oqvist
Headphoneus Supremus
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Mr Brooks 8/10.
Rate The Last Movie You Watched
- Thread starter Agent Kang
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Trihexagonal
Headphoneus Supremus
Les Deux Orphelines Vampires, or The Two Orphan Vampires, another French film by Jean Rollin from 1997.
Two blind teenage girls, little angels residing in a Catholic orphanage in reality are vampires that can see only at night. Adopted by an old doctor who only wants to restore their sight, they attend Mass on Sundays with their kindly benefactor and are adored by everyone.
At night they do what all young nubile vampire girls do. Cavorting among the tombstones, feasting on the blood of the living, encountering other supernatural beings like a female werewolf, elder vampire and a ghoul, remembering their past lives as Aztec Goddesses and all sort of magical beings, which in fact they are.
Light on the horror aspect, a strong 4/5 for the poetry of it alone.
Two blind teenage girls, little angels residing in a Catholic orphanage in reality are vampires that can see only at night. Adopted by an old doctor who only wants to restore their sight, they attend Mass on Sundays with their kindly benefactor and are adored by everyone.
At night they do what all young nubile vampire girls do. Cavorting among the tombstones, feasting on the blood of the living, encountering other supernatural beings like a female werewolf, elder vampire and a ghoul, remembering their past lives as Aztec Goddesses and all sort of magical beings, which in fact they are.
Light on the horror aspect, a strong 4/5 for the poetry of it alone.
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Trihexagonal
Headphoneus Supremus
Fascination, a 1979 French horror story by Jean Rollin.
A thief takes shelter from those pursuing him in a castle, but nobody is safe from the two beautiful ladies inside when the object of that fascination is blood.
4/5 for beautiful bloodthirsty ladies.
A thief takes shelter from those pursuing him in a castle, but nobody is safe from the two beautiful ladies inside when the object of that fascination is blood.
4/5 for beautiful bloodthirsty ladies.
oqvist
Headphoneus Supremus
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Mummy 2/15
Tom Cruise is pretty much destroying this endeavour.
Tom Cruise is pretty much destroying this endeavour.
Discman634
New Head-Fier
IT
10/10
Maybe it wasn't a ten but considering the abomination the Dark Tower was, IT was perfect. The kid actors did a better job in this than the adult actors did in the original mini-series. Changes from the book all seemed to make sense.
10/10
Maybe it wasn't a ten but considering the abomination the Dark Tower was, IT was perfect. The kid actors did a better job in this than the adult actors did in the original mini-series. Changes from the book all seemed to make sense.
WraithApe
Headphoneus Supremus
A Jean-Pierre Melville triple bill...
Le Deuxième Souffle - 8/10
A sprawling heist movie charting a week or so in the life of career criminal Gustave "Gu" Minda. The film opens with Gu escaping from jail, fleeing to Paris, getting involved in a gangland killing, and subsequently one final job - a platinum heist. On his trail the whole time is the mercurial inspector Blot, who seems to know he will get his man in the end and is remarkably relaxed about the whole thing. It's one of those films that if you're not paying attention, will leave you behind - it takes no prisoners in the exposition stakes. It introduces most of its principal players (and there a lot!) inside the first 15 minutes, also jumping around chronologically. It left me with questions well into the second half of the film, although I did put all the pieces together in the end!
There's no doubt this is accomplished film-making but its achilles heel is possibly that although the characters are intriguing, you don't really care about any of them. Gu has a certain roguish charm but also shows himself to be a cold-blooded killer, having no qualms about taking people out just because they're in his way. In the end, Blot is probably the most sympathetic character - he gets the audience on side in his opening scene, with an amusing skit about why there are no witnesses to a crime and ultimately, in giving Fardiano's confession to the press, signals his own disgust with the corrupt system he operates within. One scene was cut from the film at the insistence of the Censorship Commission at the time - a brutal police interrogation, which is now only hinted at. Its inclusion would undoubtedly have added to the film's power, but was probably too close to the bone at the time for the powers that be, in the wake of the real life Ben Barka scandal.
As with Le Samouraï, there's a strong theme of honour among thieves - a Melville staple apparently. The point is driven home when Paul Ricci's treacherous brother Joe is gunned down by Gu, who calls him a 'jackal'. It's one thing to be a criminal, but a criminal without honour is the lowest of the low. Also a bit like Le Samouraï, I find this to be a film that's easier to admire than to love - it maintains a cool distance at all times, but I can't deny its clever plotting, stylish camera work and ambitious scope; it's like Melville wanted to combine the best of American thrillers at the time with a New Wave sensibility and he pretty much pulls it off.
