Father and son on a vendetta

Shogun Assassin (1980)

If you know how this movie was made everything should tell you this is nothing but cheap exploitation made for the dumb audience to get a quick fix of some sword swinging action. Robert Houston got the idea to re-cut two movies from the Lone Wolf and Cub series into one short action filled romp. Namely these two Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972) and Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972) with a tiny bit from the third one as well. All that dubbed into English and with a new swinging soundtrack. So it doesn't sound good on paper, but even in fear of getting some mortal enemies from the fans of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, this is better than the first two parts together. First of all this movie gets the setting up of the story done in a fast and effective way, unlike the original series where it tends to drag on for way too long. Second this movie adds a whole new dimension to the story with the narration by the Cub, which of course is done to explain some of the missing parts, but it actually works wonders for the depth of the characters. And the dubbing, it's one of the best I've seen in any movie dubbed from one language to another. Apparently they used deaf people to read the lips and try to guess what they were saying and then basing the dialog into words that fit the story and the mouth movements. Quite ingenious if you ask me and it works brilliantly. Now most of you who know me and my hate towards remakes and cheap copies are probably wondering how the hell can I like a movie like this which takes a piece of classic cinema art and "destroys" it. Well I see it as a remix, just like in music, most of the time they are not exactly great, but sometimes they can be even better than the original and this is one of those.

Anyway this movie tells the story of Shogun's decapitator, Lone Wolf, who with his son, Cub, seeks revenge on the Shogun who murdered his wife. The Shogun uses all his power to send out ninjas, warriors and assassins to stop the Lone Wolf, but a great samurai warrior with a vengeance on his mind is not stopped so easily. The story is very simple, but there's surprisingly much depth to the characters, mostly because there was so much material to go with I guess it was relatively easy to build strong characters out of those. There's no shortage of action and the body count goes absolutely crazy towards the end. But still there's drama and tragedy behind the showers of blood and decapitated heads. The movie is simply beautifully shot, some of the frames are works of art worth placing on your wall. Too bad the Brittish DVD I watched was from a print that had seen it's better days. There are also a few scenes that are just pure brilliance on the psychological side as well, for example the warming up scene after escaping the burning boat. And call me crazy, but I like the rather simple soundtrack too. Actually the only thing I don't like about this movie is that it credits only Robert Houston as a director while ignoring Kenji Misumi who directed the original movies. Sure Houston cut this version, but still some credit to Misumi who made the amazing source material would be welcome. Anyway I really like this movie and even though I've seen it many times by now it still works wonders. That's a sign of a true classic.
91%

The duck that hates women

New York Ripper (1982)

Well if I had to name an infamous movie this would be one of the first that comes to mind. Though as always the rumours you hear about it are way worse than the movie itself, but that doesn't mean this is an easy movie to watch. It's the most nihilistic, sadistic and brutal giallo ever made. Lucio Fulci has never shyed away from violence and shocking gore effects, but on this one he goes totally over the top. A killer who speaks like a duck stalks women in New York and makes fun of the police who seem to be quite incapable of doing anything to stop the killer. So a basic giallo plot and while there are many typical giallo moments, it's not a typical giallo in any means. It's not exactly stylish, it's gritty and aiming for brutal realism, something not common in giallos. The main thing in this one seems to be the violence and the sheer hate towards women. I really wonder what the director tries to say with this movie as I didn't understand the point. Unless the point was that it's cool to brutally cut up women in graphic closeups. So it's basically nothing but a brutal sleaze fest dressed as a giallo with a bad script and below average acting. Friends of sleaze should get their fair share of entertainment, but giallo fans should maybe look elsewhere. Horror fans with weak stomach might want to pass this one all together.
40%

Uwe Boll with a good idea, and it's not even April fools

Rampage (2009)

Uwe Boll, the man who has made crap into his own artform, usually makes only two kinds of movies, horribly bad ones or very rarely those which turn out to be so bad that they are hilarious. This one however was neither. It's horribly shot, it's rather badly acted, it's completely morally wrong, it's direction seems a bit lost at times, it's full of plot holes and idiotic actions, yet it's not a bad movie. The premise of the movie actually promised quite a bit more than the movie finally delivered, but the way it takes is not a bad one either. At least I didn't see that big twist coming until a few scenes before it actually happens. Now for sure it waters down the striking and thought provoking start of the "rampage" but it turns the movie into a whole different track which is actually good for it. It kind of saves it a bit from becoming a moral train wreck where it clearly was going. So I have to admit Uwe Boll has actually stumbled into a quite a brilliant idea here. Too bad he can't use it to it's full potential and kind of loses track with it too often. Even though at parts the movie is quite painful to watch with the bad camera work, tedious repetitive editing and not very good acting, it's still worth to sit through it. These kind of movies are quite hard to review, I mean when you have a bad movie but the ending saves it and makes the rest of the movie actually feel better. I'm going to rate it based on the feeling it left me with, just be warned that getting there might not be easy.
70%

