Friday, December 04, 2009

What I Watched In November


I got out to the theater only a couple of times and then only to the $1.50 place to catch some second run stuff. My one trip to Nashville's fine Belcourt Theater was to see HOUSE OF THE DEVIL which was good 70s horror style fun. I also finally saw a couple of classics including BOB LE FLAMBEUR which was great fun. I saw the remake a few years ago and really enjoyed it too but now I need to rewatch it to see if it lives up to the original.

I'm still watching and enjoying FLASHFORWARD even if Joseph Fiennes is one of the lamest actors working regularly today. He's less wooden here than in ELIZABETH but its a close thing. FRINGE remains fun but I can see that Fox will be canceling it after this season. Moving to Thursday night seems to have shot the series in the head as far as the ratings are concerned and FOX only has two settings for genre TV- 'huge hit' or 'off the air'.


JENNIFER’S BODY (2009)- 6 (not as smart or witty as it wants to be, but not bad)
THE STEPFATHER 2 (1989)- 6 (good follow up)
LINK (1986) – 7 (excellent thriller from Richard Franklin)
HEADER (2006)- 5 (interesting but hampered by low budget and terrible southern accents)
PLAGUE TOWN (2008)- 4 (a combination of the crappy [acting, dialog], the clumsy [plot] and the creepy [monster design] ultimately fails)
THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS (2009)- 6 (bizarre, offbeat and humorous tale told with a straight face- too bad they couldn’t find a good ending)
CAPTAIN SINDBAD (1963)- 5 (not bad but not in the same league as the Harryhausen films)
THE SPIDER (1931) – 6 (oddly titled but intriguing mystery)
THIRST (1979)- 7 (fascinating take on vampires)
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEADLY NECKLACE (1962)- 6 (Chris Lee without his own voice in a German Holmes film)
THE PACK (1977)- 6 (pretty good killer dog film- the book was better)
THE FOREST (1982)- 3 (slow, sad slasher)
HALLOWEEN 2 (2009)- 1 (damn)
NIGHT OF THE DEVILS (1972)- 7 (nice Euro-horror version of the wurdulak story)
HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (2009)- 6 (good throwback to 70s/80s horror thrillers- in almost every way)
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN (1971)- 8 (amazing piece of work)
HARDWARE (1990)- 4 (rewatch)
THE POWER (1968)- 7
BOB LE FLAMBEUR (1956)- 9 (Melville can do no wrong!)
PONTYPOOL (2009)- 8 (excellent modern horror)
ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (1966)- 6 (fun EuroSpy from Jess Franco)
MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973) – 7 (fascinating arty horror film)
THE MILLION EYES OF SUMARU (1967)- 7 (fun Sax Rohmer inspired spy adventure)
TWINS OF EVIL (1971)- 5 (maybe the least of Hammer’s Mircalla films- but still worth seeing)
THE SORCERER (1967)- 6 (Reeve’s Karloff film is a good one)
BARBED WIRE DOLLS (1975)- 4 (typical Franco WIP tale)
QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008)- 6 (rewatch) (got better on the small screen-I can understand the still far too fast edited action)

2 comments:

Mr. Ghoul said...

Hmmn...I notice some omissions here. For instance, a Michael and Roberta Findlay masterpiece about a Yeti and cannibalism and toasters in tubs. Also something to do with a Scorpion King. Are you deliberately omitting these films or have you blocked them from your memory for sanity's sake?

Rod Barnett said...

CRAP! You're right! I completely blocked out Turkey Night's viewings! Although, in a way, its understandable.