EDIT: Title corrected, thanks @castleofargh
Magnet of Doom - 6/10
Melville's first foray into colour film, shot in widescreen Franscope, is a defiantly strange film, which may explain why it's slipped into relative obscurity. It's neither fish nor fowl, with two truly unsympathetic lead characters. Ruthless businessman Ferchaux is facing a murder charge and decides to flee France and head for the States. He advertises for a personal secretary to accompany him, which is answered by failed boxer, Michel Maudet. The odd couple arrive in New York, then proceed to head south, across the States in what becomes a road movie, but a road movie without much drive or direction.
The relationship between the two men is interesting, as the balance of power shifts, but one (Ferchaux) is a vain, selfish man and the other a pathological liar so it's difficult to care a whole lot about what happens to either of them. There isn't really much of a story either, beyond Ferchaux's evasion of the feds; it's more of a character study, but a peculiarly languid one, which seems to be echoed by the steamy torpor of the bayous, where the two end up. The film really runs out of steam and ends on a note that almost seems like Melville shrugging and going 'whatever', which is similar to how I felt, despite having enjoyed the ride at times. There's some really interesting and nicely-shot scenery along the way, from a less familiar side of America, and some interesting interplay between the characters, but none of it really seemed to go anywhere. In fact, if I were giving the film a title, I'd probably have called it 'Road To Nowhere'.
Two Men in Manhattan - 7/10
An earlier film in Melville's career than the other two, and in some ways more of a straightforward narrative, but it's still not that straightforward - it's film noir, but not as we know it.
The film opens with the disappearance of a French UN delegate, Fèvre-Berthier, which leads a reporter and his disreputable photographer sidekick on something of a wild goose chase across Manhattan on his trail. Their investigative techniques leave something to be desired and for a while mostly seems to consist of turning up on the doorstep of Fevre-Berthier's alleged mistresses and asking "do you know him? do you know where he is? No? OK then, goodbye" until they stumble onto
a hot lead and wind up tracking him down to the apartment of one of his mistresses. A sub-plot develops where the film the photographer shoots becomes hot property, with everyone chasing it down, so what began as a quest to find the delegate becomes a quest to find the photographer and his rolls of film.
Questions of honour and integrity arise again and seem to be a recurrent preoccupation for Melville, but it's less serious here than in the others I've seen. The trajectory of the story feels a bit aimless at times, like Magnet of Doom, but unlike that one, it doesn't wither on the vine and there's more to enjoy - exceptionally stylish noir visuals complement the evocative Manhattan skyline and a great jazz sountrack. There's also a strong vein of absurdist humour running right the way through this that I really like. Delmas's disposal of the film down the drain at the end and his raucous laughter is as much a joke on the audience as it is on Moreau (incidentally played by the director himself) - a trick the Coens repeat with less subtlety in Burn After Reading.
Le Deuxième Souffle - 8/10
A sprawling heist movie charting a week or so in the life of career criminal Gustave "Gu" Minda. The film opens with Gu escaping from jail, fleeing to Paris, getting involved in a gangland killing, and subsequently one final job - a platinum heist. On his trail the whole time is the mercurial inspector Blot, who seems to know he will get his man in the end and is remarkably relaxed about the whole thing. It's one of those films that if you're not paying attention, will leave you behind - it takes no prisoners in the exposition stakes. It introduces most of its principal players (and there a lot!) inside the first 15 minutes, also jumping around chronologically. It left me with questions well into the second half of the film, although I did put all the pieces together in the end!
There's no doubt this is accomplished film-making but its achilles heel is possibly that although the characters are intriguing, you don't really care about any of them. Gu has a certain roguish charm but also shows himself to be a cold-blooded killer, having no qualms about taking people out just because they're in his way. In the end, Blot is probably the most sympathetic character - he gets the audience on side in his opening scene, with an amusing skit about why there are no witnesses to a crime and ultimately, in giving Fardiano's confession to the press, signals his own disgust with the corrupt system he operates within. One scene was cut from the film at the insistence of the Censorship Commission at the time - a brutal police interrogation, which is now only hinted at. Its inclusion would undoubtedly have added to the film's power, but was probably too close to the bone at the time for the powers that be, in the wake of the real life Ben Barka scandal.
