Bear

Currently watching the entire Sniper franchise. Three movies in now:

 

Sniper - 8/10

Sniper 2 - 5/10

Sniper 3 - 6/10

 

First one is fantastic, then it's a bit of a let down after that. Not awful, but not nearly as good as the original. Will continue during the coming week.

Frankenstein Created Bikers - Old school exploitation flick by James Bickert, and sort of a sequel to his earlier film Dear God No!. And just like Dear God No! it's cheap and trashy and pretty fun. He clearly knows his exploitation and knows exactly what an exploitation fan wants, but he's trying a bit hard to give us more than we need. Clocking in at more than two hours I'll go as far as to say it's half an hour too long. Which is a shame, because there's plenty to enjoy here, and I sure did have fun. But it should have been better.

 

Looking forward to his women in prison movie Amazon Hot Box tho. Should be fun.

Yup! Next adaption seems to be The Dunwich Horror. Man, just get it going already and give me the movie. I do not doubt it'll be a masterpiece.

45 minutes ago, Jigsaw9 said:

Finally saw Color Out of Space, it surely delivered on the atmosphere, visuals and overall entertainment factor. Always love to see Nic Cage, this was no exception. Rest of the cast were really solid too, bonus shoutout to the alpacas and their milk. Some really brutal creature effects going on there too. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Fuck yeah! There's never been a doubt about Richard Stanley's abilities, so having him back in the game is such a huge boost for the world of horror. Such a great director, and one so damn unique. Cannot wait for his next H.P. Lovecraft adaption.

 

I would love it if he, after finishing this trilogy, would make a TV-series or something. 10 episodes of H.P. Lovecraft adaptions. Would be perfect. So that is my one and only dream ATM.

Gridlocked - A surprisingly cool throwback to the 90's action made by Allan Ungar who made the truly excellent Uncharted Live Action Fan Film. This doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it was just really cool and old school. Dominic Purcell does well actually, and Stephen Lang as a badguy is fantastic as always, as is Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones in their limited roles. Recommended for 90's action buffs.

 

Spenser Confidential - A buddy cop comedy starring Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin and Bokeem Woodbine. It's not cool enough as an action movie, and it's not funny enough as a comedy. It's ok and decent entertainment, but it both could and should've been better.

 

Escape from Pretoria - A well-made prison thriller starring an excellent Daniel Radcliffe in an almost haunting portrayal of Tim Jenkin, a political prisoner who fought for the rights of the black/dark-skinned(/or what the fuck you're supposed to say nowadays) south-africans. It's mostly really good, but a bit boring? I've seen this movie so many times before, just a lot better. So I was really disappointed by this.

1 hour ago, Gesu said:

Also, I said it once in the chatbox and I'll say it again: I swear to fuck, if they cancel that goddamn weeb convention I wanna go to in August 🤜🤛 that being said they probs won't, I reckon this'll largely blow over about July tbh. It doesn't seem to be anywhere near as deadly as, say, for example, swine flu and we weren't exactly prepared for that one. How long can they even stretch this out anyways?

 

I don't know where you are, but in Norway they expect this to get worse. Right now there's something like 750 infected here, but by august they expect at least 800.000 having been infected. So they think this is the beginning, but don't expect it to really blow up before May-ish, with May-August being the time where shit'll hit the fan.

 

 

And no, this ain't dangerous for normal, healthy people. The problem with this virus is that, they believe, it spreads HELLA LOT faster and easier than the swine flu, which means it'll reach more people which again means it'll reach a lot of people will lower immune defense a lot easier as well, which again will mean loads and loads and loads of deaths. And if things continues like it has for the last month this is gonna hit poor countries without proper health care, without the ability to handle situations like this, pretty hard and soon enough, and people will most likely start falling like flies in parts of the world. So let's just hope the experts are wrong and that this is the end of the COVID-19, and not the beginning.

Covid-19 just got real. Not gonna lie, this entire shit is super interesting and really fascinating. They way a huge amount of our society reacts to this is just crazy. Was an interesting and sort of surreal day at work too, as I work with kids and our school is closed (for the kids). But next week it'll be something like 15-20 kids, out of 650, as kids whose parents have important jobs to help society go around or kids with special needs are allowed to come, so that's gonna be weird as hell too. But incredibly fascinating.

 

 

 

 

Yep, spot on.

1917 - Extremely impressive on a technical level, and the story is quite nice. I could not stand the main character tho, and it feels and looks way, way, way too polished. It's a war movie, but it's so far from gritty that I am quite shocked. And I like my war movies gritty in a way or other. But it's beautifully shocked and really well-acted, and long takes clearly requires a lot more from the actors, and some of the stuff that happens during the long shots are mind boggling. What I do not understand however is all the talk about it feeling like "one long movie", because without looking for it, without counting, I must have seen at least 10 OBVIOUS cuts. If I re-watch the movie I'm sure I'll see at least twice as many OBVIOUS cuts. I get what they mean, but I did not get the feeling it was one long shot. The cuts were too obvious and clear, especially for the "trained eye".