Bronson cleaning the streets

I read the book Bronson's Loose!: The Making of the Death Wish Films and that inspired me to watch the movies again. The book itself was quite ok, it loses track more than once as it's based on so many different interviews, but yet it manages to dig up enough great info to keep it interesting. Too bad it's quite short as I ended up reading it quite fast and it left me wanting more of it. But it's great for what it is and definitely great read for anyone into the Death Wish movies. Anyway, here's what I thought of the movies.



Death Wish (1974)

The movie which kick-started the vigilante genre watched today seems a bit corny and superficial at parts. But it still has a whole lot to offer and the importance of it can't be denied. Paul Kersey, the vigilante, is definitely Charles Bronson's most iconic character. I bet pretty much everyone has seen at least one of the movies from the series or at least some of the iconic pictures of them. In this first movie his wife is killed and his daughter is raped by punks who invade their home. The daughter gets traumatized and loses the ability to speak. Kersey doesn't jump to a gun straight away to seek revenge, at start it looks like he doesn't want anything to do with the mess. Only the growing violence around the neighborhood and the incompetence of the police drives him to arm himself for defense. As he first time needs to defend himself against a mugger, he gets a whole new sensation in form of an adrenaline rush. He notices that the criminals can be dealt with and so he decides to go and hunt them down. So there is a bit of depth to the story as well and it surely is quite striking even today at some parts. The cast is quite great and the look of the movie is nicely gritty. The city looks menacing and the dark alleyways hold all sorts of low life criminals. Sure it's totally over the top, but this movie is not about subtlety, it's about extremes. Despite it's few corny moments it's still a strong movie, even today and definitely deserves it's spot among the best of it's genre.
89%



Death Wish II (1982)

This time Paul Kersey lives in Los Angeles with his still traumatized daughter and his new girlfriend. One day five thugs break into his house raping and killing his housekeeper. When he gets home they knock him out and kidnap her daughter. The daughter gets also raped and killed, so Kersey is out for blood once again. This movie doesn't seek motives too far and jumps quite fast into the main point, termination of the criminals. This one is a lot more brutal than the first one and also a lot more straight forward without much thought to the dilemmas of the subject. So the entertainment values are more on the action exploitation side and that's not at all bad as this is quite entertaining movie. The acting is quite bad and even unintentionally funny at parts. The dialog is very corny, though there's not that much of it anyways. This movie made the character a bit more like a hero and opened the road for the absolutely crazy third part, but more about that below. In the eyes of an exploitation movie fan this kind of cut out all the nonsense of the idea and focused on the juicy parts. Far behind the first one in content and depth, but still surprisingly enjoyable no brainer action flick.
66%



Death Wish 3 (1985)

Over the top would be a horrible understatement about where the third part took the series. It's absolutely bonkers. This time Kersey doesn't even have to lose a family member, the death of a Korean War buddy is enough to set him on a rampage again. And this time he just doesn't shoot a few muggers with a puny pistol, he has a 60 caliber machine gun, a hand cannon even Dirty Harry would be jealous and a fucking rocket laucher to boost. The story is basicly that this small part of the city is over run by a gang, they terrorize the elderly people living there and the police is helpless. So what does the police do? They of course ask Kersey to help them out. And a total all out war is the name of the game. So the script is ridiculous to say the least, the acting is quite bad most of the time and the movie is tons of fun. The camp values of this one are extremely high. As a serious movie this is total crap, but as an insane campy fun ride this is the best of the series. And since I love a good campy movie, that's how I'm going to rate it. Absolutely brain numbingly brilliant!
92%



Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

So after the completely insane third part, where could the series possibly go? Well the start of the fourth part is quite brilliant, kind of like making the Kersey character a super hero, avenger in the shadows rescuing the damsel in distress. But unfortunately that was just a dream and the reality is not really what you'd hope for. Kersey has given up his vigilantism and is trying to settle down with his girlfriend, but him being Kersey, things don't work out as planned. The daughter of his girlfriend overdoses on crack and dies. A wealthy business mogul whose daughter has also died of drugs hires him to kill the mafia behind the drug traffic. With a bit of moral support he soon accepts the deal and on we go. So this time the small time criminals and muggers are switched to mafia men in suits. That's the biggest problem in this movie, it's not as interesting to see him as a hitman without the revenge theme, sure it was thin on the third already but still, kind of taking the vigilante theme in the wrong direction. And speaking of direction, Michael Winner who directed the first three didn't return and J. Lee Thompson took over. That unfortunately shows as this movie was surprisingly straight forward with only a few nice looking scenes. Not that the previous 3 would have been especially stylish but they had that gritty exploitative feel to them, this one looked like a James Bond movie done cheap with all it's clean action. Sure there's a big bodycount like in the previous one, but this time it's quite unimaginative and the movie is trying to take itself a bit too seriously in the light of the thin script it has. Despite the few good moments, got quite bored watching this.
44%



Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994)

After a wife, a daughter, two girlfriends, a step daughter and a Korean War buddy being killed, you'd think Paul Kersey wouldn't want any friends and family. Add to that the fact that most of his friends and whoever he comes close to end up getting hurt also, you just wonder why he even bothers to trying to live a normal life. Should just stick to cleaning the streets. Well quess he's after the nookie or something as this time around he's again in a relationship and as soon as he proposes things end up bad for the woman. What a surprise... Again he's after the organized crime but this time even the action is very poor. So this final part has really nothing to give to the series and is quite a pointless sequel. Even Bronson mostly just looks tired and you can see that he's thinking "I'm too old for this shit". And at the age of 72 he sure was. They should have let the series die at the third part or even at the fourth part as that still had it's moments. This one has none.
18%

30 hitmen and a priest

The Tournament (2009)

A group of hitmen take over a small English town to battle out who is the best in their trade. That's the idea in this very bloody action packed fun ride. The story is thin and the characters very one dimentional, but it doesn't matter much as you need to switch your brain off and enjoy the carnage. Tons of over the top action, that's the point in this one. The cast is quite ok, though they are quite meaningless also. Kept me interested throughout but didn't leave much to go home with.
55%

From Sweden with a vengeance

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974)

Before I get to the film itself I have to say a few words about Quentin Tarantino. Some people question his contribution to the art of film saying he just recycles old ideas and mixes them with his trademark "trendy" dialog. This minority is partly right but I don't agree with them. I love his movies and what he has done to the art of film making, not just by his own films but the awareness he raises for old forgotten "classics". You may think what ever you want about the whole "grindhouse" genre, but it has it's place and deserves to be available for those who wish to see them. It's thanks to him we finally in 2004 got a proper DVD release of this movie. Before that a crappy severely cut bootleg copy was the best you could wish for. For a bit of background, Bo Arne Vibenius got frustrated from the box office failure of his first movie, so he decided to make the most commercial movie he could think of just to cash in some big bucks. Sex and violence was his recipe. Some commercial movie he surely did, the movie got banned straight away in Sweden, it's homeland, only to have the same fate in another country after the other. He finally found a distributor for the movie in America, but only after it had been cut more than 20 minutes. The movie kind of vanished after that even though it was quite famous in the genre scene where it was hyped beyond reality just before it's full length DVD release in 2004. So I of course rushed to spend my last euros on the overly priced "limited edition" they put out with a fear of getting some overly hyped mediocre film. Well I wasn't disapointed, it hit me like a sledgehammer and went straight to my all time favourite movies. Would have paid a lot more had I known what I was really getting. But that was back then 6 years ago, now I gave this classic a revisit. So the movie is a quite basic story of abuse and revenge, but done with a take no prisoners attitude. A girl gets sexually abused as a child and looses her ability to speak. Then 15 years later she's kidnapped and shot up daily dosage of heroin to make her a sex slave. And of course she then takes a revenge. The hard core porn inserts are still one of the best I've seen in these types of movies. Sure they are there purely for the exploitation factor, but yet they kind of fit the story. The other infamous insert with the eye is still freaking gross, but that also fits surprisingly well to the grim tale. The slow motion scenes worked like a charm before, but now not that much, seemed to drag it on a bit too much. The ending was still as magnificent as before, hadn't lost a bit of it's poetic justice feel. All in all it still worked, but now I paid a bit too much attention to the small details which were not really working. As it's a movie with only grander scale events, the details are not meant to be seen, so that kind of broke it up with me. Even though the movie is in The List, I'm not going to give it full percentage now, as right now it didn't work as good as in the first viewing. But also I'm not going to remove it from the list either as it has it's well deserved place there as a definite genre classic.
89%

