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Darren Fisher (2436 KP) rated Island of Death (1976) in Movies
Jan 11, 2021 (Updated Jan 11, 2021)
70's Exploitation At Its Best
Story has it that Greek director Nico Mastorakis saw the Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the cinema and was impressed that such a violent low budget horror film could make so much money. So with that in mind Nico decided to make an even more depraved feature than Tobe Hooper and therefore make even more money! He succeeded in the latter but as for make more money? Well, we can only guess not. I won't bother going into the plot as I assume most people already know about this depraved and sick little flick. All that I will say is that as far as 70's exploitation flicks go this is one of the best. Depravity has never been in so much abundance as is on show here. This will not be to many viewers taste (and a big "no, no" for the Snowflake Generation) as we are subjected to rape, gay rape, incest, drug abuse, beastiality, torture, urinating on pensioners and even a fart in the face as a downright insult. The list of depravity doesn't stop there but to list them all would take some time and spoil it for those that want to watch it for the first time...
The gore is kept to a mimimum and the acting is pretty bad, but as the film progresses this is not really an issue (there are some great bits of crazy dialogue throughout). The majority of death scenes are very imaginative, including deaths involving a plane flight, bulldozer and a pot of paint.
Also there is a cracking soundtrack provided by the legendery Nikos Lavranos (Destination Understanding being the obvious favourite of the 'cult elite').
I cannot recommend this film enough, it is superb, but if you are easily offended I would suggest giving this one a very wide berth. Maybe I need psychiatric help... A MUST SEE.
The gore is kept to a mimimum and the acting is pretty bad, but as the film progresses this is not really an issue (there are some great bits of crazy dialogue throughout). The majority of death scenes are very imaginative, including deaths involving a plane flight, bulldozer and a pot of paint.
Also there is a cracking soundtrack provided by the legendery Nikos Lavranos (Destination Understanding being the obvious favourite of the 'cult elite').
I cannot recommend this film enough, it is superb, but if you are easily offended I would suggest giving this one a very wide berth. Maybe I need psychiatric help... A MUST SEE.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) in Movies
Jul 2, 2020
'Why would someone shoot at a police station?' John Carpenter's exemplary action exploitation movie is set in mid-70s Los Angeles but is basically a mash-up of a western and a zombie movie. Two convicts, a secretary and a highway patrol officer find themselves besieged in a soon-to-be-derelict police precinct by hordes of psychopathic street gang members.
One of those examples of a virtually perfect movie: an incredibly economical script with immaculate storytelling is brought to the screen with immensely charismatic performances by the three leads (you watch it now and it's genuinely baffling that none of them had more substantial movie careers). Also a fascinating mixture of old-style and new Hollywood - scenes pastiching the style of Howard Hawks movies sit alongside genuinely provocative moments like the ice cream scene. Overall, though, just a tremendously enjoyable action film, and exhibit A for the case that John Carpenter did his career backwards.
One of those examples of a virtually perfect movie: an incredibly economical script with immaculate storytelling is brought to the screen with immensely charismatic performances by the three leads (you watch it now and it's genuinely baffling that none of them had more substantial movie careers). Also a fascinating mixture of old-style and new Hollywood - scenes pastiching the style of Howard Hawks movies sit alongside genuinely provocative moments like the ice cream scene. Overall, though, just a tremendously enjoyable action film, and exhibit A for the case that John Carpenter did his career backwards.
Jon Savage recommended A Hard Day's Night (1964) in Movies (curated)
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Perfect Genesis: Adolescence in Books
Nov 21, 2019
This is a book of many levels and many emotions. Superficially it is a far-future science fiction book where societies have been engineered by some planet-spanning intelligence to create stable and sustainable places for humans to live. Under this runs a strong current of philosophy and meta physics about exactly what this means for the individuals involved - and the news isn't good.
