Viewings: July 2024

Lindsey C. Vikers' unsettling, slowburner The Appointment was still lingering in the old grey matter long after the end credits were over. Not too many films have me revisiting them the following day, either. Dada Debaser Film of the Month™.

 

Film:

Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror (George King, 1938)*

The Devil's Partner (Charles R. Rondeau, 1961)*

Berserk (Jim O’Connolly, 1967)*

The Panther Women (René Cardona, 1967)*

Fear in the Night (Jimmy Sangster, 1972)

The Demoniacs (Jean Rollin, 1974)*

Frightmare (Pete Walker, 1974)

Stone (Sandy Harbutt, 1974)*

Adventures of a Taxi Driver (Stanley A. Long, 1976)*

House of Mortal Sin (Pete Walker, 1976)

Schizo (Pete Walker, 1976)

The Comeback (Pete Walker, 1978)

The Appointment (Lindsey C. Vickers, 1982)*

Angel (Robert Vincent O’Neil, 1983/1984)

976-EVIL (Robert Englund, 1988)

The Wrong Door (James Groetsch, Shawn Korby, Bill Weiss, 1990)*

The Manson Family (Jim Van Bebber, 1997/2003)*

Bad Guy (Kim Ki-duk, 2001)*

Spun (Jonas Åkerlund, 2002)*

Blackaria (François Gaillard, Christophe Robin, 2010)

Last Caress (François Gaillard, Christophe Robin, 2010/2011)

Die Die My Darling (François Gaillard, 2011)^

You’re Next (Adam Wingarde, 2011/2013)

The Lodge (Veronica Franz, Severin Fiala, 2019)*

The Bikeriders (Jeff Nichols, 2023/2024)*

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Wes Ball, 2024)*

MaXXXine (Ti West, 2024)*

 

Television:

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense - ‘Mark of the Devil’ (Val Guest, 1984)*

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense - ‘Last Video and Testament’ (Peter Sasdy, 1984)*

Saucy! Secrets of the British Sex Comedy (Episodes 1 & 2 (Simon Sheridan, 2024)*

UEFA Euro 2024*

 

*First time viewings.

^ Short film.

 

Dada Debaser Notes:

• The worst thing about cheeky cabbie, sex comedy romp Adventures of Taxi Driver, isn't the absence of a discernable plot, its grim Poverty Row production, the unflattering glimpse of Barry Evans' todger, Adrienne Posta's horrid theme song, or the humiliating shame of British luminaries Judy Geeson, Diana Dors and Blakey from On the Buses appearing in it, it's because it's a painfully, unfunny movie.
  
• Did not need to see Mena Suvari taking a dump in graphic detail in Åkerlund's Requiem for a Dream (2000) knockoff, Spun. Symbolic of her career, however.
  
• Stone isn't in the same league as Mad Max (1979) like various genre experts claim it to be. Only time the two Ozploitation films should be discussed together, is when referring to a character called Bad Max being in it, and Hugh Keays-Byrne being the only highlight in this hippiefest.
  
• File The Bikeriders as another film where Tom Hardy adopts a funny voice and expects us to take it seriously. Jodie Comer also does the same in this Scorsese-lite biker movie. Great soundtrack, though.
  
• Disney now owning The Planet of the Apes franchise has predictably turned it into another beloved film property ruined. The latest film reminds me of those forgettable Y.A dystopian flicks from the 2010s. All the more evident knowing it's helmed by the bloke responsible for some of the Maze Runner movies.
• MaXXXine had me revisiting Angel for the eighties era L.A sleaze it was aiming for. Also watched You're Next on account of Ti West's hilarious death scene.
  

Talking Pictures TV has begun broadcasting the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense series recently. That one episode I mentioned in a wish list will be on TV on Friday 16th August. That's a date for the diary. Hopefully, it holds up after all these decades since seeing it.