Vultural

Double Door - 1934 - 6/10

Even though it was just downstairs, Aunt Victoria disregarded the wedding.
She had hated her nephew’s gold-digging girlfriend from the onset.
Nor was she accustomed to not getting her way.
Victoria was the spiteful, hateful, abusive force in the gloomy family.
Her sister, terrified of her. The nephew, spineless.
As for the new bride, Victoria bided her time.
Old-fashioned chiller, full bore Gothic. Fabulous, stark photography.

Clark, Simon - Vampyrrhic

Responding to the invite from his aged, yet vigorous, uncle, David returns to the childhood home of Leppington.
The town’s fortune was built on the huge slaughterhouse, owned by the Leppington family (including David Leppington) for generations.
Events are stirring underneath, with dark events and whispered claims swirling madly.
The hotel proprietress resembles a Goth movie presenter. One guest is transfixed by video cassettes of the locked cellar. More? How about a thuggish employee who can read minds?
Then there is Thor. You know, the “if I had a hammer” god. And Thor has an ungodly army!
Kitchen sink horror, meaning any and everything our author could dream up is mixed in.
Long, extremely fast moving, a diverting page turner.
One of those titles I bought years ago for old age reading.
My limited edition (of 1000) is signed with what resembles a donkey doodle.

The General’s Mustache - 1968 - 6/10
AKA - Janggun-ui Suyeom // 장군의 수염

Cheol-hun is dead, police have to decide between suicide and murder.
Painter, photographer, lately novelist, although he hasn’t got beyond the title (see above).
Describing the plot to others, they decide his story is akin to a comic.

There are conflicting testimonies from neighbors and coworkers.
Police also speculate, and toss up various theories.
Gradually, however, they zero in on his live-in girlfriend, Sin-hye.

Cheol lived in a fantasy world, she said, and was a thirty-year-old child.
The plot, like the dead man, is an enigma. There is a back history of the Korean War.
Slow, talky, a puzzle that reorganizes itself throughout.

Requiem For A Vampire - 1971 - 6/10
AKA - Requiem Pour un Vampire

The opening resembles a heist gone bad.
A trio on the run. Costumes, gunfights, death, footrace.
Surviving females flee into a “deserted” castle.
Per title, one realizes there lies the abode of the undead.
Jean Rollin film with his usual touches.
Attractive females, nudity, sensuality, sumptuous interiors, dreamlike proceedings.
The females, while dressed like innocent youngsters, are anything but.
Difficult choices also await, stemming from the weary head of the family.

Prego - 2015 - 6/10

“I’m pregnant.”
“Hey, wow. Congratulations. Who’s the lucky dad?”
Yeah, without a clue. I’ve always said it’s a miracle females don’t murder every one of us.
Then again, she shared the restroom quickie with this dunce.
Painfully funny (or horrifying) short of the male / female announcement.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3356246

What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael - 2018 - 6/10

Doc on the acerbic writer skips lightly over her personal life, going straight into her film critic career.
Her’s are extended reviews and, as such, space must be filled.
Meaning, full plots and often spoiling twists and endings.
Far too many times, she attacks actors and directors, on what seem whims.
Kael’s method has always been polarizing (I am not a fan).
I have always found her an exceptional, perceptive writer, but an insensitive reviewer.
Her reviews read better AFTER one sees the film.
She is spot-on in lambasting inferior critics who pander to studios, or write in a pompous term paper style.
Nonetheless, this is essential for cinema fans, and is bursting with clips / scenes.

The Room Next Door - 2024 - 7/10
AKA - La Habitación de al Lado

It’s terminal. No, the experimental drugs are working. No, they’re not.
Hopes and fears, the emotional swings take their toll.
Until Martha decides she has had enough.
Wants to resolve her situation while she is still lucid, before the pain overwhelms.
Only needs someone to “find” her body afterward.
Powerful drama gives Tilda Swinton the lion’s share of the best lines.
Julianne Moore’s Ingrid feels underwritten, as if director Almodóvar gave his finest to only one.
Indeed, John Turturo is given bristling dialogue, as well.
Nevertheless, this is compelling drama, recommended for those who can almost feel the Reaper’s breath.

Generation War - 2013 - 6/10
AKA - Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter

On the eve of Operation Barbarossa, five friends gather in the local tavern.
One female plans to be a singer, another has graduated nursing and will head to the Eastern front.
Two brothers are in the Wehrmacht, and they are destined for glory in Russia.
The fifth has been trying to emigrate to America, more so after Kristallnacht.
Trying to distill the time from spring 1941 to Götterdämmerung is a big ask.
Focusing on Russia and Poland helps, and there are not too many side characters.
Brutality is shown, as are moral conflicts, although “Final Solution” is glossed.
The level of coincidental chance encounters is off the scale.