 

But a good movie, and way, way, way better than most "movies you HAVE TO see at the cinema!!!!" such as Gravity and Avatar. Way, way better as this actually relies on much more than just style.

Loads and loads to look forward to:

 

The Wizar'd - Subterranean Exile

 

https://hcrthewizard.bandcamp.com/

 

Doom metal with Ol' Rusty of Dracula,  Tarot, Torpedo etc. First album since 2013, and the preview track sounds fantastic. Great band for fans of Pagan Altar, The Lamp of Thoth and more.

 

Eldritch Rites - Hell and Doom and Days Long Gone

https://eldritchrites.bandcamp.com/track/a-song-forlorn-live

 

Another Australian doom metal band. Not quite as good as other Australian acts like The Wizar'd and Lucifer's Fall, but kinda similar to aforementioned bands, The Lamp of Thoth etc.

 

Old Corpse Road - On Ghastly Shores Lays the Wreckage of Our Lore

 

UK black/folk metal in the vein of older Cradle of Filth (circa the debut) and some The Meads of Asphodel, but with a slightly folky twist. Looking forward to this.

 

Head of the Demon - Deadly Black Doom

 

Kinda unique black/doom metal. Imagine Cultes des Ghoules making much doomier music, or just a mix of Cultes des Ghoules and Faustcoven. Should be great.

 

Iku-Turso - Pakana

 

https://iku-turso.bandcamp.com/album/pakana

 

Good traditional 90's black metal. The debut was really good.

 

Winterfylleth - The Reckoning Dawn

 

https://winterfylleth.bandcamp.com/

 

Black metal with a pagan feeling in the vein of Drudkh, Fen and Wodensthrone. Epic and slightly uplifting, and quite nice.

 

Sojourner - Premonitions

https://sojournermetal.bandcamp.com/album/premonitions

 

Sugar coated black metal in the vein of Caladan Brood, Eldamar and Elderwind.

 

Hexenbrett - Zweite Beschwörung: Ein Kind zu töten

 

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/hexenbrett-zweite-beschw-rung-ein-kind-zu-t-ten

 

Unique heavy/black metal in the vein of Death SS, Mortuary Drape, Master's Hammer, Root and Malokarpatan.

 

Tøronto - Under Siege

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/t-ronto-under-siege

 

Speed metal with members and ex-members of Morbus Chron, Lethal Steel and Temisto. Raw and cool shit.

 

Cirith Ungol - Forever Black

https://cirithungol.bandcamp.com/

 

I shouldn't have to say anything about these guys. Was active from 72-92 and releasing some cracking masterpieces before they disbanded, but luckily for us they came back in 2015 and their comeback is finally here. Greg Lindstrom played on the demos and the debut album, Robert Garve and Tim Baker have been on more or less every release from the demos and onward, Jim Barraza played on Paradise Lost and Jarvis Leatherby is completely new. So this isn't just one of the members with completely new guys, but people who has been involved before and on classic releases. Have to say the song is superb. This should be good!

 

Crypt Dagger - From Below

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-dagger-from-below

 

Black/speed/thrash in the vein of Venom, Bathory, old Slayer, Celtic Frost etc. Great shit!

https://devilspoison.bandcamp.com/

 

Chile's rawest speed metal fuckers are releasing their debut album this year. If Bathory played speed metal, this would be their sound. Raw, mean, evil and catchy as hell. The Possessed by Lust and Fire EP is truly superb. This album should be awesome.

Sonic the Hedgehog - A surprisingly enjoyable popcorn flick with a fantastic Jim Carrey. It adds nothing new to cinema as a whole, but who would expect that anyway? Looks fairly good, CGI is well-executed, Sonic is likable, albeit a bit too familiar and standard. Good family movie, but not quite as good as Detective Pikachu. One thing that I kinda dislike is that it's set in the real world. I wish it would be in a fantasy world, like the games. Another thing that sucks was that Riff Raff's scenes were cut from the movie. Such a shame. He'd most definitely make the movie better with a cameo.

 

We Believe In Dinosaurs - "Amid protests and controversy, young earth creationists build an enormous, $120 million, "life-size" Noah's Ark in Kentucky with the specific aim of debunking the Theory of Evolution. They aim to prove the earth is only 6,000 years old and that the Bible is scientifically accurate."

