Bear

Will check out The Terror sooner or later. Every single time you post something in this thread you manage to make me interested. But with The Terror and Channel Zero, does this mean that people finally have found a way to make proper horror TV-series? Would be about damn time.

Finished Dope season 2 and like the first season it's very interesting. Everything shown might not be real, the statistics they throw forward might not be 100% accurate, but the series is interesting anyway. I don't use drugs, I have never tried drugs, but TV-series/documentaries about drugs and drug cartels and all that is so interesting.

Also finished the new Netflix true crime series Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist and this was exceptional. While the quality itself might not be better or higher than series like Making a Murderer and The Keepers, I was definitely a bit funner to watch for me. It's short (4x50min), don't waste any time and so on. But what makes this so fun is how fucking absurd and bizarre the entire case was. What the hell was that? Everything about the entire case was so weird, and it was so interesting. Top, top true crime documentary!

This track, a modern norwegian stoner/doom metal track, is the track that brought Black Debbath back on the map for me, after two mediocre albums. Their best track ever, and probably  hella lot better for anyone who speak the language. I'm not a political person, I fucking hate politics. But these guys manage to blend fantastic music, great politics and superb humour in a big, fat mix and make it awesome. There's some damn good riffing in this song, the album, and their three first album. Good, good shiet, guys!

And just look past the lyrics, as you do with most Japanese bands. Because this band rules!

Has anyone seen Ayashiki bungô kaidan / Kaidan Horror Classics? A four-episode mini-series with episodes that range from 33 to 48 minutes. I've seen it be described as a slow-paced horror-drama, very much inspired by 60's Japanese horror films. Sounds so good and interesting. The four directors are Masayuki Ochiai (Saimin, Kansen), Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Hiruko The Goblin, Tokyo Fist), Lee Sang-il (Unforgiven, Akunin) and Hirokazu Koreeda (Still Walking, Like Father, Like Son).

Revenge - A very action-oriented rape and revenge exploitation film that is as bloody, gritty and brutal as it is visually stunning and stylish. It's very much a modern grindhouse film, but it's so well-directed, acted and beautifully shot that the majority of people who see it won't notice how trashy it actually is. It's got a cast of five, lead on by a stunning performance by Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz.

Incredible film and my top pick for the best film of 2017 alongside Logan. Well fucking done!

The new album is up on bandcamp. Great stuff as usual from Cosmic Curch. It's very finnish sounding, but sounds more spacey than before, much due to some of the synthwork. Very elegant and nice. 

Maniac Cop 2 - Released in 1990, two years after the first one, Maniac Cop 2 is something as surprising as a late 80's/early 90's slasher sequel that is at least as good as the original, if not better. It's really awesome, and both Robert Davi and Robert Z'Dar are cool as fuck. Bruce Campbell only has a small role in the film, but he is of course total fucking badass. He doesn't like this film tho, as far as I know at least. Don't know why because it's heavy on atmosphere, horror, crime and action. It's a very pleasing film. Really liked it!

Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence - Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence sees the series move away from the crime and atmospheric elements of the first film and rely more on action. And while it is the worst film of the three, it's still very fun and there's no way you won't be entertained. Really love Robert Davi and Robert Z'Dar! The car chase, albeit a bit too long, is really awesome. Must have taken so much time to shoot the scene considering how long it is, and how it plays out. Cool stuff!

Gotta hand it down to the creators of the series that it's really cool that they went all in for all three films in a time where "every" slasher sequel would move more towards comedy (Sorority House Massacre II, Slumber Party Massacre II, Sleepaway Camp II and so on). So that's very cool!

Shootfighter: Fight to the Death - Shootfighter is one of the million martial arts tournament films that was made after the huge success of the masterpiece that is Bloodsport. Shootfighter is of course no new Bloodsport, but it's a fun little gem with some decent fights, tho shot in a very typical american way which means lots of cuts, some bloody moments, cool characters and of course Bolo Yeung. Bolo Yeung as a good guy, and not a villain. That's so weird. Anyway, very good and fun film.