Beast Stalker - 2008 - 6/10
AKA - Ching Yan // 証人

Police bust the operation and take down the boss.
Within an hour, henchmen free the mobster and pursuit begins.
Eventually, the lawyers take charge – except the boss orders the kidnapping of the lead attorney’s child.
Violent Hong Kong actioner turns into suspenseful thriller.
This features a trope I dislike: child in danger.
In Hollywood product, danger typically evaporates. In European and Asian, worst fears confirmed.
An ugly film, where all main characters are broken souls.

Death Line - 1972 - 6/10

He wandered around Soho, soaking up the atmosphere.
Later, in the Underground, he tried to pick up a piece of flash.
Before he disappeared.
Police are vaguely interested, until MI5 (Christopher Lee) warns them off.
Then the coppers dig in. Donald Pleasence, delicious as the sarcastic, bitter inspector.
The real star, however, in the Underground. Forgotten and abandoned sections.
Dim patches with flickering gas lamps. Eerie, unnerving liminal spaces.
Slow, creepy, gruesome, pungent. Should beckon to fans of Mark Samuels.

Species II - 1998 - 5/10

Yeah, yeah, yeah … what an idiot.
I wisely ignored the “sequel” for decades, but apparently my recent lobotomy kicked in.
Mission To Mars astronauts don’t realize they are bringing back a contagion.
Their humanity suppressed, they start a string of ruttings to birth human-Sil hybrids.
A trio of names from the first film are back, and barely utilized.
Instead, our space cadet is the hero / villain,
Bad film, lacking logic, with contempt for audience IQ.

The Basketball Fix - 1961 - 5/10

High school phenom Johnny is spotted early on.
By the newspaper sports journalist, by the college coach, by the racketeer.
He leads the team, but money is tight and the racketeer is generous.
“No, you don’t throw the game. Just keep the score close. Point shave.”
As timely today as it was then. Now, with gambling rampant in all sports.
Our athletes are short and skinny and white.
John Ireland provides the Noir; Marshall Thompson looks 30. Not enough Hazel Brooks.

A Fistful Of Dollars - 1964 - 7/10
AKA - Per un Pugno di Dollari

Nameless gunslinger arrives in small desert town.
Sizes up the two largest families, fighting for control, hires himself out.
First to one side, then the other. Lack of loyalty pays so much better.
Brooding Western launched Clint Eastwood and gave Sergio Leone carte blanche for awhile.
While slow, the visuals are stunning, emphasizing faces and vistas.
Westerns would never look so clean again, as this is all weathered and dust.

Buck Rogers In The 25th Century - 1979 - 5/10

Space shuttle pilot Buck gets into a stellar snafu and is deep frozen for 500 years!
Alien conquerors find him, then use him as a ploy to get through Earth defenses.
No sense going much more into this fairly crappy film, pilot for an even worse TV show.
Back in the day, fans were desperate for SciFi, so studios gave us garbage.
This is aimed at non-demanding children, with a clichéd and dull storyline.
Watch Star Wars instead. Came out around the same time and is vastly superior.
Or – check the 1939 serial. While not as good as Flash Gordon (1936), that Buck is better than this.

The Perfect Storm - 2000 - 6/10

Luck had been bad for several hauls, so the skipper urges his crew one more time.
Farther and further, while behind them, storm fronts cluster.
Man vs. Nature, seamen in the raging sea. Who will you bet on?
The book was a bestseller and a powerful read.
While the spectacular trailer promised so much.
Nevertheless, the action, while spectacular, is freighted with angst and opera.

Syndrome E - 2024 - 6/10

“Hey, look. Doctor Moreau’s clinic. They treat animals … manimals … people maybe?”
The man watching the film is already dead. Police arrive. The female officer, viewing the film, shoots her partner.
Partly, it’s the film itself, an old 8mm laced with subliminal images.
Partly, it is her history; she had undergone neurosurgery years earlier, and “something” was done.
Mystery thriller races across continents, foretelling a possible future of cranial implants and manipulation.
Thought provoking premise undermined by a trendy trope: defective detective.
Sure enough, our two detectives have more liabilities than a grubworm convention in Antarctica.
Both leads are “damaged”, the female more so as she is often triggered into murderous impulses.
Logic is cast aside when wondering why police brass stay with this pair.
Oh, because they originate from a series of books. Wait! Does that mean more seasons?

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig - 2024 - 7/10
AKA - دانه‌ي انجير معابد

Delight is replaced by concern after Iman, head of the house, is promoted to investigative judge.
Only a step away from being a full judge, with more money, a better home, prestige.
There is massive unrest in Tehran, however, and he is coerced to perform hundreds of sentencings daily.
Most are death sentences, many of those are innocents, caught in the whirlwind of events.
As his anxiety mounts, so does his paranoia, which he vents on those closest.
Intense, gripping thriller shows a family, torn by televised news, and actual, censored footage.
Weak element is the handgun; filmmakers are vague about the “why” and the “how”.