 

This is an incredibly flawed but interesting and fun documentary, but fucking hell! Religious people on this level are fucking nutcases. They should all be moved to an Island somewhere and kept there until the day they die. They should not be allowed among the general public.

42 minutes ago, Jigsaw9 said:

Memories of Murder - I always wanted to check this one out, it was fine. Not the most mind-blowing Korean thriller ever, but it kept me interested all the way through and the characters were interesting. Really nice atmosphere and cool ending too.

 

I personally consider this one of the greatest crime movies/thrillers of all time. The plot, cinematography, acting, characters, music, chemistry between the actors and so on. Everything is spot on. Think I must've seen this movie 20+ times or more. Incredible!

 

 

 

 

This video is pretty much the best thing ever!

The Baytown Outlaws - I got this for my birthday earlier this year, by a friend who bought it for about $3 or something. Cheap as hell. And we kinda didn't expect much, but we watched it yesterday and enjoyed it quite a lot. It feels like a cheap and lesser Quentin Tarantino and Roberto Rodriguez rip off, but not nearly as good. But  was surprisingly fun, although it was dumb and kinda bad.

 

 

Fractured - I've seen quite some buzz surrounding Brad Anderson's name, but this wasn't too impressive. Was incredibly predictable, and there was just something that felt off all the way through. Disappointed.

Zibahkhana - Hell's Ground - This is said to be Pakistan's first ever splatter, and what a film it is. It's not perfect in any way, and both acting and dialogue is a bit clumsy at times, but it evokes some of that late 70's Italian low-budget (or 70's splatter horror NOT from USA or UK in general) feeling and I absolutely adored it. The bad elements are bad in a good way, and the good elements, such as the cinematography and overall visual style of the movie, is really awesome. Nighttime shots looked really good, and overall it was really fun. Highly recommended!

 

Btw, watch out for a fantastic cameo by Rehan who played Dracula in Zinda Laash, a 60's Pakistani adaption of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

 

I seriously need to dig deeper into stuff like this. South-American horror, Asian (with the exception of Japanese and Korean) horror and the likes. Time to dig!

 

 

Not too bad actually. Not too different from their early stuff with Kristoffer W. Olivius as vocalist, but a lot more Dissection-esque.

On 3/1/2020 at 9:51 AM, Jigsaw9 said:

Vitriol and Gruesome will be playing here at the end of the month, I might make it to that one (tho the headliner is Krisiun whom I don't really know or care for).

 

Not the biggest fan of Krisiun myself (although their early stuff up until and including Conquerors of Armageddon is pretty good), but they're really solid live. Recommended.

 

 

 

 

Track off their upcoming album Leaves of Yesteryear, their first full-lenght since 2006's Acoustic Verses. This sounds damn good, and the video by Costin Chioreanu is gorgeous. This track tho: haaaawt dayum!!!

On 3/2/2020 at 11:15 AM, Jigsaw9 said:

^ One of the band members makes the cover art if I'm not mistaken. He made some for their former band Tarantüla too, their musical output was equally great too (bit more on the HC punkish side).

 

Checked out both bands and dug them. Really my cup of tea. Thanks for throwing 'em out here.

Not sure if I am familiar with either of those bands, but dear god does those two covers look good. Perfect timing too as I am listening to tons of punk again. Mostly screamo for now, tho. But good timing nonetheless.

Looking forward to it for sure. I don't expect it to be as good as the original movie or a couple of its sequels, but I expect it to be good for sure. Upgrade was a masterpiece, and this looks awesome. And it loons like he's tried to make a different movie, rather than copying the original. Which I like, as long as he doesn't go all Suspiria (remake) on us.

The Power of Glove - Fun little documentary about the creation, fall, and "rise" of the nintendo power glove. It's fun, gives loads of info, is silly, and just really interesting. I'd say this is a must for anyone into gaming. Really nice stuff.

Guns Akimbo - From the director of the very cool Deathgasm comes a new, slick, stylish, over the top and super silly action comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe and the rising superstar, and a personal favourite of mine, Samara Weaving. And guess what? Their chemestry is top notch, but you have to enjoy Nicholas Cage-esque over the top performances, because both Samara Weaving and Ned Dennehy puts in those. And it works. Really fucking well. This is very much a video game movie in that the violence is very video game-esque, the over the top visuals and so is very video game-esque too. And the movie? Fantastic! Really silly, over the top and nonsensical video game violence throughout, but it was such a wild and crazy ride. This was straight up a fantastic movie as far as pure entertainment and fun goes. This is the type of movie I'll re-watch a lot in the future. Awesome as hell!