The plot follows Leonardo Khalid, a genetically engineered genius who has dedicated his life to improving life for mankind. However when he is taken critically ill he agrees to undergo a procedure to scan and record is brain. He is warned that during the process he will appear to inhabit a very real and long lasting dream as his brain is stimulated.
The dream is extremely vivid - so much so that we don't see it just from Leonardo's point of view. So is it a dream? Or a very real future world that he has somehow been projected into? Leonardo certainly believes he is in a dream, but does that condone some of his more morally questionable actions?
There are plenty of questions raised by this book. As Hogan says in a brief introduction, this book is supposed to stay with the reader long after they have read it, and it will certainly do that. At times it is an uncomfortable read - the dream societies place little value on human life and women in particular are treated very badly. Death, violence and sexual exploitation are daily hazards for the members of the societies described, but these are engineered places, not designed to benefit the individual human but to ensure the longevity of the society itself. They have been created with cold and clinical efficiency with no regard for the individual members of the citizenry.
This is a huge dichotomy and the heart of the book. The story itself - Leonardo exploring the land of his dream and overcoming the various obstacles that hinder him and his companions - skates along the top at a good pace, fizzing between plot points and twists, summoning the reader on to read just one more page. But underneath the dark heart will be throwing up awkward questions.
Exploitation of all sorts abounds, particularly sexual exploitation (not all of it men exploiting women). These sections can be an uncomfortable read but they are supposed to be - the questions around power and the abuse of power are valid and the reader is not supposed to be entirely sympathetic with any of the characters or their actions - even Leornardo. The civilisations are frequently brutal, either because of a dangerous environment or a ruthless ruler. People get hurt, people get abused, people die (sometimes horribly) but always the society lives on.
Read this book if you want to have a fantastic story exploring different places but at the same time have something to think about. By the end you will have seen what can happen if the concept of an ideal society is pursued to its limits. And it's not a utopia.
And yes this book will stay with me for a while. Definitely one of the best reads of 2014. Thoroughly recommended.
Rating: Sexual scenes, sexual violence and some torture.
The plot follows Leonardo Khalid, a genetically engineered genius who has dedicated his life to improving life for mankind. However when he is taken critically ill he agrees to undergo a procedure to scan and record is brain. He is warned that during the process he will appear to inhabit a very real and long lasting dream as his brain is stimulated.
The dream is extremely vivid - so much so that we don't see it just from Leonardo's point of view. So is it a dream? Or a very real future world that he has somehow been projected into? Leonardo certainly believes he is in a dream, but does that condone some of his more morally questionable actions?
There are plenty of questions raised by this book. As Hogan says in a brief introduction, this book is supposed to stay with the reader long after they have read it, and it will certainly do that. At times it is an uncomfortable read - the dream societies place little value on human life and women in particular are treated very badly. Death, violence and sexual exploitation are daily hazards for the members of the societies described, but these are engineered places, not designed to benefit the individual human but to ensure the longevity of the society itself. They have been created with cold and clinical efficiency with no regard for the individual members of the citizenry.
This is a huge dichotomy and the heart of the book. The story itself - Leonardo exploring the land of his dream and overcoming the various obstacles that hinder him and his companions - skates along the top at a good pace, fizzing between plot points and twists, summoning the reader on to read just one more page. But underneath the dark heart will be throwing up awkward questions.
Exploitation of all sorts abounds, particularly sexual exploitation (not all of it men exploiting women). These sections can be an uncomfortable read but they are supposed to be - the questions around power and the abuse of power are valid and the reader is not supposed to be entirely sympathetic with any of the characters or their actions - even Leornardo. The civilisations are frequently brutal, either because of a dangerous environment or a ruthless ruler. People get hurt, people get abused, people die (sometimes horribly) but always the society lives on.
Read this book if you want to have a fantastic story exploring different places but at the same time have something to think about. By the end you will have seen what can happen if the concept of an ideal society is pursued to its limits. And it's not a utopia.
