Dreamhome (2010)



Any love for this one? One of the better satyrical horrors i have seen, some fantastic gore effects which was an extra bonus.

The Frog and Peach

completely self indulgent, been watching some Cook n Moore so thought i'd share

Horrors of Malformed Men (1969) Review

Watched Horrors of Malformed Men (1969). Striking from the start, as striped spiders crawl on a web while the credits flash in bold, coloured panes. Then a fake knife attack in a mental asylum, exposed breasts, a scary bald man, a fight with and killing of a scary bald man, and an asylum escape. This is just an introduction to the main character, a medical student seeking his forgotten childhood, going on memories of wave crashed rocks and a lullaby. Things really get going when he impersonates a dead man (everyone knows the man died so he pretends to have risen from his grave). And this isn't even half way through. Pretty much just set up. As the title suggests, there are malformed men too, Butoh dancers in post apocalyptic gear and bizarro make up/prosthetics. One has their buttocks sewn to a goat. There is, it is fair to say, a lot going on in this film...

The Synapse DVD makes some pretty bold claims for this one. "Banned for decades! The most notorious Japanese horror film ever made" and such. Actually, as the liner notes explain, it fell out of favour for a while due to its political incorrectness and nobody saw it much for a while. The original Japanese title is apparently considerably stronger and more pejorative than Horrors of Malformed Men, and the film is not exactly wholesome in its treatment. Also, I might speculate on disquiet linked to Hiroshima, Nagasaki and their after-effects, or even Dr Shiro Ishii and his deeds at Unit 731. But, as can be told all the performers are able bodied, no exploitation took place in the making. And its pretty difficult to take this as anything other than insane pulp (it's an adaptation of tales by Edogawa Rampo), there's nothing really to connect it to reality. Also, its nowhere near as tasteless (or frankly, foul) as many films in the pinku eiga/roman porno boom that came a few years after, or as gruesome as any vintage era or 80's onward torture pictures or as disturbing as fellow 60's Rampo adaptation Blind Beast, or some of Koji Wakamatsu's work that decade.

So, its not so imposing. But is it good? Well, it does enough. Made on a decent budget, with mostly good raw old school film-making talent (editing and compositions on point), this is pretty impressive for a number of stretches. Striking colours, vivid, perverse visual imagination, uneasy score to match, fine choreography, at times images flow and bodies whirl like a fever dream of a madman transposed straight to celluloid, the effect is mesmerising, thrilling, joyful. Plot is as wild as the visuals and there's a good deal of sleaze too. So its pretty essential for weird cinephiles. But on the minus side, only the villain really engages, the lead and most other characters remain rather flat and bland throughout, so there are definite dips in interest when events slow down around the middle of the film. Also, the out of control plotting is resolved with climactic exposition dumps, a method which I feel generally only works at the theatre with excellent performers. And in general there's a nagging feeling of inconsequentiality. There's a lack of weight here, of real purpose or meaning, and so like a painting with inferior primer, the images don't all stick as well as they should. A few years ago I would probably have loved this dearly, nowadays I'm left still a little hungry. But still, I enjoyed it on the whole. My criticisms shouldn't be taken to heart. Well worth watching if it sounds like your cup of tea.

What movies did you rate 10/10?

The Bad Seed (1956)
The Time Machine (1960)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Deliverance (1972)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
Halloween (1978)
Psycho II (1983)
Back To The Future Trilogy (1985-90)
Indiana Jons And The Last Crusade (1989)
Things (1989)
Terminator 2 (1991)
Dead Alive (1992)
Ed Wood (1994)
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
Martyrs (2008)
Ex Machina (2014)

Creepshow 2 (1987)

Thoughts on this movie?

It's nothing amazing but some of the segments are alright.

My favorite is The Raft. The Hitchhiker was pretty good as well.

The Indian Statue is the weakest of the three but potentially a living Indian Statue could make for a fairly unique slasher villain.

The Apes of Wrath

Here's episode 4 of "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace", titled "The Apes of Wrath". It's a direct Planet of the Apes themed episode, and it's awesome. An easy 24 pts for anyone interested.

War for the Planet of the Apes

My first impression is that it's probably the best of the new trilogy. It's not entirely a "war" movie, though, but more like a "Battle" movie. However, that title is already taken, so we're left with something more extreme. WAR.

Actually, the movie is more like a prison / concentration camp movie, which reminded me of "Conquest". That was the most violent entry in the original series, scoring a whopping PG-13 rating, but this one is considerably darker. There's a lot of physical abuse towards these apes, which reminded me of the conditioning sequences in Conquest, but this is worse.

Woody Harrelson sure does hate those apes.


For fans of the series, they do throw in a couple eggs for us. Even though the old series isn't in continuity with the current series, it still leads up to a prominent concept of the original '68 film with people losing the ability to speak. There's also the inclusion of (versions of) the characters Cornelius and Nova.

Overall, it's a solid movie, and a solid end of the trilogy. That is... unless they want to milk it and make another, because hey... apes sell. They'll find any reason to continue if it makes them money. Hell, maybe they'll throw time-travel back into the story! (Probably not)

Part 2's (sequels) that are set in hospitals

This is such a no-brainer, as a way to set up a first sequel, in a horror or action franchise. Set it in a hospital! It's the most logical place to set a first sequel, because at least one or two characters that survived the carnage and mayhem of the first movie in whatever the franchise is probably end up spending at least a little time in a hospital.

What are some franchises that come to mind for you, which employed this device? It doesn't necessarily have to be horror, although that's best, of course. Also, the hospital could be either a regular hospital or a mental hospital. It doesn't have to be set entirely in the hospital, but at least a scene or two at the beginning have to be in one. Here are a few movies to get started:
--Halloween 2
--Terminator 2
--Hellraiser 2 (I did a typo there, and typed Hellraider... that could be a pretty cool movie, actually)
--Phantasm 2
--NOES 2 (no, 3... whatever, I'll sneak it in here)
--Grave Encounters 2 (well, duh)

Now, how about any franchises that SHOULD set a sequel in a hospital. Anything come to mind? I'll start:
--The Departed
--Commando
--Hot Shots (Part Trois)
--Robocop

Unfinished Movies

Do you know of any unfinished movies? And by 'unfinished', I mean movies that had some kind of footage shot but were never continued for some reason, leaving us with only images or clips.

One such movie that I can think of is Killer: Malevolence 3, the sequel to Malevolence and Bereavement. According to director Stevan Mena in a Blumhouse article https://www.blumhouse.com/2016/02/05/exclusive-whatever-happened-to-malevolence-3/ (which also features around 30 images), about 75% of the movie was shot when they had to go on hiatus due to a lead actor falling ill. Then after trying to reach the actor about returning to filming, Mena found out the guy committed suicide. Since he was already working with a shoestring budget, he no choice but to abandon the movie


Another that comes to mind is Maniac 2: Mr. Robbie. Filmed in 1986 as a promotional short to raise money for a feature length version, it again features Joe Spinell. His character this time would have been more of a vigilante than the straight-up serial killer he plays in the first movie. Spinell's passing in 1989 ended any chance of it going further. The footage itself is included as an extra on the DVD of The Last Horror Film. It's also on YouTube



(the actual short starts at 1:50).

How many movies do you watch per week (on average)

For me it varies greatly, there are times that i will watch 14 movies in a week and other weeks 0. I would say 4 per week sounds about right.