 

Jumanji: The Next Level - I was completely caught off guard by Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which was really fun. This sequel, which I was very much looking forward to, delivers what you expect. Not quite as fun and charming, but still really cool and really fun. Maybe a bit too much of the same? I don't know. But I liked it a lot.

 

The Mentors: Kings of Sleaze Rockumentary - Documentary about the shock rock/heavy metal, or self-proclaimed rape rock band The Mentors. The Mentors? Who the hell is that, you say? A band that would sing about anything to shock and freak people out. Misogyny and rape, violence, sex, drugs, alcohol, racism, homophobia, porn etc. You name it, and chances are they've sung about it. However, this documentary, featuring the living band members/ex-members, mothers, sisters, friends and other bands (Saint Vitus, Raven, Exous, Gwar, Dwarves, Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records), kinda tells a way different story that a lot of us know of.  El Duce, mainman, became an alcoholic around the age of 13 and more or less lived on hard drugs and alcohol from that day on and till he died, but is talked about in a really positive way here. The kindest, silliest guy in the city, but who loved to shock people with jokes about everything. And he wasn't El Duce in real life. It was just a character made up to shock people. I was kinda surprised by all this as I thought they were similar to GG Allin, but they were apparently the opposite of him. And it's fun how trashy music and lyrics they made, despite the fact that they were incredibly musicians. 

 

By the way, the song with racist remarks was made while african-american drummer Rick "Insect On Acid" Lomas was playing the drums, and he also played on El Duce's solo stuff.

 

Anyway, this was really good. Superb documentary about a really fun band.

More awesome news:

 

Satan's Cross - Celebration of the Fallen

 

First track off the upcoming EP by Satan's Cross. Satan's Cross is the black metal project of Sulphur and Mercury of the Paul Chain (and early Italian doom scene) homage band Violet Magick. Sulphur is also active in thew black/speed metal band Cöuntess and black thrashers Hell Desecrator. Satan's Cross released a brilliant single five years ago, and then went silent. So I am happy they're finally back. Think a mix of Mortuary Drape, Bathory, old Rotting Christ, Death SS and Mercyful Fate and we're there. First track sounds excellent.

 

4 Doors to Death II

 

The second part in Unspeakable Axe Records' death metal splits. First one contained Ectovoid, Sabbatory, Trenchrot and Cemetery Filth, which is a pretty good line up. This time they step it up with Fetid Zombie, Nucleus(!!!), Temple of Void and Ectoplasma. Nucleus is a band I've mentioned many times in here as they released one of the best death metal albums of the decade just last year, Temple of Void plays death/doom in the vein of Hooded Menace, Ectoplasma plays old school death metal kinda similar to early 90's bands (Benediction, Grave), and Fetid Zombie is just weird. Ghoul, Impetigo, Blood Freak and Frightmare meets Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Bathory and Venom meets Mortuary Drape, Rotting Christ and Varathron meets Obituary, Autopsy and Possessed meets At the Gates, In Flames and Dark Tranquillity meets Hell, Angel Witch, Satan and Cloven Hoof. As you can see, the band is a bit all over the place, often topped with poorly programmed drums. But there's something charming about the band, tho. Kinda funny, but at the same time pretty awesome.

 

 

 

 

New Lustre album coming later this year. It's more of the usual Lustre stuff - sugar coated atmospheric black metal that you can play around anyone, no matter their taste, without annoying them. Slow, atmospheric and beautiful, topped with his best vocal performance/sound so far? Sounds incredible.

 

 

 

 

After three demos (between 2002-2015) Greece's Black Sword Thunder Attack is finally releasing a proper EP, and this new track is super cool. For fans of old school epic heavy metal. Love those vocals! Very Lordian Guard-esque band, which I absolutely love.

I saw that the other day and it's just odd. In the case of Immortal and Gorgoroth there's both legacy and some money involved, and in the case of Batushka there's a lot of money involved. But this tho, there's no legacy no history, no money. No nothing. I don't get the motives behind this at all. But musicians will be musicians I guess.

 

 

1994 is still a fantastic release, tho. So is the stuff RMS Hreidmarr did with Anorexia Nervosa. And he still is an excellent vocalist.

After Midnight - A slightly unconventional horror movie which plays out as a romantic indie horror, with the horror of it being quite the mystery in some way. It's clever as it jumps back and forth in time, it's got a "what the fuck is going on" thing  going on, and it's just really well put together. It's made by Jeremy Gardner and Christian Stella who directed Tex Montana Will Survive! together. Jeremy Garder seems to be the creative force here tho as he directs, wrote and stars in this. He also did the same with 2012's The Battery. I think he's a superb actor, as was Brea Grant who plays his girl and they got some proper good chemistry like, he's a good and original write and director as well. Well worth your time if you're into indie horror and romantic movies, and slow-burns.