The Monster Club

A writer of horror stories is invited to a "monster club" by a mysterious old gentleman. There, three gruesome stories are told to him; between each story some musicians play their songs. In the end, it's recognized he's the greatest monster of all!

Vincent Price is a horror legend and to have him as the 'host', so to speak, of an anthology style movie with musical interludes from the likes of UB40 and The Pretty Things, well that's just solid gold stuff for me.

The Monster Club was the final installment in Amicus studios portmanteau series and concerns R.Chetwynd-Hayes(John Carradine)a noted horror writer who runs into an elderly Vampire named Erasmus (Vincent Price) .Erasmus duly takes his fill of the authors blood and after recognizing him becomes all apologetic and invites him to The Monster Club where he hopes Chetwynd-Hayes might garner some new ideas for a new book.As the guest of Erasmus, Chetwynd-Hayes is regaled with three stories of the macabre.

In the first, a young couple George and Angela are hard up for cash, so they answer an advertisement in a newspaper looking for someone to help catalogue antiques in an old manor. Angela goes and meets the owner who as it turns out is a Shadmock, kind of a Vampire/werewolf hybrid, Angerla is scared of at first but soon settles in to her job. Angela soon becomes friendly with the soft spoken and thoughtful employer but comes under increasing pressure form George to steal something from the house, and she decides to take advantage of an invitation to a masked ball with the Shadmock's family at the manor to fulfill her objective.

The second story concerns a Vampire stalking the London underground  being chased by the B-squad a team of vampire hunters lead by Pickering, (Donald Pleasance). Pickering uses the vampires son who unknowingly leads the B-squad right to his father.

In the final story Stuart Whitman plays Sam an American movie Director scouting the English countryside for the perfect location for his upcoming movie. He stumbles across a fog bound town full of Ghouls where he befriends a Humghoul (Human and ghoul hybrid) and struggles with her help to make his escape from his living nightmare.

The shadmock story was the best and most original, its nice to have a different monster and this one was a rather a nice chap and I felt for his pain at the end, but it was definitely a missed opportunity, the idea of a masked monster ball I find intriguing, but Ward obviously only used this as a means perhaps to save money on Monster make-up. The second story is played for laughs which is a shame and is by far the least of the three stories. The Ghoul story I found to be the best, and full of atmosphere with a nice twist at the end. The in between segments with Price and Carradine are a little below par and full of very bad monster make-up and cheesy but slightly enjoyable, these two great horror legends were fine, considering the quality of script, but they deserved a bit more.

If your a fan of this style of horror, its a must watch and and a lot of fun.

6/10

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage

Sam, an American writer in Rome, witnesses a murder attempt on the wife of the owner of an art gallery by a sinister man in a raincoat and black leather gloves - but Sam is powerless to do anything as he gets trapped between a double set of glass doors in going to her aid. The woman survives, and the police say that she is the first surviving victim of a notorious serial killer. But when they fail to make any progress with the case, Sam decides to investigate on his own, turning up several clues that point in the direction of just one possible suspect - assuming that he really knows who he's looking for...

After only a few italian horror movies under my belt, i am hooked. I love the Giallo style. And this early Argento is typical of that style. The score, the visuals and of coarse the black leather gloved killer.

Whilst walking back home, American writer Sam Dalmas (who is in Rome to spend a little bit of time with his girlfriend, before he has to give his new book over to his publishers) walks by a newly-opened art gallery, just as he is about to keep walking passed the gallery, Sam suddenly notices that a woman is getting attacked by someone who is trying to stab her. Due to the doors having a strange locking system, Sam is not able to reach the girl (although he may have cached a glimpse of the attackers face.)

Luckally because of all the noise that Sam has been making,the killer makes a quick run for it, before anyone else arrives. With the main doors at last being open, Sam is at last able to get to the girl, who is still just about alive. As the police arrive at the scene, they understandabre first think that Sam is the murderer, but as the police interview Dalmas, they start to have mixed feeling about him being the murderer. Although the police decide that to be on the safe side, they will keep Sams passport so he is unable to run out of the country. Over time, Sam is able to gain the trust of some of the detectives in Rome, who revele to him that they suspect that the attempted murder of the woman was done by a vicious serial killer that they have been tracking (and falling to find) for some time. As Sam tries to relax by spending time with his girlfriend, the memories of the attack that he saw keep haunting him. This leads to Dalmas deciding that he can not just fade into the background whilst the bodies mount up as the police seem to get feather away from solving the case, so Sam decides that he should investigate the murder case himself. Although as Dalmas seems to be gathering speed as he discover clues to who the killer may be, the killer starts gathering speed in targeting Sam and his girlfriend as the next victims..

