A British American crime film written by Anthony Burgess, directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Malcolm McDowell and Patrick Magee.
A young criminal goes around causing chaos with his friends until being caught and imprisoned. From prison, he goes to a research hospital and is subjected to a new technique to "make him good". He is then released and tormented by his previous victims.
I feel like I've written about this before. Malcolm McDowell is one of the 2 best parts of this film. The other is the music of Wendy Carlos. I would strongly advise viewing my post about Caligula (1979) and that film after reading and watching this one because he plays the same role in both films. Reading the book is a little difficult. The heavy use of Nadsat language requires having the Nadsat glossary open as well as the narrative. It is nearly impossible to figure out word meanings by context. This is one of those famous classic films that everyone spouts about for good reason. You can read everyone else's spouting if that's what you want. I would rather watch it than read praise of it. I rate it best. Watch it!
An American slasher horror by Rob Zombie, starring Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris and Scout Taylor-Compton.
The continued story from the 2007 film. Michael's younger sister (who supposedly killed him in the first one) is having mental issues. Michael is alive and back in town as well.
This was very much like the 2007 film, but not as good because it lacked the back-story section, which was the only part I liked from that. The plot mostly made sense, but it lacked the character development of its predecessor. Really, I found it boring and predictable. I saw every kill coming from minutes away. The video was not as good either. There were some dream/hallucination scenes which looked good, but some of it was cut so quickly that it was almost coruscating. I didn't get the thing with the white horse, except that Death rides a white horse. It must really be that simple because the rest of the movie was. The soundtrack featured an extremely wide range of music, but some of the sound effects were really annoying. There was also lots of shouting and crying in the dialogue. How many times in a row must a character say "fuck!" before the audience gets that they are unhappy? I'm keeping this to complete my Rob Zombie film set (more of that soon), but I wouldn't recommend it unless you HAVE TO watch full sets, regardless of varying quality. I rate it o.k. and it should only be watched right after the 2007 film.
An American slasher horror by Rob Zombie, starring Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris and William Forsythe.
Zombie's take on the Michael Myers story includes the background of the killer. He came from a family which had a negative influence on him and was mistreated at school. He killed his family and was imprisoned in a sanitarium before escaping to return to his hometown.
This was worth watching. I liked the back-story part most (about the first hour) because it had a more engaging plot and developed the main character. That being said, I don't think that Michael Myers is a very good horror film villain. He's crazy and he kills and that's it. Angela from Sleepaway Camp is more my style: she kills anyone whom she believes to be misbehaving. There's some discrimination and reason involved. Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street only kills Elm Street teens and uses dreams to do it. Typical of Rob's other films, the video was done quite well. There tends to be lots of contrast between scenes and this was emphasized in this film with the ultra-bright psyche ward against Halloween night. Audio was actually good. There's not much to say when it all sounds correct. I would say this is slightly above average and worth watching. I rate it adequate.
An American horror by Rob Zombie, starring Meg Foster, Richard Brake, Judy Geeson and Malcolm McDowell.
A group of traveling circus workers are abducted in a desert. Their captors force them into playing a game in which they must survive in a maze for 12 hours while hired murderers try to kill them.
Very very Rob Zombie. The plot was typical of the horror/gore/slasher genre and the characters were not really anything special or different. They definitely were not developed well. Does Richard Brake (image) look like a young Billy Bob Thornton? What was developed was sick humor, tension and blood. I think that should be obvious and expected of Rob Zombie at this point. Video was great. There was a variety of shot angles, proximities and lengths. Audio was good, except some whispering. It seems kind of weird that Rob Zombie (metal musician) would use mostly classic hard rock in his soundtracks, but maybe he grew up listening to it like most metal guys. If you like Rob Zombie films, you will like this. Just don't expect anything different from his other films. I rate it adequate for being well made and enjoyable, but predictable.
An American horror directed by Paul Schrader, starring Malcolm McDowell, Nastassja Kinski and John Heard.
A woman and her brother are werepanthers that transform after sexual intercourse. The brother gets captured by a zoo in his panther state and the sister goes to work at the gift shop when she begins a romantic relationship with the zoo's curator.
Cat people run: run like the wind! Cat people screw: screw like the wind! The plot was just cheesy enough to be cool for an '80s horror flick. Malcolm as a cat-man was definitely a good casting choice, but I would have liked more dialogue from him. Nastassja, the cat-woman seemed more like a victim of a curse than a villain/monster like her brother was. The video was done very well. Everything looked great for composition and framing. The transformation scenes were a little anticlimactic though. The audio was a tad unlevel, but nowhere near complaint level. Overall, a Babycakes reference that I don't really get. It seemed like a pretty standard '80s B flick to me. Beats me why Brad Neely would rap about it. I rate it adequate.
A porno directed by Tinto Brass, Giancarlo Lui and Bob Guccione, starring Malcolm McDowell.A sexually perverted and insane man becomes the "ceasar" of Rome and rules with an iron erection.Most of the film was sex and naked people. The plot was secondary to sex and nudity and there was only one clear main character who oddly enough, barely fucked anyone. I was waiting for him to ask the women what they play their fuzzy warbles on (A Clockwork Orange) because he's basically reprising the same role from his previous film. Speaking of soundtrack, the angels' trumpets and devils' trombones sounded good (ACO). One thing that I have to mention is the giant penis in the brothel scene. I call it the great white or Moby Dick! I'm going to rate this adequate because it's a good film, but I have mixed feelings about it.
A crime film by Stanley Kubrick, starring Malcolm McDowell.A young hell raiser gets caught after killing a woman and is put in jail. After 2 years there, he is given an experimental treatment to give him an aversion to violence and sex. Upon release, he is unable to defend himself from people who wish him harm for his past.Let's talk about good movies! This is one of my favorites, as the plot make 180 degree turns at a few points and the main character does the same. It seems fitting that he would end up in gratuitous sex scenes with debauchkas a few years later. The style is classic Kubrick (flawless) and the production value looks '80s, regardless of the '70s settings and clothing. I can't help but rate this best and if you haven't seen it, do so quickly or I'll smash you in the yar-blockos.
