nuotio
Recent Ratings
Check out nuotio's...
| 60 67% | Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964) - May 11, 2021
"I thought the previous HGL films were perfectly acceptable, but this is the first one worth a proper recommendation. It must have inspired numerous horror films over the years. It has an uneasy atmosphere and holds the gore a good while, building the anticipation and boosting the impact - shocking stuff for '64. There’s a lot of humor but it’s very dark, and doesn’t hurt the horror side. It could have ended a bit earlier, but it’s a small gripe as the final images were quite haunting. "
|
| 30 3% | The Satanist (1968) - May 07, 2021
"I expected this to be a horror film, but it’s actually a softcore/sexploitation flick with a satanic ritual towards the end of it. Most of the film's 60mins duration is spent watching our very hairy lead getting it on or spying on his neighbors. There are not that many redeeming qualities, but at least the cinematography was surprisingly good and the soundtrack wasn’t too bad either. Whole film is narrated - probably due to budgetary issues. A curiosity at best."
|
| 50 31% | Scum of the Earth (1963) - May 06, 2021
"HGL film #2. Not a gory horror film but exploitation/thriller about a young girl who gets involved in nude/adult photograph racket. As a whole, I thought this was more professionally done than HGL's Blood Feast. I was surprised by how solid William Kerwin is here as he was very wooden in that film. There's some nudity in this but nothing too graphic. Like with Blood Feast, 60's adds its own flavour to the mix and B/W photography reminded me of the cheapest noir films."
|
| 45 21% | Blood Feast (1963) - May 05, 2021
"1st HGL film that I've seen and it was actually more coherent than expected. I doubt he will rise among my favourite directors, but it did have an unique atmosphere: camera pans, organ music, wooden acting and gore, which looks a bit goofy by today's standards, but must have been quite shocking back in the day. 60's cars and fashion add their own flavour as I usually associate this kind of material with films of 70/80s. ¨70 mins runtime doesn't overstay it's welcome and left me open for more."
|
| 45 21% | The Booksellers (2020) - May 03, 2021
"Subject is interesting, but this documentary left a lot to be desired: it's mainly talking heads, expos, auctions, warehouses. We got glimpses of backrooms and collector's items, but there could have been more of those. It jumped from one interviewee to another and covered some themes as it went along, but it was quite random and certain segments felt unnecessary, as if they didn't really know what to focus on. It also remained unclear whether these collectors actually read any of their books."
|
| 45 21% | Commandos (1968) - Apr 29, 2021
"I was ready to write this off as poorly made macaroni combat film, but it soon became clear that many of the faults were due to the shortened version on CodeRed DVD. Beginning is very jumpy, but it slows down and I would guess the latter part is pretty much unchanged. It's a bleak film and doesn't show anyone in especially good light; Lee Van Cleef is quite unsympathetic and traumatized even if he's one of the "good guys"; likewise nazis are portayed as just soldiers, not comic book villains."
|
| 59 61% | Spectre (2015) - Apr 28, 2021
"Mendes is unable to repeat the success of Skyfall. It starts off promisingly with the Day of the dead scene, but goes downwards. Still, I don’t think it's a BAD film, but a big disappointment as a follow-up and in many ways feels like an outdated older Bond film. On one hand I admired how they took their time, but the film is just too long for the story it tells. It’s a pity that Spectre and Blofeld were “wasted” on this film. It’s fitting that I couldn’t remember the title song."
|
| 53 41% | Gold for the Caesars (1963) - Apr 27, 2021
"Peplum set in Roman times a'la Spartacus. Solid production values and enough extras to make it appear bigger than it probably was. I liked how it's only 90mins and flows nicely unlike most of these spectacles. Acting is quite stiff as usual in the genre; my favorite was Bosetti's scheming Scipio - and Demongeot was beautiful. De Toth is credited as director but apparently Riccardo Freda is responsible for most of the work; still there's nothing here that resembles his work in Gothic horror."
|
| 54 44% | Deadly Sweet (1967) - Apr 27, 2021
"I consider this more of a neo-noir than proper Giallo. It's set in swinging London and is clearly influenced by Godard & Antonioni. Flats are decorated with pop art and posters, Brass uses split screens, fast cuts and changes colors constantly from B/W to colorful filters. I was enjoying it at first, but the aimless running started to wear me out. It's a simple plot but told in a confusing way. For me this was an interesting curiosity which could have been something special with a better script."
|
| 54 44% | Hercules, Samson & Ulysses (1963) - Apr 26, 2021
"One of few Peplums that I’ve seen and it was surprisingly fast paced, short and had good production values with multiple locations and solid sets; some taking place in a ship. Hercules and Samson are OK, but my favourite was Liana Orfei's over the top femme fatale Delilah. Styrofome blocks and boulders are flying through the air during the finale and the film is silly in a good way. There were also some surprisingly bloody scenes. All in all, a fun one, but ultimately quite disposable. "
|