Shootfighter II - A good sequel, but not as good as the original. The story isn't as cool, the villains and nearly as good and it's milder. Not as brutal. But it's a fun time nonetheless.

If you like films like Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Undisputed 2-4 and so on these two films are not to be missed.

I Kill Giants - Fantasy-drama adaption of a graphic novel of the same name. It was good enough, but follows a very familiar story and the fantasy elements just isn't strong enough for me. Madison Wolfe delivers an amazing performance, and she is helped quite a lot by Zoe Saldana (dear god she is good-looking) and Sydney Wade who both delivers very good.

Spoiler:

But it's still a good film. Enjoyed it quite a lot.

Yeah, it's so good. I just can't stop listening to it. It's probably Horgh's best/most interesting drumming since Blizzard Beasts. It's so chaotic and awesome.

Daaayuuuum! Immortal just released their first new track in 9 years, and their first ever song without Abbath, and it is amazing. Fast, brutal and aggressive. The riffing takes me back to Blizzard Beasts and the solo takes me back even further. Demonaz sounds so good too. I was really looking forward to this, but I expected something slower and more epic and not nearly as good. Really happy about this. Fantastic song!

Listening to it on my phone speakers was a positive experience.

Listening on my headphones were even better.

And listening on my speakers at home were mindblowing!

Newthe Immortal track is up on Spotify. I've only heard it on my phone, but it was surprisingly brutal and some of the riffing reminded me of Blizzard Beasts. The solo was very old school sounding too.

Can't wait to get home and play it on proper speakers.

Manhunt - John Woo makes a return to the style he more or less started back in the mid/late-80's, a cool style known as heroic bloodshed. His early heroic bloodshed films were also the beginning of the gun fu-style. Cool, often slo-mo action scenes, lots of blood and doves flying all over the place. Manhunt of a remake of the Japanese mid-70's film by the same name, a film I haven't seen in at least 7 years. I know this because I have not rated in on IMDB which I started using in 2011.  Anyway, this does not live up to his classic films, not is it anywhere near the film it is based on. But it's got cool action scenes, a couple of cool characters, nice cinematography and a fine soundtrack. My main problem is the English dubbing in some parts. The actors did clearly speak English during filming in these parts which is natural as the film is about a Chinese man on the run in Japan. But it's clearly been dubbed over in a very weird and un-natural way. But I liked the film, and I don't understand why so many people are negative towards it. Can't see it at all. Cool enough, thought not a film I will re-watch any time soon.

It did get me download the original Manhunt which was surprisingly hard to find. So I'll re-watch it this weekend and see if it's as good as I remember.

Best of the Best - Cool martial arts competition film, but it does not live up to the best in the genre and to be honest it was slightly disappointing now. Not nearly as good as I remembered. Too serious and too much drama going on. I do love me some James Earl Jones and Chris Penn, tho. Good, but slightly overrated.

Best of the Best II - The sequel stars Eric Roberts and Phillip Rhee, the two stars of Best of the Best alongside James Earl Jones. And both is a lot better here, but that is much due to the film being on a whole different level. This is far from as serious as Best of the Best. This is sleazier, more violent and more cheesy. Objective a lesser film, but subjective on a whole other level. Simple as that. Liked it quite a lot!

Ghostbusters - The remake/reboot one. I will keep this fairly brief. Aside from a couple of cameos, the original Ghostbusters theme and a few other tracks, and the look of Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon, there's not really anything positive to say. It misses everything that makes the original to a masterpiece, and the new version of the teme song has to be among the worst shit I've ever heard. Absolute worthless pice of shit, and people who enjoy this kind of crap should take a bullet to the temple asap.

Daaaayum! That's some good, jolly dungeon synth. Quite original with its melodies and stuff. Will check out the other releases on his bandcamp later. Looking forward to that.

Beyond Skyline - Skyline was a pretty shitty film, and while this film continue where the first one let off, the entire cast is changed for the sequel, as well is director.  The Brothers Strause is out and Liam O'Donnell, writer of the first film, is in. The film stars Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian and Antonio Fargas and they all do fairly well, especially Frank Grillo, Iko Uwais and Antonio Fargas, and of course Yayan Ruhian in the smal role he's got. The film is goofy, the dialogue is cringe-worthy at times but as soon as things really start rolling it picks up and thing gets good. The story is here, the characters are as well, and the action more than anything surely is. Like in most American productions who decides to include martial artists like Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Tony Jaa and so on they fail to utilize his full potential. But they're both still cool as fuck.

