Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)

Masks. Cracks. Cracks in the walls, cracks in the floor. Clock ticking. Razor blade, rabbit. Neurosis. Distorted images. Extreme close-ups. Music, sound effects. Rabbit's head in the purse. Man. Tick-tack, tick-tack, tick-tack. Men. Paranoia. Walls again, hands coming out the walls. Rape. Imaginary rape. The city. Insanity. Walking, high heels clicking. Sister, family photo. Lack of music. Lack of sound effects. Catherine Deneuve. Click-clack, click-clack. Madness. Fear. Sex. Repression. Decay. Bells, children playing outside. Hallucinations. Murder. Final frame. Repulsion. Masterpiece.

11/10

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (Nathan Juran, 1958)

Probably the most ridiculed classical sci-fi after Ed Wood's Plan 9 but I simply love it.

Seems like the whole budget went for design of the poster which had since become a synonym for exploitation movies art. All they have left to work with were 3 sets: Ms Archer's "mansion", hotel bar and a desert. And since you can't do much with these they decided to blend sci-fi and film-noir and melodrama into this weird classics.

And yet another remarkable evidence how to make something out of nothing if you try hard enough and you are at least modestly talented and you don't give a shit about what other people think about you and you are lucky enough to find collaborators with a similar frame of mind.

9/10

Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver aka This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse (José Mojica Marins, 1967)

Sequel to the At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul. It continues right where we left Coffin Joe because it turns out he's not dead. He just passed out during his final hallucination and is well and of course still mean fucker ready to continue his quest to find worthy mother for his supreme son who will keep his bloodline alive.

This one is very similar to the prequel regarding style but more ambitious as it runs for half an hour longer. Story is more complex and also Ze's character is more developed. He's still mean misogynistic sadistic fucker full of contempt, but now he's  also more manipulative and has hunchbacked assistant called Bruno.

Two outstanding scenes without doubt are releasing bunch of snakes on the group of imprisoned women (and he watches this very graphic slaughter while fucking another one) and  especially nightmarish portrayal of hell. Shot in color, I think even Jodorowsky would be proud of.

Not as good as its prequel but still mastepriece!

8/10

À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma aka At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul (José Mojica Marins, 1964)

We meet Coffin Joe for the first time! He is spooky fuck, obsessed with continuation of his bloodline. But his wife cannot bear him a son so he kills her and then rapes local girl Terezinha who as a result hangs herself. But before that he also kills her fiancee and mutilates a bit local guy during card game. And after that he mutilates another of locals with barbed crown of Jesus statue! Brilliant and hilarious scene, definitely my favorite one!

So lots of shit is going on and it's all really good. But special quality of this exploitation flick is grim atmosphere and of course Coffin Joe himself! He is really unique in all his contempt towards everything and everybody. He plays the role in ultra over the top theatrical way which for some reason works extremely well. Sure, he gets a bit comical here and there but overall he's spectacular. Truly menacing sadistic bastard!

Totally ahead of its time and still unique.

9/10

The Image aka The Punishment of Anne (Radley Metzger, 1976)

This one caught me a bit by surprise which is always good. I came across it on some discussion boards and downloaded it just to see it out of curiously. Always interested into “cult” movies that nobody actually has seen.

So it starts predictable as typical French erotic/SM kinky drama with a bit more of women frontal nudity as usual. Which is great and I’m all for that! Especially when made in this stylish way that frogies are so good at. But then, halfway through the movie, came surprise in a form of blow job shot in very hard core porn style!? 

It’s basically more daring version of Story of O, one with the guts. It’s about love through submission and it’s similarly stylized but it goes further with explicit shots. Which are not exploitive at all and movie is certainly far from hard core pornography. Narration of story basically follows these little erotic episodes, but there’s still enough of characters development and various mind fucks (who in fact is slave and who’s a master?) to make it very intriguing. And of course very sexy – lead actress Rebecca Brooke is so fucking hot!

Good stuff, it leaves you uncomfortable and it stays in the back of your mind for some time. Probably too dark and depressing for general public but I liked it a lot.

8/10

Alien 3 (David Fincher, 1992)

By far the best one of the sequels and – I know it’s a blasphemy – in some ways even better than original one! It has that old and gritty and warned-out feeling that first one captured so well and we all love (fuck that high techno CGI Cameron’s action shit!). It gets even better with claustrophobic shots of shafts and corridors chases with creature’s POV camera works.

It does start a bit slowly but we are rewarded for our waiting with the best scene of the movie. It’s at the funeral when Dillon is giving “ashes to ashes” speech and simultaneously alien rips apart that poor dog. It’s simply brilliant and it reminded me somehow about ending of the first Godfather.