As with Le Samouraï, there's a strong theme of honour among thieves - a Melville staple apparently. The point is driven home when Paul Ricci's treacherous brother Joe is gunned down by Gu, who calls him a 'jackal'. It's one thing to be a criminal, but a criminal without honour is the lowest of the low. Also a bit like Le Samouraï, I find this to be a film that's easier to admire than to love - it maintains a cool distance at all times, but I can't deny its clever plotting, stylish camera work and ambitious scope; it's like Melville wanted to combine the best of American thrillers at the time with a New Wave sensibility and he pretty much pulls it off.
EDIT: Title corrected, thanks @castleofargh
Magnet of Doom - 6/10
Melville's first foray into colour film, shot in widescreen Franscope, is a defiantly strange film, which may explain why it's slipped into relative obscurity. It's neither fish nor fowl, with two truly unsympathetic lead characters. Ruthless businessman Ferchaux is facing a murder charge and decides to flee France and head for the States. He advertises for a personal secretary to accompany him, which is answered by failed boxer, Michel Maudet. The odd couple arrive in New York, then proceed to head south, across the States in what becomes a road movie, but a road movie without much drive or direction.
The relationship between the two men is interesting, as the balance of power shifts, but one (Ferchaux) is a vain, selfish man and the other a pathological liar so it's difficult to care a whole lot about what happens to either of them. There isn't really much of a story either, beyond Ferchaux's evasion of the feds; it's more of a character study, but a peculiarly languid one, which seems to be echoed by the steamy torpor of the bayous, where the two end up. The film really runs out of steam and ends on a note that almost seems like Melville shrugging and going 'whatever', which is similar to how I felt, despite having enjoyed the ride at times. There's some really interesting and nicely-shot scenery along the way, from a less familiar side of America, and some interesting interplay between the characters, but none of it really seemed to go anywhere. In fact, if I were giving the film a title, I'd probably have called it 'Road To Nowhere'.
Two Men in Manhattan - 7/10
An earlier film in Melville's career than the other two, and in some ways more of a straightforward narrative, but it's still not that straightforward - it's film noir, but not as we know it.
The film opens with the disappearance of a French UN delegate, Fèvre-Berthier, which leads a reporter and his disreputable photographer sidekick on something of a wild goose chase across Manhattan on his trail. Their investigative techniques leave something to be desired and for a while mostly seems to consist of turning up on the doorstep of Fevre-Berthier's alleged mistresses and asking "do you know him? do you know where he is? No? OK then, goodbye" until they stumble onto
a hot lead and wind up tracking him down to the apartment of one of his mistresses. A sub-plot develops where the film the photographer shoots becomes hot property, with everyone chasing it down, so what began as a quest to find the delegate becomes a quest to find the photographer and his rolls of film.
Questions of honour and integrity arise again and seem to be a recurrent preoccupation for Melville, but it's less serious here than in the others I've seen. The trajectory of the story feels a bit aimless at times, like Magnet of Doom, but unlike that one, it doesn't wither on the vine and there's more to enjoy - exceptionally stylish noir visuals complement the evocative Manhattan skyline and a great jazz sountrack. There's also a strong vein of absurdist humour running right the way through this that I really like. Delmas's disposal of the film down the drain at the end and his raucous laughter is as much a joke on the audience as it is on Moreau (incidentally played by the director himself) - a trick the Coens repeat with less subtlety in Burn After Reading.
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castleofargh
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"le deuxieme soufflé" would be this
^_^
coming from me who's so terrible at writing in French or any language for that matter(almost no accent or upper-case like I do here, and Frankenspelling), the irony of pretending to play the grammar nazi makes me so proud of being silly.
^_^
coming from me who's so terrible at writing in French or any language for that matter(almost no accent or upper-case like I do here, and Frankenspelling), the irony of pretending to play the grammar nazi makes me so proud of being silly.
Hutnicks
Headphoneus Supremus
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The Sleep Curse (2017) Hong Kong 6.5/10
An oddity here. A bit of a gore fest at times and set in the 90's but with a distinct 70's look to it, it tells the story of a scientist investigating chronic insomnia. The back story unfolds in a truly odd manner and sets up a pretty bizarre finish. If you were a fan of HK films of the 70's this one might be right up your alley. If not the pacing and cutting from story to story may be very off putting.