When watching this film,one of the things that I was instantly struck by was the stunning directing by Dario Argento. For this being his first ever film, Argento already looks like someone who has perfected their craft, from the David Lynch style opening,which has a strange feel of uneasiness, to the last twenty minute chase for the kill, where Dario siloettes the scenes in an extremely striking manner. Whilst Argento does have a very artistic eye for the look of the film, it is also very easy to see that Dario loves to fill people up with suspense, (a great segment in the film has,Argento giving a nod to "the master of suspense" by featuring an actor in an extended-cameo, who also starred in Hitchcocks film The Man Who Knew Too much) and to completely surprise them, with some very nasty murders, which are also very well devised and excellently stylised, to create some really terrific murder scenes.

Along with his stunning directing, Argento is also able to write a tension-packed screenplay, that makes the pace of the film move at an almost unstoppable speed, with the scenes that show Dalmas trying to figar out the identity of the killer by using the evidence that he has gathered and the scrambled moments of his memory really pulling the audience in, and making you feeling a strong desire for Sam to find the killer. For the absolutely jaw-dropping twist at the end of the film, Argento hints at the ending in some very clever subt ways in the film, which become much more noticeable on repeat viewings,although it is still unable to diminish the impressiveness of Dario getting the audiences predictions of the killer, to be completely destroyed, by the shocking revelation of the true identity of the serial killer.

A nail-biting, gripping Giallo with, an excellent suspense filled screenplay,that is matched by truly astonishing directing,from an amazing young talent.
Bring on more Giallo, bring on more Argento.

8/10

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Mankind’s war against the Decepticons takes an interesting turn with the discovery of Sentinel Prime (Nimoy), Optimus Prime’s predecessor as leader of the Autobots, who has been in hibernation on the Moon since the 1960s. Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) has a new girlfriend, can’t get a job and is itching to save the world again.

Second veiwing of this and i didnt like much more than the first veiwing. Its big loud and crass, full of giant robots knocking eachother six ways from sunday, fast cars turning into robots, lots of guns and noise, and some eye candy. All these elements should make a great action movie but when these elements are almost thrown at you at the breakneck pace that Micheal Bay does in this, without slowing down for a second and building a decent story or characters it makes for headache enducing ass numbing semi-boredom!!

The first Transformers movie is a great movie, the story concentrated on Sam and Bumblebee, basically a boy and his dog story and the rest of the transformers and their fight with the decepticons formed the backdrop to this story. The characters were developed and the story was important to the whole movie.
However the second movie dropped this in favour of quick cut action, big robotic battles, grand locations and very loud noises, and while midly etertaining it lacked the story and charactors of the first.

And this third movie, even though Micheal Bay promised to tone it down a bit, its just more of the same and then some. The story is far too complicated for this type of movie, the characters are not properly flushed out or developed and the ammount of seemingly main characters is far too many. The script feels like every idea they had was pushed and forced in.

Now no-one can deny that Micheal Bay is probably one the best biig action directors out there at the moment and no-one can blow the holy shit ou of a city like he can, and his action scenes are always grand an innovitive and above all else they are exciting and enjoyable to watch. But you cant just have a movie full of action scenes without a little bit of story and characters that bring you into the movie and give you a connection!

This time around it turns out that the 1969 moon landing was not carried out just cause we could. No, it happens that there was something "alien" on the dark side of said moon. So Buzz Aldrin et al had the top secret mission of taking a peek at the craft that crash landed. And that craft was, of course, one that was occupied by some dead Autobots. Back to the present day and Sam Whitwicky (LeBeouf) has been shunned by the government that works with the Decepticons, and has to get a regular job. As Megan Fox was essentially sacked from the franchise for suggesting that Bay was like Hitler, we are led to believe that Sam has got himself a new stunner of a girlfriend (as Sam's mum states in a later scene, he must have a big cock!). So we are introduced to Carley (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's lips on legs), in a simple, tracking shot that follows her legs and arse: nice! She has a nice body, but her face is dominated by over-sized lips, and is about as charismatic as a transformer that can't transform: i.e. a van.

