Sunday, April 30, 2023

Viewings: April 2023

Willem Dafoe going insane in a luxury penthouse in Vasilis Katsouopis's downbeat, art-heist film Inside was my favourite first time watch in April. Judging by the reviews, it's the latest example of movie Marmite, and I'm cool with that.

Other notable highlights were Kurando Mitsutake's pinku / giallo mash-up Maniac Driver, and Jon S. Baird's film Tetris being a very pleasant surprise.


Film:

The Whip and the Body (Mario Bava, 1963)

She-Wolves of the Ring (René Cardona, 1965)*

The Valachi Papers (Terence Young, 1972)*

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, 1975)*

Death Game (Peter S. Traynor, 1977)*

Martin (George A. Romero, 1977)

Beyond Terror (Tomáz Aznar, 1980)*

Document of the Dead (Roy Frumkes, 1980)

Violence in a Women's Prison (Bruno Mattei, 1982)

Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983)

The Devil’s Honey (Lucio Fulci, 1986)*

Body Melt (Philip Brophy, 1993)

The Poughkeepsie Tapes (John Erick Dowdle, 2007 / 2014)*

Maniac Driver (Kurando Mitsutake, 2020)*

Creed III (Michael B. Jordan, 2023)*

Inside (Vasilis Katsoupis, 2023)*

Knock at the Cabin (M. Night Shyamalan, 2023)*

One Day as a Lion (John Swab, 2023)*

Tetris (Jon S. Baird, 2023)*


Television:

The Last Train Episodes 1 & 2 (Matthew Graham, 1999)

Neighbours vs. Zombies (Ric Forster, 2014)*

Mastermind Epsiodes 28 - 31 (Bill Wright, 2022 / 2023)*

University Challenge Episodes 30 & 31 (Don Reid, 2022 / 2023)*

The Grand National 2023*

World Snooker Championship 2023*


*First time viewings.


Dada Debaser Notes:

  • Fulci was never one for restraint. Much like his ultra gory horror films, The Devil's Honey, his attempt at the erotic thriller, leaves nothing to the imagination and is completly bonkers. Eighties saxophone sleaze undiluted.
  • Completely underwhelmed by John Swab's One Day as a Lion. Frank Grillo and J.K. Simmons relegated to minor roles. Swab's previous film Candy Land (2023) is far better.
  • Sylvester Stallone dodged a bullet not appearing in Creed III as it's entirely forgettable. Why couldn't Adonis be flamboyant like his old man?
  • After decades, I finally watched another holy grail - Death Game. Alan Scouser overrated the hell out of that one.
  • One of my films in the latest wish list post became a doubly accurate prediction the very next day.
  • Even spookier, I'm now wondering if I inadvertently put a death curse on Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Len Goodman, since they both passed away the same month as my Strictly Come Dancung / House on the Edge of the Park post.
  • Congratulations to Greg Wallace off Masterchef for winning this season's Mastermind. His specialist subjects sucked, but he became my favourite once that bloke who reminded me of Louis Theroux got knocked out in the semi-finals:

6 comments:

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Barely caught any of the snooker and then sat down last night and caught Selby's maximum 👌

I proper got into this month's Mastermind episodes. Thought the bald bearded older fella would do better in the final.

Planned to watch The Sadist, but by the time I got around to it, it'd been removed from TP Encore 🤦‍♂️ Gonna watch Robbery on TP Encore tho.

Movies:
Creature With The Atom Brain
The Strange Worlds Of Planet X
Mods & Rockers
Johnny Handsome
Body Melt
Another Round

TV:
Doctor Who - The Time Meddler
Colin From Accounts (series 1)
The Curse (series 2)
Mastermind episodes
Match Of The Day 1 & 2 episodes

Spartan said...

Amazing 147.

There's a quality rip of The Sadist still up on Youtube.

What did you think of Body Melt? Supposedly was meant to be a horror anthology comprised of four short films. Would explain why it goes off on a tangent and lacks real focus. Still enjoy it as a late night back from the pub type of movie.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I liked it. Some killer music in it especially the Shaan theme.

Cheers for The Sadist link. Definitely need to watch that.

Spartan said...

Yeah, I enjoyed some of the music off Body Melt, too. Nice find. 👍

I think it's probably the only Aussie horror film from the nineties that I might have seen.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Hmmm. I can't think of any 90s Aussie ones either.

Spartan said...

Lean decade for any notable horror films in general. The noughties were a welcome relief.