, I took some of the suggestions here.  

SPOILERS

Watched High Lane and, despite the excellent rock climbing cinematography in the first half, it just became a mishmash of backwood cannibal cliches in the second half.  Really, they covered all the bases with the bear traps, the people tied up in the basement and of course the girl just assuming the dude was dead at the end.  Good beginning, but it brought nothing new to the genre at all.

Shuttle was much better, mostly because of its solid premise and superior lead actor.  Caught me by surprise with a couple of the twists.  Writing for the most part was pretty tight, except for the part when she sign languages at the store.  Why give a note to the cashier that says watch the security cam when you can just hand her a note that says "call the damn cops."  And of course, at the end, the dumb girl assumes the bad guy is dead.  These horror movie chicks just never learn!  But overall, I think Tony Curran's performance made shuttle worth it.

Good job watching a few of these, guys.

Yeah, I was really impressed with Shuttle.  The end was a big surprise and it totally worked for me.  I was not at all surprised when the weird guy already on the shuttle turned out to be a baddie...totally saw that coming.

For High Lane, I do agree and even pointed out that the 2nd half of the film is cliche and nothing great, but IMO, the first half is so strong and so well shot, the overall movie experience is very positive.  I usually get comfy when watching a movie at home, but for this one, I was literally sitting up on the edge of a sofa, the climbing was so precarious.  And the suspension bridge scenes?  Damn!!  Very well done.

Blood Creek - Originally released under the title Town Creek

Neither title makes alot of sense, IMO.

Pretty decent little flick here, although most reviews are bad.

Joel Schumacher directed this in 2009.  Can't seem to find much info re: budget or release, but it seems to have only been released in the UK.

Production values are good. FX are good.  Acting is what it is for this kind of flick, but no one embarrasses themselves, IMO.

It's an interesting but convoluted story, but the point is that there definitely is a story and I found it to be a rather unique take on a number of different horror staples and genres.

Of course, it does have a number of flaws you have to overlook, as well as a bunch of cliches.

There is a very well done and unique scene, involving a zombie horse (yes, you read that correctly) that is definitely what I'll remember from this flick.

Not a bad way to spend an hour and a half if you like horror.  Check it out.

Another dive into the bargain bin:

I Saw the Devil:  Nobody does revenge like those boys from Korea.  This is a strong entry that never lags, with good cast, acting, and direction.  Good gore when you get it, and it all has a point to drive the story forward. A satisfactory conclusion that raises questions.  Pretty much top-notch all around, and a solid recommend.  Not dubbed (thank God), so you will need to read subtitles.

Mary and Max:  A weird little claymation thing I had never heard of, but really engaging with a unique look that I enjoyed and top-notch voice work.  This is surprisingly dark.  Not for the kiddies, but a solid recommend if you are in the mood for it.  Surprised how much I dug this one, actually.

High Lane:  Jeff's recommend is pretty solid, and the early climbing scenes are indeed beautiful and harrowing at the same time.  Bold stunt work, or it sure looked that way to me.  The dubbing is not cringe-inducing, but by the second half the dubbing doesn't really matter, as all they are really saying is "Run!" or "Look out!" or stuff like that.  Personally, I did not find the crazy guy at the top of the mountain (c'mon, is that really a spoiler haha) to be all that imposing or formidable, but I did enjoy this film for what it was supposed to be.  A solid recommend.

Vanishing on 7th Street:  I looked this one up because the trailer reminded me quite a bit of one of my own stories.  Don't you hate that?  Anyway, this one is not so much shadows as it is a creeping sort of darkness that sucks people in and leaves their clothes behind in a Rapture sort of way.  It starts off pretty chilling, actually, but then gets kind of repetitive with running to find some light, and what is even more annoying is it starts to bend or invent its own rules about what the darkness can and cannot do, so it just gets sort of confusing, too.  It never answers any questions, which will annoy some viewers.  A half-recommend, as it looks pretty good for its budget, but is ultimately not all that satisfying.

House of 9:  People trapped in a house and the lone survivor gets big money.  Yeah, pretty trite set-up, but I looked because of Dennis Hopper.  I am sure they were excited when they signed him on for this schlock, but he really brings nothing to the role or the film, with bad acting all around.  This film aims for the "psychological horror" target, so not much gore, and they miss the mark anyways, so it is also kind of dull.  Particularly dull were loooong montages where the director thinks he has to use the entire song.  At one point he uses two whole songs, back-to-back, and the songs are not even that good.  Talk about filler.  What was this guy thinking?  There is actually a very cool twist in the last five seconds (if you make it that far), but it is not nearly enough to save this film.  Cannot recommend this blah effort.