Murders In Font-Romeau - 2023 - 5/10
AKA - Meurtres à Font-Romeu

The corpse, ritualistically laid out in a church, was a priest, popular and well-liked.
A new captain arrives from Paris and is soon disliked by the way she treats locals.
After the second murder, again with ritualistic clues, things get messy.
Messy sorta describes it all, too. Wandering subplots, meaningless characters, stagnating pace.
Often, one views for the outdoor scenery, and this does not disappoint.
Not quite predictable, but definitely a lesser offering.

The Sinners Of Hell - 1960 - 6/10
AKA - Jigoku // 地獄

Shimizu and Tamura are returning home after visiting with Yukiko and her parents.
A drunk staggers in front of their car, Tamura runs him down and drives on.
Turns out he was just a low level Yakuza. Now dead. Who cares?
Witnesses? The thug’s mom, who, along with his girlfriend, swear murderous revenge.
Guilt ridden Shimizu wants to go to the police, but his girlfriend, a little pregnant tries to dissuade.
The movie is stuffed with crimes: lying, theft, adultery, covetousness, you name it.
And everyone – everyone – is going to hell.

No forgiveness, no atonement, no confession.
One moral error or crime, and boom, you are damned.
The final third of the film is set in a dizzying parade of torture and punishment.

Predator - 1987 - 7/10

“The demon who makes trophies of men.”
Dutch and his team of elite soldiers strike a remote base of insurgents.
Unknown to them, they are observed by an extraordinary hunter.
What follows is kill or be killed.
Testosterone overload in this Schwarzenegger actioner, along with thousands of rounds of bullets.
First and finest of a franchise that refuses to die despite derivative scripts and actors sans charisma.
Pre-CGI, this remains as fresh and exhilarating as ever.

Crisp, Quentin S. - Ikaho

The chance encounter between two travelers. A young girl, more of a child actually, and an itinerant monk. Even though he is poor, begging for alms, Jirō recognizes the hunger in Ohisa’s face immediately and shares his food.
As both walk into Ikaho, a small place and a bend out of time, they reveal thier stories. Recent histories. The sorry reasons why both are on the road, and not indoors, safe and warm.
With encounters, there is often an exchange. As well as understanding, empathy, perhaps a solution to temporary difficulty.
Crisp’s novella is the muted connecting of sympathetic souls, not kindred spirits, although they both “see” each other.
While Ikaho itself is not dissimilar to Erith, it does seem less solid, more a place we stroll into in a dreamlike amble.
Ikaho would be a magical village to wander, rest, observe, recharge, before continuing on.

The Empty Man - 2020 - 6/10

From Bhutan to Missouri, the soft, wind-blown note draws those susceptible.
An ex-cop is asked by a friend to look for her missing daughter.
What he finds are her best friends, murdered or suicides.
Investigating deeper, he finds a cult like group, Pontifex, and the word tulpa.
While never officially warned off, he is increasingly spooked.
This is a flawed film. The cult, the philosophy, worldview, are creepy and bear an odd echo.
Here is the inverse of aspiration, the embrace of nothingness.
Yet, the driving force, the “empty man”, is ridiculous and out of place.
Buried within this is a fantastic, eerie gem, but the beastie is beneath stupid.

Dementia - 1955 - 6/10

Her day starts at dusk, as she wakes in a cheap hotel.
Outside, the hustlers and winos hit on her, while she walks into the night.
Finally, into the rich man’s limousine.
Then the restaurant, where he gorges himself. Then, the rowdy nightclub.
I would not call her a prostitute, more an escort.
Dialogue free, Expressionism and Noir to the max.
Shadow filled, experimental film.

Hornblower - 1998 - 6/10

Very fine adaptations of several Forester novels.
This is the young Hornblower, learning the ropes under Captain Pellew.
One anticipates sea battles, although the intrigue and skirmishes within ranks are revealing.
Perhaps not. There is seldom enough bounty and glory for all.
Unsure how faithful to the source these were.
Production values were very good, scripts intelligent, action exciting.
Should have filmed more installments. Not telling the ROI, however.

Daniel Deronda - 2002 - 7/10

Young Deronda encounters fortune hunter Gwendolen.
They spark off each other immediately.
Nevertheless, she is searching for money, while he searches for “meaning”.
Each finds more than they bargained for.
A bit of a soap opera at times, this churns through unpleasant muck, while being eminently watchable.
Hugh Bonneville particularly memorable as an abusive cad.
Never warmed to Deronda myself, viewing him as a priggish do-gooder.