Good film!

Evil Dead Trap - Rewatched this sleazy masterpiece yesterday and this is still one of the best Japanese films ever. Evil Dead Trap is a dark, gritty, bloody, brutal and sleazy slasher with a proper Japanese twist to it. The plot itself isn't very original and it takes influences from other films, but the set pieces, imaginative death scenes and complete weirdness of it all makes it into a really unique film.

There's also certain nods to classic films like Evil Dead, Alien, Un chien andalou and most notable Suspiria, the latter mostly in form of the soundtrack which is absolutely brilliant. But there's also a few visual nods towards Suspiria and Dario Argento.

I wonder if I can get the soundtrack on vinyl, because Kira Tomohiko did such a good job here. With influences from Goblin and John Carpenter he creates something nice, mystic and mezmerizing. Need this shit!

Evil Dead Trap - Rewatched this sleazy masterpiece yesterday and this is still one of the best Japanese films ever. Evil Dead Trap is a dark, gritty, bloody, brutal and sleazy slasher with a proper Japanese twist to it. The plot itself isn't very original and it takes influences from other films, but the set pieces, imaginative death scenes and complete weirdness of it all makes it into a really unique film.

There's also certain nods to classic films like Evil Dead, Alien, Un chien andalou and most notable Suspiria, the latter mostly in form of the soundtrack which is absolutely brilliant. But there's also a few visual nods towards Suspiria and Dario Argento.

I wonder if I can get the soundtrack on vinyl, because Kira Tomohiko did such a good job here. With influences from Goblin and John Carpenter he creates something nice, mystic and mezmerizing. Need this shit!

Jailbreak - Cambodian martial arts film in the vein as other Southeast-Asian martial arts films like The Rain, The Protector and more. It's not very original, but great choreography and sweet cinematography and camera movement makes it a pleasure to watch. Totally badass!

No Retreat, No Surrender - Alright mid-80's action film with Kurt McKinney and Jean-Claude Van Damme, but Jean-Claude Van Damme doesn't have nearly enough screen time as one of the main villains, Ivan Kraschinsky the Russian. Which is sad, because he's cool as fuck in this film. Good film, but for a Corey Yuen film it's a very disappointing one.

No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder - The second film of the franchise is once more directed by Corey Yuen, but is a sequel in name only. It continues nothing from the first film, and while entertaining it never gets above decent. OK entertainment, but that's about it.

No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers - Lucas Lowe takes over after Corey Yuen and does a fairly decent job as the director, and Loren Avedon returns for another film, but playing a different character. Again this is a sequel in name only, but it's a lot better than the second. More or less on the same level as the first film. It's fun, but far from a masterpiece.

The King of the Kickboxers - Both director Lucas Lowe and star Loren Avedon returns to the fourth film in the franchise, and again it's a stand-alone sequel with different characters and stuff. But this is by far the best of them all. This one is actually really damn good. Really cool and entertaining film, and Billy Blanks is top notch. Not because he can act, but because he's so damn badass. Two thumbs up!

American Shaolin - Lucas Lowe returns for the last film in the franchise and again it's a fun film. Not very good, but it's good entertainment. The whole film feels like one big, fat tribute/homage to The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, but I don't mind that. It did however have a few really awkward scenes which made me really uncomfortable. Out of place and really bad scenes. But aside from that it was a fun film.

Pictures from one of the recent Old Tower concerts. Been reading around and apparently the gig was superb. And as you can see, full on black metal aesthetic. Which is something I like as dungeon synth in many ways are the closest you'll get to black metal without actually listening to black metal.

Hope he comes here some day too.