What transpires is a series of battles, instigated by some objects that have the potential of bringing the robot world through space and time to occupy planet Earth. Humans have been working with the Decepticons for years, which has helped them get information from various companies. When this action begins, the main setting is Chicago. An alien invasion- style visual style takes over.

Impressive battle scenes cannot make up for a lack of story, believable characters and a little restraint from blowing evrything up with super fast cuts between scenes.
Micheal Bay needs someone like Speilberg to help with the story and recapture the magic of the first movie, especially if he is going to go ahead and continue with this franchise.


3/10

Harry And The Hendersons

The Henderson family (lead by patriarch Lithgow), on returning from a hunting outing, run over what they at first think is a man. On closer inspection, it turns out to be a 7ft 'Bigfoot.' They house the beast, which turns out to be friendly, and try to hide his presence from the authorities.

Another nostalgia trip with this kids tale of Bigfoot. This heart warming tale of a family who adopt a Bigfoot after hitting it with their car on a journey home from a hunting/camping trip.

The Hendersons are a typical American family consisting of wannabe artist/gun salesman dad George played by the always enjoyable John Lithgow, loving mum Melinda Dillon, a bratty daughter and a hyperactive son. On returning from a camping trip in the Pacific Northwest, they accidentally run into some sort of large furry creature on the forest road. Originally believing it to be a bear, George steps out of the car to prod it with his gun a few times. But the bear has man-like hands and George suddenly asks his family...

'What if it's...HIM'.

Bigfoot! So they tie him to the roof of the car and drive him home, while George thinks of the best way of selling him. Later that night, he is curious as to how big his feet really are. So he sneaks down to the garage with a measuring tape only to find that he's no longer strapped to the roof of the car, but poking around in the kitchen fridge.

The Henderson's stand back as Bigfoot (or Harry as he is later renamed) stomps around the house and garden investigating all their strange belongings. Though he doesn't care much for all the animal trophies hanging around everywhere. Freaking out, George tries to snipe Harry from through the bedroom window, but has a change of heart when he realises that Harry is just big, harmless oaf.

Soon Bigfoot/Harry is on the loose and the whole town and beyond are on the hunt for him.

Rick Baker deservedly took home an Academy Award for Best Make-Up Effects back in 1988 for this movie. Harry Henderson is an amazing character with a wonderfully wide range of expressions and emotions, and unlike most creatures created for similar movies, he is totally believable which of immerses you further into the story

Behind the fun family movie about a family and their unorthodox pet is themes of respecting nature and anti-hunting sentiments and the importance of family. Also there is George who eventually leaves his unsatisfying job as a gun sales man with his Dad and follow his dream of being an artist but this can simply be enjoyed for what it is, a fun family movie!!

7/10

The Jungle Book

An animated adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s famous tale of a lost human child raised by a pack of wolves, who is helped by a clever panther and a easy-going bear, and hindered by a hungry tiger and the power-crazed king of the monkeys, to return to his own kind.

"Look for the bear nessessities........." i cant be helped, the music starts and you just have to sing along. This is an absolute classic, and one of Disney's greates animated movies. Its a loose enough adaptation of Kipling's famous tale but is a great tale in its own right.

Mowgli is found in a basket as a baby in the deep jungles. Bagheera, the panther who discovers the boy, promptly takes him to a wolf who has just had cubs. She raises him along with her own cubs and Mowgli soon becomes well acquainted to jungle life. Ten years have past and soon Mowgli is soon part of the pack But that night, when the wolf tribe learns that Shere Khan, a man-eating tiger, has returned to the jungle, they realize that Mowgli must be taken to the man village, to protect him and those around him. Bagheera volunteers to escort him back. They leave that very night, but Mowgli is determined to stay in the jungle and loses Bagheera. Kaa, the hungry python, hypnotizes Mowgli into a deep and peaceful sleep, traps him tightly in his coils, and tries to devour him, but comically fails. The next morning, Mowgli tries to join the elephant patrol. Bagheera finds Mowgli and they argue; Mowgli runs away from Bagheera. The boy soon meets up with the fun-loving bear Baloo, who shows Mowgli the fun of a care-free life and promises not to take him to the man village.