A violent fantasy history

Centurion (2010)

Was kinda looking forward for this as Neil Marshall is one of the most interesting new horror/violence genre directors. So his take on, in this case a rather fictional, Roman history was surely interesting to begin with. And for sure violent it was. So much that at some points I got rather annoyed by all the CGI blood, which didn't look even close to realistic. Not that I know what it looks like when hordes of soldiers beat eachother to death, but it had that computer imagery all around it. Anyways, past that it sure was entertaining with not many boring moments. The story was quite basic with your fair share of backstabbing. Nothing new in that department, but it didn't bother that much as the action was the main point here in the end. Was pleasantly surprised by the two woman warriors, they were very good. Marshall already showed on The Descent that he can create strong female characters and that shows here too. Rest of the cast was quite good also and the movie looked very nice. Unfortunately didn't get any wow reaction out of the movie so in the end it was only a good movie worth the watch. Though I'll most likely give it another watch in the future too.
69%

Sickest movie ever made?

A Serbian Film (2010)

Ok I think this will be a longer review as this movie sure was thought provoking, among other things. Also I might go into some details in some of the scenes, but it's not going to spoil anything as I won't go in to the plot details that much. It surprisingly did have a plot and not even a bad one. And anyways what ever I tell you about the scenes are nothing compared to if you ever see it for yourself. So first of all the movie is about a male porn star who is offered a huge pay on a new movie which he can't get any details about. The movie they make starts to get weirder and sicker each scene until things start to get seriously fucked up (no pun intended). First I have to go into the biggest thought this movie provoked in me, which is what is enough? I mean I understand that the average Joe in a theatre eating popcorn and giggling at the leather faced man chopping up women with his chainsaw needs a bit more than just a bucket of blood and guts to get him gagging up his popcorn. But is it really necessary to show the sickest things imaginable to get someone's attention? Wouldn't just a hint towards them be enough? At least the makers of this movie thought not. I sure as hell could have lived my life happily ever after without seeing a woman giving birth to a child only to have the infant raped by a big bald man. Or a woman to get her teeth knocked out and then suffocated with a penis. You get the point, this movie is hardcore sick. Way too sick for me. And that's where the movie fails. Most of the times just hinting on sick stuff makes them work a lot better than actually showing them as your imagination will mess your head. Even though I've seen some sick movies in the past, I really felt dirty after seeing this. Like I shouldn't have seen it. But unfortunately nowadays where all your senses are pounded with a hammer to get your attention these kind of movies will pop up from time to time. And they are aimed for the crowd who think nothing's enough. But this was not just exploitation, like I said this movie does have a plot and it's actually a pretty good one. The music was kinda annoying at parts as it was loud all the time. Again hammering your senses. Hats off for the actors in this one as I'm sure this wasn't an easy movie to act in. This movie can't be categorized and that's actually a good thing. Sure it had a bit of suspense in it but apart from being afraid of what sick thing is shown next, the scariest thing about this movie was the thought that there actually might be people out there who are in the market of the kind of material the characters in this movie are making. Without a few way too messed up scenes and with a bit less exploitative narration this movie would have been actually quite brilliant, but now I never want to see it again. Though after the initial shock right after seeing it, I'm kinda glad I did see it as it really gave me a good reference of what's enough. 60 percent for the story and the thoughts this movie provoked.
60%

Vikings going crazy

Valhalla Rising (2009)

There's not many Viking movies, especially good ones. It's a shame as there should be plenty of stories worth of filming and I personally find the whole Viking era quite interesting. So I was kinda excited to finally get to see what Pusher's director Nicolas Refn can get out of it. The beginning of the movie is an ultra violent introduction to a human killing machine which promises a lot to come from the rest of the movie. Well unfortunately the rest of the movie is nothing what after the beginning I was hoping for. The group of Vikings sets on a journey to find new land and the director starts a trip into the depths of their minds. The movie is quite surreal and not the easiest to follow, but you don't need to be a genius to get the point. Unfortunately it has way too little content for the duration of it, so it gets very boring at parts. And towards the end when you already understand what's happening you just wait for it to end while it's still dragging along. I really wanted to like this movie, but unfortunately it's not a good movie, strong start falls apart quite fast and the movie almost stands still before it drags to the predictable ending. And it didn't help that I had just seen Aguirre a few days before as they are quite similar in many ways.
40%

Twice the funny games

Well I just watched Funny Games U.S. and for an obvious reason I have to put both versions up here, so lets start with the original.