Skyline - I didn't have high hopes for it, and I kinda just watched it because I know Iko Uwais is in the sequel, Beyond Skyline. There's good ideas here, the plot isn't bad, and despite a bugdet of "only 10m, the special effects are no worse than what you see in the 70m Battle Los Angeles or 190-230m Transformers films. The special effects are very impressive, and the designs are for the most part very cool. But the dialogue, the characters and the acting are really fucking bad. The Brothers Strause have worked on quite an amount of films with special effects, but the two times they have directed they've failed miserably.

Rumble in the Bronx - An absolute classic, and while flawed this is one of my favourite Chackie Chan films. It's both fun and hilarious throughout. Love it! Probably seen it 50+ times by now.

Rapid Fire - Great early 90's action cheese with Brandon Lee. The story isn't original or very good, but it's alright for what it is and the film is really fucking cool. It's exactly what you'd expect from an American martial arts actioner from the early 90's. Always appreciate seeing Al Leong too. Cult hero! One of the coolest actors ever, despite never having anything but smaller supporting roles.

The Perfect Weapon - Very cool early 90's martial arts actioner. Nothing original here either, but it's very entertaining. Jeff Speakman is really cool, and so is James Hong. Good film!

Gonna check out Channel Zero some day. Just have a few other planned out first. Looks really interesting, and I like creepypastas and shit.

Finished Black Lightning and thought it was really good, really powerful and awesome. Totally recommended!

Batman: Abyss - Fanmade animated series with 10 episodes ranging from 5 to 25 minutes. The visual style is somewhat weird, and the animation is very amateurish and lackluster. But the story are top, top notch and the voice acting is very good too. DC should hire Coulter Rail to write a story and Screenplay for them, and make him oversee the direction. Could've been good as fuck.

So satisfied with this album. There's not a huge change in the sound, but there's some differences. You don't have to go further than the first track to hear there's some different elements to this. At times really fast, at times mid-paced and at times slow. They've not been this varied in ages, and I love it. The production, the riffs and more than anything, the vocals by A.A. Nemtheanga who I consider one of the top 5 vocalists ever. Not for his technique or skills, but for his passion similar to Quorton who is also one of those 5 favourites of mine. Superb!

15 minutes ago, Komorebi said:

I've read it too much on VK groups, and from a good portion of the VK male fans I see online. To many guys I've encountered rutalness IS a factor to consider when judging whether a band is good or not.

Also, there is a whole thread here dedicated to how good brutal kei is lol

Never met anyone like that tbh, not here, nor anyone else on the internet. So I doubt there's a lot of them, which makes your opinion far from being an unpopular one.

Yes, there's a thread dedicated to it, like there's threads dedicated to a shitload of different bands, genres and subgenres on this forum, but that doesn't mean the people active in those threads enjoy everything that sound like it. It's normal. I've made threads dedicated to how good dungeon synth and new retro wave/retro electro/synthwave is, but that doesn't mean I enjoy every band playing these styles.

1 hour ago, Komorebi said:

Hardcore and brootal does not mean a band is good.

Isn't that an opinion shared by something like 99% of the human population? Hardly an unpopular opinion at least, that's for sure. So not sure why you felt that it belonged in this thread.

Batman Ninja - I've been really looking forward to this, and daaaayum, this did not disappoint at all. Like Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, which up until this point is the best Batman film ever, this is set in an alternative universe so to speak. Batman goes anime, and Batman and friends (Alfred, Catwoman, The Joker, Gorilla Grodd, Bane, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Robin, Red Robin, Red Hood, Deathstroke, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and Penguin) are all sent back in time to Japan during its Edo period.  Now unlike Gotham by Gaslight, this isn't driven by a deep, complex plot and characters with an immense depth or anything, it's driven by fun characters and over the top happenings. This is Batman, but it's so over the top, weird, crazy and super Japanese that it's hard not to be entertained.

It's anime alright, and it's got a classic anime feeling to it. It's got a lot of over the top and crazy moments, with clear kaiju influences and hell, dare I even say moments of Power Rangers tribute? I don't know, but there was a moment when I thought about Godzilla and similar films, in the next I was thinking about Power Rangers for quite an obvious reason. Another thing that I really liked was the character designs both for our classic heroes and villains, but also for the ninja and samurai that appears. Original, unique and interesting.