But Mowgli is captured by the apes and taken to King Louie, an ape obsessed with being human and is convinced that if Mowgli bestows the gift of fire on him he can become a man. Cue music!

"Now im the king of the swingers, whoa,

the jungle VIP,

ive reached the top......"

But soon Mowgli is confronted by Shere Khan and must fight for his survival, along with his friends of coarse!

If i can find any fault with this movie it is that its not longer!!!!

Seriously, these are some of the most memorable characters in Disney history, we have Baloo, the care free party bear that just wants to have fun and only needs the "bear" necessities of life. Begheera, a panther, that we've all known this kind of person, the one that just wants to get down to business and get as much done as quickly as possible, the party pooper, but deep down still has that heart. And one of Disney's most memorable villains of all time, Shere Khan, voiced perfectly and menacingly by George Sanders.

If you haven't seen The Jungle Book, just buy it, believe me, it's worth the money. It's a classic fun animated film that I will love forever, still to this day I will always sing along to Bear Necessities!!

10/10

3000 Miles To Graceland

Improbable thriller in which a bunch of ex-cons, led by Kurt Russell, dress up as Elvis impersonators to rob a Vegas casino. But things go wrong when a psychotic member of the gang (Kevin Costner) double-crosses them, leaving Russell and his girlfriend (Courteney Cox) to go on the run...

I remember seeing this movie when it first came out and remember enjoying it immensely at the time, it was a fun crime caper with guys dressed as Elvis, cant go wrong really. I recently saw it added to the lovefilm player and though, why not. Also had a quick look on a few sites to see the general reaction to this and most are not good! But I have to say i enjoyed again.

The story is simple enough, Kurt Russell, fresh out of prison, and Kevin Costner, sporting some of the greatest sideburns in movie history, lead a gang in a daring casino heist dressed as Elvis!

Costner, who does a great job departing from the usual character and plays a bad guy. The great thing about this film is that all the characters are bad guys, we just have to decide how bad they are and how much we want to let ourselves care about them. Our allegiance goes with Russell, who seems to be playing the cliche of 'bad guy out to retire after one last big score', but its Russell's ability to play the 'average guy' that makes us side and to an extent care about and route for him.

The supporting cast is very impressive but a little underused, with Davids Arquette playing the goof, and Christian Slater playing the cool guy of the gang and having a brilliant exchange with Costner post robbery. Both perfect for these roles but we don't see enough of them.

We also meet Kevin Pollock and Thomas Haden Church as FBI agents chasing them after the robbery, again both great supporting actors who are sadly a little underused but are always enjoyable when on screen.

**Spoiler ahead**

The opening heist scene is the highlight of the movie, we follow the Elvis clad gang as they pull of an almost impossible heist in a casino, during an Elvis impersonator convention.

Its loud, fast and violent, and that's exactly what you want from a casino heist. but their plan is almost undone as they are discovered on their way out and a shootout ensues. seemingly trapped they head for the car park roof and their ingenious escape route, via helicopter. But not all make it as one of the team is shot and killed.

This is the catalyst to the main story of betrayal amongst thieves!!

An argument breaks out back at the motel about how to divide their dead comrades share, and Costner's character betrays and shoots the rest. But Russell's character survives!

The money has bee stolen by a kid, the son of Russell's love interest, a motel dwelling single mother played by Courtney Cox.

The movie becomes a cat and mouse chase across country as they rush to launder the money, and try and outwit or kill the others, culminating in a shootout wit Costner, backed up by Ice T, Russell and the police and that's not going to end well!!

After the explosive and stylish opening heist, the movie falls into a dialogue driven movie as the characters chase and double-cross each other in an effort to get the cash! The comic scenes, like Costner's encounter with a football fan, scattered throughout the movie help but the dialogue is not strong enough to to live up to the opening and lets the movie down a bit in the middle and the predictable end!

However if you enjoy fun thrillers with a bit of style, this definitely one to check out

7/10

OCTOBER MEANS HORROR!!!

It's October and means one thing, Halloween. And of coarse Halloween mean horror and horror movies, lots and lots of horror movies!
I am aiming to watch at least one horror movie every day go October!!
I am also going to try and fit in as many first time watches as I can, but will be revisiting as many classics as I can too, I can't help myself really!
I am going to try an vary what I watch, fitting in classic, modern and as many foreign horror as I can.