And yes this book will stay with me for a while. Definitely one of the best reads of 2014. Thoroughly recommended.
Rating: Sexual scenes, sexual violence and some torture.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Lizzie (2018) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
You won't see me denying that this has a thick, foreboding, woozy atmosphere of gothic dread surrounding it which is seldom ever less than bracingly effective; a haunting shot here, a great score there, some seriously acidic dialogue throughout, along with some fucking A-class murders and one of the best lesbian kiss scenes of the 2010s decade. But at the same time this is nearly about as on-the-nose and woefully self-serious as you could possibly play this material, you don't even need to go full-on exploitation to have some more fun with this than is had here. Closes with a shrug in its final moment, too. With a source *this* well-known and speculated upon, why not shoot for some 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥-style spitballing? Chloe and Kristen's dynamite performances *and* chemistry end up (thankfully) receiving the strongest writing in this otherwise just serviceable screenplay so yeah it's still okay (even despite having no sense of pacing or structure) but I would have loved to have seen Oz Perkins take a crack at this.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
Back when every studio drama wanted to be indie real bad (when we got shit like J-Lo's 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘌𝘺𝘦𝘴 for example) and when hyperlink movies were king. This really could have been something, but instead it leans way too close into the template for all the movies this is ripping off (one-quirk characters overexplaining the themes to the leads and - by extension - the viewers, long writerly conversations that exist solely for decoration, cloying symbolism, purposefully disappointing non-resolutions, etc.) All but completely throws aside the lives of these unique, incredibly intriguing women in favor of having their stories revolve around some lackluster romance - pretty much defining them all by it in the end. For shame. Not entirely unpleasant, of course the ensemble is stuffed with amazing talent, it has a nice cadence and some decent scenes here and there. But as far as I'm concerned Rodrigo García should be fired for continually swinging and missing by turning these potentially thought-provoking stories into underwritten, tiresome (and borderline offensive) grief exploitation.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Rambo: Last Blood (2019) in Movies
Sep 19, 2019 (Updated Sep 19, 2019)
Savagely, sadistically, but (oddly enough) not entirely gratuitously violent exploitation movie. Hulking war veteran John Rambo has retired to a quiet life in Arizona and all is well, until his innocent young niece is kidnapped by Mexican gangsters, hooked on drugs, and installed in a brothel. Suffice to say Rambo does not respond well to this.
Sounds like a recipe for a bone-headed train-wreck of an action movie, and there are a lot of things about it which are deeply problematic: the depiction of Mexico and Mexicans is highly provocative, it's inherently misogynistic, and some of the violence arguably goes too far. But parts of it have a depth and soulfulness to them that is rather surprising - Rambo himself is a highly ambiguous figure, and the story is competently told with a real sincerity to it. The climax is disappointingly mechanical, but the story holds together and it's always a bit cleverer and more surprising than you're anticipating. A horrible movie, yes, but not a wholly bad one.
Sounds like a recipe for a bone-headed train-wreck of an action movie, and there are a lot of things about it which are deeply problematic: the depiction of Mexico and Mexicans is highly provocative, it's inherently misogynistic, and some of the violence arguably goes too far. But parts of it have a depth and soulfulness to them that is rather surprising - Rambo himself is a highly ambiguous figure, and the story is competently told with a real sincerity to it. The climax is disappointingly mechanical, but the story holds together and it's always a bit cleverer and more surprising than you're anticipating. A horrible movie, yes, but not a wholly bad one.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated Close to Home in Books
Dec 29, 2019
Absorbing
This is the first in a series of novels starring DI Adam Fawley and his team and what a start to the series this is. I actually missed this first time round and was only reminded I had it when I was sent book 4!
Packed with fantastic characters not all of which are particularly likeable but all of whom are well developed and with interesting stories to tell in their own right. The story line is a difficult one to read being that of child abduction and exploitation however this is not written in a gratuitous way but with care and attention although not is all as it seems and so begins DI Fawley's task of unravelling just what has happened to young Daisy.
