LIVID (France, 2011)

Original title: LIVIDE
dir: Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury



I watched the French horror movie LIVID tonight and once again I could kick myself in the head for paying too much attention to retarded comments on dvd sites, and thus postponing getting hold of the film for too long, comments that claim this is a so-so film. Argh!!! When I saw that the film won the prestigious HORROR'S BALL award for best film in 2012 I knew I had to watch it, and mein gott this is so good it's better than sex!! (with a flat inflatable rubber doll anyway).

The convoluted plot is as follows: Three juvenile delinquents break into an old house and shit starts to happen. Scenes of blood and yukky stuff ensue.

You really ought to watch this flick. It's pretty fucken rad! And just the fact that it's directed by the director couple who also did the equally awesome INSIDE (aka À l'intérieur) from 2007. The very sexy Béatrice Dalle is also in this one (albeit only as a dead woman - but still sexy, I'd deffo do her anyhow. No, wait, that probably sounded wrong. Oh screw it, I don't care! I'd go nekro for Béatrice Dalle!).

I bought the UK dvd and it looks great. I haven't checked the extras yet and I can't check what they are as the cover is over by the telly and I couldn't be arsed to get up.

Highly recommended!

The Batman vs. Dracula (Michael Goguen, USA, 2005)

THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA is a feature length catoon film made for television. I haven't watched the Batman cartoons since sometime in the early 90s when they ran on German tv (not that I ever lived in Germany mind you but via satellite tv). I feared this Batman take on the vampire story might be too, ahm, cartoonish but I think it's done quite well. And the darkness that Frank Miller introduced in the magazine is kept pretty good.

The plot: the ultimate insane inmate (guess who) from Arkham Asylum escapes and tries to find a hidden loot from some robbery. Another Arkham inmate (one Mr Oswald Cobblepot. LOL) follow suit, also to try and find the loot which is hidden somewhere at the Gotham cemetery. Obviously they find the wrong grave.

The film grabbed my attention all the way thru and altho you know the Bat man is probably going to make it to the end the road to there is uneven enough to make you wonder how it's all gonna end. The soundtrack is good and like I said I like that they are sticking to the dark style. Was it scary? Well, seasoned horror fans are not easily scared so no - but I certainly don't think THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA is aimed at the wee ones. All in all I enjoyed the movie heaps.

SPOILER: If there's one thing I disliked it was the fact that no one dies; I mean, come on, it's a vampire film for Christ's sakes! Even if it's set in the DC Comics universe. End of Spoiler.

The extras on the DVD consist of short interview bits, a making of the dubbing process which is fun to watch, and finally a handful of trailers. The film is subbed and dubbed in English/French/Spanish. I bought the reg. 1 DVD which, altho I got it from Amazon UK, was four times cheaper than the UK DVD! Go figure. o_O

The Broken (Sean Ellis, UK, 2008)

I watched the new (everything after 2000 is *new* to me in the world of horror movies!) British horror movie THE BROKEN the other day. I don't wanna reveal too much about the plot but it's kind of a variation on the old THE BODY SNATCHERS theme. The director, Sean Ellis, wanted a horror movie in the vain of the old films that didn't rely on gore or full blown monster makeup and I must say he did a great job in that direction (however there is ONE gore scene that's quite awesome. Look out for it!). There's thankfully no lame humour or "cool" one-liners and the actors are all good. It's a co-production with France so the main character's boyfriend obviously had to be from the land of the cooked frogs. LOL. The UK DVD is good altho the extras are pretty lame. Whoever invented the cut-up interview form ought to be tarred and feathered and run out of town! Overall a highly recommended film.


Thanks to Member-X for the tip.

Films from the future

Well, "from" the future cos somehow I still live in 1988! Argh. And I remember how I used to look forward to 1999 wondering whether the moon would really disappear from its orbit around the Earth - and if we would have proper space ships then. Obviously none of that happened. The new shiny futuristic world that most sci-fi authors imagined we would have just never happened. We still live in the same crappy dirty old world. I'd say it's even gone from crappy to worse. Oh well. At least we still have the moon to look at at night time (unless you live in smog filled places).

Anyway, I watch all kinds of old cinema from many countries so I often miss out on new American (and other Anglo/Euro) horror films but I'd like to rectify that. But it'll take a while obviously. Over on Dvdmanicas there's been two ongoing threads where the members post their favourite POST 2000 HORROR FILMS and I've simply collected all titles into one list.

If any of you have UBER FAVES that you think I should start with please do make a comment. Films you can't live without! (NB: some obvious films are missing from the list! I decided not to include the ones I've already got). Feel free to list new horror films that aren't on the list if you think they deserve it (i.e. they have to be among your faves - it's not enough they are new!). Cheers.

And yes, I should have included the ones I've already got cos you don't know which ones they are. Doh!


Abandoned , the ✓
Abominable (2006) ✓
Alien Raiders
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
All about evil
Alone
BATMAN VS. DRACULA ✓
Below
Blood Rain
Blood Night: The Legend Of Mary Hatchet
Blood: The Last Vampire ✓
Bruiser
Brutal River
Bubba Ho Tep
Bug
Calvaire
Cannibal (Marian Dora)
Chasing Sleep
Children , the
Cloverfield (2008)
Cold Prey
Colic
Collector , the
Coraline (2009)
Dagon (2001)
Daybreakers
Deadwood Park (2007)
Death Note/Death Note: The Last Name (2006)
DEATH PROOF
Deathwatch ✓
Devil's Backbone +
DORIAN GRAY
Dorm
Drag Me To Hell (2009) ✓
Exorcism Of Emily Rose , the
Fat Girl (2001)
Final Destination
Forbidden Door
FRAILTY 2001 +
Freeze Me
Frontier(s) ✓
GINGER SNAPS 2: UNLEASHED.
Girl Next Door , the + ✓
God's Left Hand Devil's Right Hand
Gozu
Grindhouse
HANNIBAL 2001
Happiness of the Katikuris , the
Hatchet
Headless Hero
Heartless
Hole , the
HORSEMAN , the
Host , the
House Of The Devil , the
I Sell the Dead
Inland Empire (2006) ✓
King of the Ants
LAID TO REST
Legion
Let The Right One In
Lost , the
Loved Ones , the
MALEFIQUE
Marebito +
Meatball Machine
Midnight Meat Train , the
Mist , the +
MR BROOKS 2007
Mum and Dad
My Little Eye
natures grave
Night of the Living Dorks
Noriko's Dinner Table
Orphanage , the
P
Pan's Labyrinth
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
Pontypool
Pyrokinesis
Rampo Noir
Red White And Blue +
Rogue
Ruins , the
Salvage ✓
Scrapbook
See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006) (TV)
Session 9
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Shadow: Dead Riot
Sheitan
Shortcut , the
Signal , the
Signs (2002)
Splinter
Strangers , the
Subconscious Cruelty
Suicide Circle
Sweeney Todd
Teeth ✓
Tormented
Triangle ✓
TRICK 'R' TREAT ✓
Trick or treat
Trouble Every Day
Vampire Hunter D +
Visitor Q (2001)
Wendigo
Wolfman , the
Zodiac