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j_swade
Reviews
Necropolis Awakened (2002)
exciting b movie without all the rapid fire smarmy Tarantino inspired dialogue
NECROPOLIS AWAKENED...Every once in a while a no budget movie comes my way that l just have to rave about! Made for around 7,000 bucks and shot on digital video, this is the best damn little zombie flick in years! A small town has become the experimental testing ground of the undead and their leader, Nefarious Thorne. The entire populace is either dead or part of Thorn's undead army and it's up to a lone survivor named Bob, to save the day and eliminate all the zombies. Too bad that Thorn has hired a trio of ruthless hit men who will do whatever takes to make sure that Bob doesn't leave town alive. The action is non stop from beginning to end with some of the coolest car chase scenes I have ever seen in a movie with this low of a budget. I hesitate in calling this flick a cross between MAD MAX and DAY OF THE DEAD only because it's really nothing like either of those films, it just felt that way while I was watching it. Now that I've got you so hyped up, let me bring you down just a little bit. The zombie make ups aren't that great and the acting sometimes gets a bit hammy....but get past that and you're in for a hell of a ride. Big kudos go out to the White family who made this picture for giving us an imaginative and exciting b movie without all the rapid fire smarmy Tarantino inspired dialogue and unnecessary cruelty that seems to run rampant in indie films these days. These guys have also made the first behind the scenes making of featurette that I have ever felt compelled to watch. Usually these things are just exercises in ego stroking and time killing (let's fill up the DVD just like the big boys do!) ,but I was extremely impressed on how they pulled off a lot of the crazy s*** seen in the movie.
Hellgate: The House That Screamed 2 (2001)
Can't believe they made a sequel
" Six months after the disappearance of Marty Beck, in the house on Wingate Road, a team of parapsychologists enter the house to unlock its ghastly secrets once and for all. What awaits them is unimaginable terror as one by one they come face to face with the shocking truth. Haunted by visions of a beautiful woman, a grotesque creature and evil manifestations, they must team up and fight to stay alive until morning. "
Was there any fans of the first? What scares me is that they obviously made their money back on the last one in order to garner making a sequel to the first...a cheesy effort made for a quick buck.
Check it out only if you want like low budget, cheesy movies...and nudity.
Versus (2000)
Doesn't quite live up to the hype.
First thing "Versus" started up, I was already groaning. The film quality was retro "my neighbor's camcorder", the acting was REALLY bad and it wasn't really living up to anything special. The music was okay, but I have a history of liking some strange music... also, sometimes the music is loud enough to where it's kind of hard to hear what is being said clearly.
About twenty minutes in (do try to last that long), the mood changes and it becomes more bearable, and then the story kind of comes together. It starts becoming interesting (which until then, I felt I had just wasted thirty bucks to see this movie).
The main character emerges (first twenty minutes will leave you going "uhh... who am I suppose to be rooting for here?") and they begin to develop what personality he has.
I really feel that this movie would have been better left in Japanese with subtitles. The voice-overs, where-as they match up okay were fairly annoying in general (the bad guy and the good guy were done pretty well, but everyone else sounds like the old Hong Kong flicks from the 70s with the whiny voices)
What I had envisioned was kind of a dark-souled samurai fighting the undead... What it ended up being was more of good/evil battle with the zombies being more of an excuse to fire off a bunch of bullets and to explain later events. Also, don't hold your breath for the sword-fighting, it comes kind of late in the film.
The ending was fairly thought provoking, and aside from the fact blood is applied with a fire-hose, and none of the zombies are really "zombie-ish" (they're live people with a lot of blood on 'em and it shows) Versus really wasn't that bad.
I'd probably suggest renting it, if you can find it at your local video store. This film is more for your die-hard martial arts/horror B-movie fan...
The Shining (1980)
the Shining on video is a shocker to terrify and thrill and a requisite title in any fan's video library.
Stephen King's novel The Shining is a classic of modern horror and one of the author's best and scariest works. The film version of the tale may be more a product of Kubrick than King, but it is in its own way a good psychological thriller.
Whereas the novel encompasses far more of the supernatural nature of the Overlook Hotel's ghostly and evil residents, the film instead chooses to see Jack Nicholson's descent into madness as just that rather than largely the product of phantasmal touches. Nicholson's performance is masterful in only the way he can deliver such a role; one might really wonder if he ought to be in a straight jacket at times.
Purists and fans of the novel might resent Kubrick's reinterpretation of King's novel--and the film is indeed the lesser of the two in comparison--yet still the Shining on video is a shocker to terrify and thrill and a requisite title in any fan's video library.
The Godfather (1972)
An offer you can't refuse
One of the jewels in the crown of the 70s cinema, The Godfather tells the story of the Corleone family. Itialian immigrants, caring people, and mafioso. From the first frame in which you see Marlon Brando's face lit from in front and above like a dark angel to the last frame of the last film in which Al Pacino's wineglass falls out of his hand as he slumps, the family gone and destroyed.
The Godfather is the holy trinity of mob films. Every film after it has its influences in it, and, much like some people look towards the Star Wars trilogy for an answer to every question, many people do so for The Godfather.
Patton (1970)
brilliant and innovative character study of a complicated warrior who believed in re-incarnation and the ultimate power of war and violence.
A tremendous achievement, largely due to the performance of George C. Scott. Considering when this film was made (1970), it could have easily been a heavy handed indictment of things that harmed flowers and other living things. Instead we get a brilliant and innovative character study of a complicated warrior who believed in re-incarnation and the ultimate power of war and violence. Patton was a man who read his bible religiously (no pun intended) yet gloried in using the enemy's living guts to grease the wheels of his tanks. This is definitely a 'warts and all" bio-pic. The Director, Franklin Schaffner, had a knack for making serious, no-frills movies (Pappillon, Boys from Brazil) with no superfluous romance or comic relief, and he was well chosen to take on this subject. This is a lean, mean film with no filler. Take a deep breath and prepare yourself for the opening scene. Make sure your standing at attention.
Psycho (1960)
Just see it. I hope you will not be disappointed.
This movie is by far the best Hitchcock film, in a world where there are so many to choose from. There is something about this movie that stands out above all the rest. Yes, it is missing the vibrant color of Vertigo, and claustrophobic feel of Rear Window. That does not matter. Although i am a huge fan of Mr. Hitchcock ( he really is the master ), this film just stands out to me. First off it did introduce me to his work, so right there it holds a bit of a tug at my heart. I founded his other great films because of watching this film.
The story takes you somewhere and leaves you, and then takes you somewhere else....you have to see it ,to understand what i mean. I do not mean at all that it takes you somewhere and leaves you in a bad way, at all. Just the opposite. It's all for the good. It was and still is a shocking tale, based loosely on true events from the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. Which is disturbing enough to know that it could have been real, but oh well.
Just see it. I hope you will not be disappointed