More to come as the summer moves along....

Don't have netflix, but see if you can find a film called Trollhunter.

It is, exactly as the name suggests, about people hunting for trolls.

Heard some good things about it.

BTW Bert...is House of 9 the one where they have to kill each other for a bag of cash? I enjoyed that one tbh. Totally on point about the song montage though...felt as though the Director was told the film had to be longer, so they just stuck in a whole take of a song to pass the time. Very weird.

Avoid a film called Fertile Ground. Boring, cliche horror despite good prod. value and acting.

Trollhunter is in my que, although it's not streaming.  I've heard good things about it as well.

I was not impressed with House of 9 at all.  Cliche and filled with really bad acting.

I'll look for Fertile Ground.

Quoted from Dreamscale Trollhunter is in my que, although it's not streaming.  I've heard good things about it as well. I was not impressed with House of 9 at all.  Cliche and filled with really bad acting. I'll look for Fertile Ground.

No, avoid Fertlie Ground. Nothing happens and what does happen eventually you've seen a million times. And when I say nothing happens, I don't mean in an arty, European way, I mean nothing happens at all.

A film called Confessions was good. Has anyone mentioned that?

Exam, Brit flick, not bad.

Reasonable Aussie slaher/creature flick called Primal. Nothing new, but a good DTV.

There's a good Ruskie film called Paradox Soldiers...time travelling, action sci-fi. A bit confusing because it's a sequel and the original never made it out to any of our shores, so you have to work out what's going on as you go along, but it's a good film despite that. Probably be very good if you can somehow track down the original.

Someone Behind You(AKA VOICES in US/UK). Asian Horror. Opinions vary on this, but I liked it.

The Doll Master: Like Puppet Master for Japs...I liked this one.

Loft: Japenese Horror..slow burning, but great IMO.

I could recommend a few Asian Horrors tbh...big fan.

Oh, be interested to hear what people thought of a film called The Signal.

I liked it.

Basically, they had three Directors tell a continuing story with the same characters.

It was a decent attempt at an apocalyptic type scenario, but it's also somethign that interested me from a writing/filmmaking POV because it seems like something we could do on here.

I despised The Signal!!!  Horrible!!!!

I had heard good things but I sure didn't see anything I even remotely liked.

Quoted from Dreamscale I despised The Signal!!!  Horrible!!!! I had heard good things but I sure didn't see anything I even remotely liked.

Little surprised really, I thought it was surprisingly inventive for that kind of thing.

Did you know that it was three Directors doing three different stories wrapped into one?

I wonder if that would have made a difference, because although they make a whole cohesive story, the three stories are very different in tone and theme.

That aside, what do you think of the general idea...three writers/directors creating something?

Yes, I was aware of it.

I don't personally like the idea. I feel it's better to have 1 writer and 1 director, so the story and execution is what that 1 writer,a dn or director saw and wanted to achieve.

Aww, I really liked The Signal!  I thought it was original and neat, and the second story in particular was a blast.

Agreed. Definitely a cut above the norm.

Incidentally currently watching a low budget US horror called The Final.

Worth a watch IMO.

Quoted from Rick ...is House of 9 the one where they have to kill each other for a bag of cash? I enjoyed that one tbh. Totally on point about the song montage though.

Yep, that's the one.  Maybe the guy has a background in music videos?

Quoted from Rick ...see if you can find a film called Trollhunter.

Had never heard of it, but now I find lots of enthusiastic reviews for this one.  And it looks like the type of low-budget fare that ends up on Instant Play, too.  Have queued it up and looking forward to it, so thanks.

Quoted from Grandma Bear Just started watching House Of 9. I'm 10 minutes in and i think I'll end it there.

Did you even read the post?  That is the one I said NOT to watch haha.

And another good recommend that I just remembered:


IP Man: A very well-done martial arts film that actually carries a compelling story with it.  My wife was very skeptical sitting down to this one -- but she actually made it through and said she liked it -- if that tells you anything.  Martial arts films are not for everyone, but if you are in the mood for one, this is amongst the best in recent years, and some reviewers even say the past decade or so.  There is a sequel, but I have not seen it.