Funny Games (1997)

This is Michael Haneke's crown jewel so to say, at least by his own words. A movie that is closest to the themes of A Clockwork Orange out of all the movies that try to capture it's feel. It's a story of an upper class family's nightmare when two young men take the family hostage and put them through a sadistical, violent ordeal. This movie is disturbing, brutal, freaky and not in the entertaining way. It's a statement against the violence in entertainment and how it blurs the viewers mind. When people are offered everything, nothing is enough. Just for the basic message it's a movie worth watching. But there's a bit more to it than that, it's also quite brilliantly made. The cast is superb and hadle their hard roles really well. Especially the mother played by Susanne Lothar makes a striking performance. Some scenes are pure perfection with long uncomfortable takes without release. Also the idea of not showing the violence but letting the viewer hear what's happening is so brutal it's scary. Again proves the point what you can't see is worse than what you can. This is a kind of movie you watch once and never go back to it as it's going to loose it's effect after the first viewing.
85%



Funny Games U.S. (2007)
Haneke did a remake of the original for the American market. And I have to wonder why? It's the same movie from scene to scene only the actors are English and American and the dog is a different breed. He didn't change anything from the original. In a way I understand it, if the original is perfect what's there to improve and since it's the same director of course he's not going to change anything as he himsef has said it's his best work. That raises the question why make a remake then if it's going to be exactly the same movie? Only thing I can think of is to take the money from the average illiterate American. And that is not a good thing. Don't get me wrong it's not worse than the original, it's the same with pretty much every detail. It's still as effective, shocking and brutal, with the same statement. Also the cast, especially Naomi Watts, make stellar performances. But there's just no need for this remake and even if Haneke had the good intentions to bring his work to a broader audience, it feels like he's pissing in the eye of the original fans. I honestly can't decide how to rate this one, easiest would be to give it 0 since it's completely unnecessary movie for me personally and it has that "let's take the money away from people" feeling. But as it is in the end the same as the original, meaning a very good movie, I should go for 85 percent here too. Oh well I guess I won't let commercialism win. If you're American and can't read subtitles, watch this movie, everyone else watch the original.
0%

The doomsday is near

Doomsday (2008)

Neil Marshall made a great modern adaptation of a werewolf movie with Dog Soldiers and a tense horror hit The Descent which put him on the top list of modern horror directors in the eyes of every studio. As I liked both of the movies I was really looking forward for his new movie. Well, it turned out to be a breathtaking mix of Mad Max, Escape From New York, Aliens, 28 Days Later and other genre classics. As a movie freak I was excited most of the time with all of the references to other movies, but as a viewer I was put down by a few things. First of all, if an actor has a deep dark voice it still doesn't make him a good actor. The cast was weak at best in this one. Second, the 80's is one era that I'm really glad is in the past and everyone who's trying to revive it should be shot on sight. I mean the punks, the outfits, the music and the sets were mostly just unintentionally hilarious, which took down the mood quite a bit. Third, even thou the plot was paper thin, would have been nice if they would have even tried to keep it in some kind of focus during the movie. People seem to forget the virus thingie and then it's brought back in an awkward way, made it look like the director got carried away by the action and then tries to patch things up later. But there's something good in it too. This movie has a true in-your-face attitude, which I really liked. Also loved the tongue in cheek attitude it has, it doesn't take itself too seriously. The humor is quite good, thou I would have wished there to be more of it. It's bloody, brutal, fast paced, action packed thrill ride back to the 80's action thrillers. Had they took any another era, this would be a classic. Now it's worth one watch, no more. Thou I have a feeling I'll get back to this some time in the future.
70%



The Descent (2005)

A truly scary horror movie is kind of a rarity nowadays. This one is just that, brilliant mood that gives you shivers. The cast could have been better and the characters are quite superficial, but in the end it does what it's supposed to; scare the shit out of you.
80%



Dog Soldiers (2002)

This movie was a good injection of adrenalin to a genre people thought had already died. I have to say I personally don't like most of the werewolf movies, dunno why, guess it's not a monster that scares the crap out of me. But this was a fresh take on the subject and somewhat of a classic already.
82%