An oddity here. A bit of a gore fest at times and set in the 90's but with a distinct 70's look to it, it tells the story of a scientist investigating chronic insomnia. The back story unfolds in a truly odd manner and sets up a pretty bizarre finish. If you were a fan of HK films of the 70's this one might be right up your alley. If not the pacing and cutting from story to story may be very off putting.
WraithApe
Headphoneus Supremus
"le deuxieme soufflé" would be this
^_^
coming from me who's so terrible at writing in French or any language for that matter(almost no accent or upper-case like I do here, and Frankenspelling), the irony of pretending to play the grammar nazi makes me so proud of being silly.
Heh, noted. How should it be, incidentally? Just without the inflection? I plead ignorance... I chose to learn German in school, rather than French (no offence!)
WraithApe
Headphoneus Supremus
Village of the Damned - 8/10
Awesome! The kind of low-key British oddity that's right up my alley, especially on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon. It sits somewhere in the middle of horror and sci-fi, with a sinister alien invasion theme going on. A blackout occurs in the sleepy home counties village of Midwich which leaves a lot of people disoriented, but apparently fine. The legacy of the event though is a cluster of births several months later, where all the babies born are described as having 'strange eyes'. As the children of the blackout grow up - at an alarmingly fast rate - it becomes apparent that there's something more dangerous going on.
Based on The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndam, this is classic British horror sci-fi (albeit scripted by an American.) It's very low-key, and that means it's still mostly a cheese-free zone, even watching it from this distance of time. The effects are kept to a minimum, and that may be as much down to budgetary restraints as good judgement, but either way, it works. MGM usually wanted a gimmick to sell these kind of films and here that is satisfied by the kids' staring eyes which was done using polarized inserts - 'Beware the Stare!' the poster proclaimed. The glowing eyes, the fact they don't behave in a child-like way and also the way they're overdubbed, lend the hive-minded children an uncanniness that is still quite eerie even now. The not-really-the-end ending might seem a bit cheesy by today's standards, but you have to remind yourself that what are genre cliches now were probably quite fresh in 1960.
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WraithApe
Headphoneus Supremus
Since you're on a bit of a Jean Rollin trip, you might want to take in The Grapes of Death - one of the strangest zombie films I've seen!
Trihexagonal
Headphoneus Supremus
I don't think I have that one. Zombie Lake, a film directed by Jean Rollin and written by Jesus Franco is on my playlist though. It doesn't get much more weird than that combo.
castleofargh
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yup just "souffle" for the movie title like on your IMDB link. I really don't know which language I would have picked in your case, French isn't Mandarin, but it can be a PITA too. for me it was simple, a teacher offering to pick a second language said "those who learned Latin will have a head start with German as it also uses the same declensive system, nominative, vocative..." by the end of that sentence I knew I would love Spanish.^_^Heh, noted. How should it be, incidentally? Just without the inflection? I plead ignorance... I chose to learn German in school, rather than French (no offence!)
fool me once with Latin shame on you, try to fool me twice with German... no way Jose.
Village of the Damned I saw it fairly young on TV and have a mighty scary and powerful memory of it, I would have ranked it 12/10 from memory on my scar'O-meter. but after watching the trailer, I realize the scariest part might have been the hairdo ^_^. it's like everybody had my mother cutting their hair or wig. not for the weak hearted(love u mum!).
WraithApe
Headphoneus Supremus
Yeah, I think you have to make some allowances for the vintage - I think you're unlikely to find any horror or sci-fi from pre-70s that's truly scary by today's standards. Part of the appeal for me with these kinds of films is nostalgia for a bygone age of film-making and also the integrity of it; it could easily have been played for laughs, as another schlocky B movie, but they wanted to make it as eerily effective as possible. Funny about the hairpieces - apparently they assembled a bunch of similar-looking brunette kids for the roles, all with really dark eyes, which would look strange when juxtaposed with the blonde wigs they were all given.
Hutnicks
Headphoneus Supremus
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Classic British Horror Sci fi Scripted by a Yanglese and directed by a German no less:
This list has some real gems in the vintage category. Village of the Damned should be obligatorily followed by These are the Damned IMHO.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/ga...est-british-science-fiction-films-in-pictures
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