Then it turns into action/slasher and most of the killings are great and gory enough, especially for high budget Hollywood blockbuster. First massacre is my favorite following by sneaky dispatching of Pete Postlethwaite. He didn’t see it coming at all!

Action is masterfully intertwined with Ripley’s “motherhood” story and this gives movie really cool tone. One of the convicts has a remark about her not being married and having children and – voila – next thing you know she carries an embryo. I wonder if pro-life fanatics would change their attitude after seeing this masterpiece. Or maybe not – she does end up in the lake of fire, doesn’t she? In any case - that "close up" of Ripley and alien is gotta be one of the coolest shots in the film history!

So good to see it after a while, cannot believe it’s been 20 years already. It hasn’t aged a bit, it’s still flawless! 

And such a shame about David Fincher - after this one he made one more masterpiece in Se7en and then sadly disappeared from my radar.

9/10

Honeymoon Killers (Leonard Kastle, 1969)

Mother of all serial killers movies, with father of course being Henry! Nothing will ever reach standard that these two masterpieces have set.

And also master class for young film makers about how to make something extraordinary with next to zero budget. This should be mandatory viewing in all film schools at least once a year. I don't watch it anually to learn anything, I just need to see it from time to time because it's so damn good.

10/10

Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours aka My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days (Andrzej Zulawski, 1989)

I love bizarre, insane, wild and crazy movies of Zulawski, especially ones with Sophie Marceau (not really counting Fidelite which is crap and La Note Bleu for which I cannot find subtitles). So I watch this one or L'amour Braque every now and then when I’m in the “right” frame of mind.

It’s kind of boy-meets-girl romantic story with our main two protagonists both rather strange and outside this world. He has invented some new computer language and has undefined mental terminal illness and she is a star of travelling show because she can read minds of other people. So, fucked up as they both are, they were of course made for each other.

And there is lot of screaming and overall madness and other wonderfully bizarre characters (her mother, hotel receptionist!!) and – to be honest – seeing Sophie nude doesn’t hurt your eyes neither. Lots of happening going on in this one and as in true French arty style, content is not as important as a style. So you either love it or hate it. 

I simply love though I’m not sure I understood everything.

9/10

Old Boy (Chan-wook Park, 2003)

Always nice to see Old Boy and this time pleasure was even greater because I had a chance to see it on the big screen. It was part of a little festival that Raid’s director Gareth Evans put together here in Dublin.

It’s of course one of the best revenge movies of the recent years, surpassed only by its successor Lady Vengeance. And even if you are a bit weird and not into this kind of stuff, you must admit how fresh and inventive it is. And gag with dotted line going from the hammer to that poor bastard’s forehead is just hilarious and I’ll never forget the WTF feeling when I first saw it.

Should stop now because you never know when you talk too much. Maybe Mr. Park will kidnap me and put away for 15 years!

8/10

Sitting Target (Douglas Hickox, 1972)

Was reading this great book about snooker’s bad boy and “people champion’s” Alex Higgins and died laughing few times when it came to his turbulent relationship and “adventures” with his good buddy Oliver Reed. I knew guy was fucking insane and all but reading trivia about him on IMDB I was again dying of laughter. Check this for instance:

He died of a heart attack in a bar after downing three bottles of Captain Morgan's Jamaica rum, eight bottles of German beer, numerous doubles of Famous Grouse whiskey and Hennessy cognac, and beating five much younger Royal Navy sailors at arm-wrestling. His bar bill for that final lunch time totaled 270 Maltese lira, almost £450.

On IMDB website I also read that he starred in Sitting Target which is the first British film to get X ratings just for the violent content. And since it also has Jill St. John from Tony Rome I naturally decided to check it out.

Can’t say I was disappointed because it’s not THAT violent. But it’s still excellent thriller with good prison escape and car chases and good looking women and all that. The best thing about it (beside animal like and totally out of control Reed) is it’s great ending. Final twist is totally unexpected and I didn’t see it coming at all.  

7/10

Lat sau san taam aka Hard-Boiled (John Woo, 1992)

Saw this masterpiece for the first time on the big screen and was naturally blown away. My favorite Woo’s flicks used to be Killer, Better Tomorrow 2 and Hard-Boiled. But now I’m not too sure anymore – Hard Boiled is at least tied with Killer at the first spot. 

You see I kind of preferred to watch Chow Yun-Fat as cool kind of guy and not stereotypical (even more for HK that is) humorous and charming ladies man, but his portrayal of Tequila is just brilliant. I must see Killer again soon and decide about this tie.

10/10