Prison brings out the worst of us

Felon (2008)

This movie fails to bring anything new to the genre of prison movies, but still it was worth the watch. Right from the start I have to say Val Kilmer makes a stunning performance and that alone is worth seeing. Rest of the cast isn't that bad either. Also the story is quite good, even thou it falls apart a bit in the end. It raises some good points and really portrays how prison affects people. But the major flaw of this one, in addition to the bad plot twist in the end, is the fact it's not very realistic. And I'm not meaning that it doesn't portray the prison life as it is, because I have no idea what's it like. It doesn't portray it in a way I would believe in it, can't really put my finger on it, but there's something missing, it just feels false. Strong performances and a half of a good script make it worth watching, but it's far from a great movie.
65%

Don't mess with the machine girl

The Machine Girl (2008)

An orphan girl's brother gets killed by a yakuza boss' son. The girl goes on a revenge and looses her arm in the process. She get's a new arm with a machine gun in it and goes for another try. This had all the potential to be a new camp classic. Campy it surely is, but sadly not that entertaining. The gore is over the top and there's plenty of it. Some of the splatter scenes were quite well made, but most of the time it's just wacky and at times it gets boring. I found myself thinking at many points "get on with the action already, we've seen the blood spray from this guy for long enough". The story is simple and the dialog even more so. There are some really funny scenes, but they're few and far apart. Thou the end massacre is quite brilliant. I laughed so hard at the drill bra scene that I almost dropped off my chair. But those few scenes didn't really save this movie as there are far better campy gorefests out there. Have to give those few funny parts credit though, but I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone, unless you're a gore freak and you have absolutely nothing else to do.
48%

Tits, cannibals, braindeads, nazis and a whole lot of vengeance

We had a movie night at my friends house and watched quite a bit of sleaze. Here's the catch of the night.



Night of the Hunted (1980)

This movie was so uneven that it's hard to do any conclusion of it. The beginning was quite strong, but it falls to a quite over length love scene and there on it's going up and down like a rollercoaster (no I'm not meaning the other love scenes). Some scenes were really nice but others just plain stupid. Who knows, maybe it's meant that way as the theme is loss of mind, but I bet they could have done it better too. There's lots of skin in this movie and at times it gets funny as none of the women seem to want to keep their clothes on. That's ok, but it doesn't save this one from being quite boring. I do have to give credit to the end part of the film where there's some effort. Especially liked the ending scene, don't want to spoil it so won't say anything more about it. Oh and the main "villain" should start pistol shooting for money as he seems to be better at it than at acting. Don't think I'm going to ever watch this again. Some points for the ending and the boobies.
49%



Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

Was my second time I watched this. Last time was way over 10 years ago so I didn't remember much from it, except those animal scenes and the lady in a pole as they just stick to you. We'll there was much more than just the shock effects of animal killing. It turned out to be quite a good movie. For example didn't remember the idea of watching the film material of the first group to tell their story, kinda takes away the "originality" of Blair Witch Project. Also it makes some good points on who the real savages really are. But the usage of the shock effects is just underlining the point too much, I mean you tend to think "OK I got the point already, move on". So all in all quite a good movie, that suffers from over usage of gore/shock effects, but definitely worth watching.
77%



Irreversible (2002)

Second time for this one too. Even thou it was still in somewhat fresh memory, it hadn't lost an inch of it's edge. Still stunningly beautiful, horribly disturbing and terrificly brilliant.
98%



SS Camp 5: Women's Hell (1977)

Tits, nazis and violence. Great combination, eh? Nope, not this time. Totally stupid waste of film, Ilsa did this already aeons better than this effort. Some points for the boobies, which were, thank god, plenty enough to keep me awake thru this.
20%



Lady Snowblood (1973)

Vengeance, don't know what's about it that appeals to me in movies. Many of my favourite movies, even thou I don't hold grudge against anyone, have vengeance as a theme. I'm beginning to think it's an easy theme to make a powerful movie... Don't know, but I'll certainly look into it in the future. Anyways about this movie, the vengeance is not direct which gives it a nice twist. A girl is concieved, grown and trained for the purpose to avenge the death of her mother's husband. This was beautifully shot and you can see how much Tarantino has taken influence from this movie for Kill Bill. Even thou I was tired as hell at this point, it still kept me easily awake till the end and left me with something to think about. Really good movie and will definately find it's way to my collection.
82%