This is a fast paced, gripping and absorbing story that had me reading it in quick time in order to discover the secrets and lies contained within the twists and turns of this excellent book and I highly recommend this to those of you who love a great police procedural.
Thank you to Penguin Books (UK) and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.
Packed with fantastic characters not all of which are particularly likeable but all of whom are well developed and with interesting stories to tell in their own right. The story line is a difficult one to read being that of child abduction and exploitation however this is not written in a gratuitous way but with care and attention although not is all as it seems and so begins DI Fawley's task of unravelling just what has happened to young Daisy.
This is a fast paced, gripping and absorbing story that had me reading it in quick time in order to discover the secrets and lies contained within the twists and turns of this excellent book and I highly recommend this to those of you who love a great police procedural.
Thank you to Penguin Books (UK) and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Bombshell (2019) in Movies
Jan 20, 2020
Based-on-fact drama exposing the reality of sexual harassment in the American media, from the director of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (feel that cognitive dissonance!). When a broadcaster is hired from right-wing network Fox News, she resolves to sue the founder, causing ructions throughout the organisation. It's actually a bit more wide-ranged and discursive than that, touching on various issues connected to attitudes towards the media and the exploitation of woman. Not explicitly anti-Trump, but the mood music is certainly not supporting him - I doubt many of the red cap brigade will find much here to enjoy.
To be honest, I was kind of expecting something more like The Big Short or Vice - angry and smart, but also blackly funny and formally creative. After a fairly sparky first act this just becomes quite a serious drama about sexual harassment. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the thing is that it does become a bit issue-led. Some very good performances, though, and the prosthetics are fun too, I suppose (most of these people are unknown in the UK, though - did like Malcolm McDowell's Rupert Murdoch). Very watchable.
To be honest, I was kind of expecting something more like The Big Short or Vice - angry and smart, but also blackly funny and formally creative. After a fairly sparky first act this just becomes quite a serious drama about sexual harassment. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the thing is that it does become a bit issue-led. Some very good performances, though, and the prosthetics are fun too, I suppose (most of these people are unknown in the UK, though - did like Malcolm McDowell's Rupert Murdoch). Very watchable.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Re-Animator (1985) in Movies
Oct 31, 2020 (Updated Oct 31, 2020)
Schlocky horror picture show. Mad-scientist-in-training Herbert West is partially successful in raising the dead (which is to say he's successful in resurrecting various body parts, not always connected tin the original manner). One of the better-known H. P. Lovecraft adaptations, though the short story in question is hardly Lovecraft's best work (and the writer would probably have hated this movie too).
Not actually that scary, but contains jaw-dropping quantities of gore, all the more startling because the film is clearly being pitched as a knockabout black comedy as well as an exploitation movie. Starts off relatively restrained, but by the climax I was regularly thinking 'I can't believe they got away with that'. Nicely pitched performance from Jeffrey Combs, interesting turns from people who end up having to play either deranged zombies or severed heads in trays. (Slightly distracting soundtrack, mainly because it brazenly rips off the score from Psycho.) Any film which features a main character wrestling with a hostile lower intestine has got something to offer the world; movies like this are the reason we have the term 'splatstick'.
Not actually that scary, but contains jaw-dropping quantities of gore, all the more startling because the film is clearly being pitched as a knockabout black comedy as well as an exploitation movie. Starts off relatively restrained, but by the climax I was regularly thinking 'I can't believe they got away with that'. Nicely pitched performance from Jeffrey Combs, interesting turns from people who end up having to play either deranged zombies or severed heads in trays. (Slightly distracting soundtrack, mainly because it brazenly rips off the score from Psycho.) Any film which features a main character wrestling with a hostile lower intestine has got something to offer the world; movies like this are the reason we have the term 'splatstick'.