What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[herringbonekid]

yesterday i watched Turin Horse by Bela Tarr. probably the bleakest film ever made.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Mark of the Vampire. TCM.

Meh. Bela didn't speak until the end. And what a disappointing end it was.

This was a fun film to me.
I read the trivia and study the movies I watch, and what's interesting is that Luna was a Lugosi fan.
That's how she got the part in this movie.
From IMDB....
Allegedly she was fascinated by Lugosi when saw him as Dracula at the Fulton Theater in Oakland, she wrote a novel called "Countess Dracula" and sent it to Lugosi. He called her to play Lucy, Dracula's favorite victim, on stage. Later he gave her the role of Luna Mora in the film Mark of the Vampire (1935).


This afternoon I'm watching Horror Hotel (The City Of The Dead 1960) with Christopher Lee. 6.8 out of 10, so I'll see.

 

[Zombie_61]

Mark of the Vampire. TCM.

Meh. Bela didn't speak until the end. And what a disappointing end it was.

The "twist" ending was unknown to the actors throughout the production because director Tod Browning didn't want anything in their performances to tip audiences off, so he withheld that part of the script from them until the last days of filming; Lugosi reportedly thought the ending was "absurd". However, Mark of the Vampire was a loose remake of a silent movie that Tod Browning had directed and produced eight years earlier called *London After Midnight, so anyone who had seen that movie must surely have known it was coming.



*For those who don't know, London After Midnight starred Lon Chaney Sr.. Now considered a "lost" movie, the last known copy was destroyed in a fire at MGM studios in 1967.

 

[Formeruser012523]

The "twist" ending was unknown to the actors throughout the production because director Tod Browning didn't want anything in their performances to tip audiences off, so he withheld that part of the script from them until the last days of filming; Lugosi reportedly thought the ending was "absurd". However, Mark of the Vampire was a loose remake of a silent movie that Tod Browning had directed and produced eight years earlier called *London After Midnight, so anyone who had seen that movie must surely have known it was coming.



*For those who don't know, London After Midnight starred Lon Chaney Sr.. Now considered a "lost" movie, the last known copy was destroyed in a fire at MGM studios in 1967.

Heard this summation on TCM after the film last night. Later on they showed London After Midnight, or a form of it. Haven't watched it yet, should be interesting.

 

[Formeruser012523]

From IMDB....
Allegedly she was fascinated by Lugosi when saw him as Dracula at the Fulton Theater in Oakland, she wrote a novel called "Countess Dracula" and sent it to Lugosi. He called her to play Lucy, Dracula's favorite victim, on stage. Later he gave her the role of Luna Mora in the film Mark of the Vampire (1935).

Great story! Sometimes it pays to write to ones favorite stars after all. :eusa_clap

 

[jamespowers]

My wife understood it, but she wasn't paying attention.
Good idea, but not the best way to carry it out.
BTW I'm a B movie fan, and have numerous collections that aren't even that good, so it was hard to say this.
However, it got slow several times, one too many times.

In other words, it stunk.

 

[Gregg Axley]

In other words, it stunk.

I didn't have to light a match, but I thought about it.
Horror Hotel was really good.
Victor studios wasn't familiar to me, until I looked up the studio they became shortly after this film...Amicus.
That does sound familiar because they were a competitor of Hammer.
I have a few Amicus productions, I think some of them have Cushing in them.
But they aren't Hammer...close but not quite.
Tonight, Lady Frankenstein.

 

[jamespowers]

I didn't have to light a match, but I thought about it.
Horror Hotel was really good.
Victor studios wasn't familiar to me, until I looked up the studio they became shortly after this film...Amicus.
That does sound familiar because they were a competitor of Hammer.
I have a few Amicus productions, I think some of them have Cushing in them.
But they aren't Hammer...close but not quite.
Tonight, Lady Frankenstein.

You'll like Lady Frankenstein. :eyebrows:

 

[Gregg Axley]

You'll like Lady Frankenstein. :eyebrows:

I looked it up before I watched it, to see if I want to waste my time.
I'm on the fence with this one.
MGM HD and SonyHD channels have some classic horrors coming up.
I've got those set to tape.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Later on they showed London After Midnight, or a form of it. Haven't watched it yet, should be interesting.

I watched that version when it first aired in 2002. I think they did the best they could considering they had only a handful of stills to use for the reconstruction, and it might be the closest we'll ever get to seeing the movie, but for me the novelty wore thin after 10-15 minutes.

 

[JonnyO]

Last Man on Earth, again. Was telling my coworker about it tonight then happened to stumble upon it on demand.

 

[Worf]

"I Walked With a Zombie" - B-Minus- Have to agree with JP this one was superior to VL's "The 7th Victim" BUT if you know anything about RKO studios at the time he was lucky to have the budget to make anything at all!!! IWWaZ, talk about creepy, atmospheric, strange and bizarre. I don't think it would've gotten past the censors if there wasn't a war going on at the time. I really enjoyed that one.

Worf

 

[Doctor Damage]

World War Z, with Brad Pitt. I haven't read the book(s) but as a stand alone movie it was entertaining and I got my money's worth, which since a friend downloaded it, was free. I think if would be easy to drive a bus through the holes in the movie's plot, although because the movie is brain candy it doesn't seem worth doing. The holes are pretty big, though.

Far better are the two CG movies in the Resident Evil franchise (R E Degeneration and R E Damnation). These are apparently based heavily on the games and are 100% CG. I watched both this week and they are excellent, far better than any CG-heavy action films I've seen for a long time and far better than the live action Res Evil films with Milla Jovovich. I guess when they don't try to mix live action with CG then you don't notice the disconnect between the two, and it comes across as simply no-compromises storytelling. The plots of both movies are excellent and they have just the right balance of action and atmosphere with some truly innovative and thrilling visuals.

 

[jamespowers]

"I Walked With a Zombie" - B-Minus- Have to agree with JP this one was superior to VL's "The 7th Victim" BUT if you know anything about RKO studios at the time he was lucky to have the budget to make anything at all!!! IWWaZ, talk about creepy, atmospheric, strange and bizarre. I don't think it would've gotten past the censors if there wasn't a war going on at the time. I really enjoyed that one.

Worf

The big tall zombie looking guy was just weird. The mother was also a way out there realization.

 

[jamespowers]

Last Man on Earth, again. Was telling my coworker about it tonight then happened to stumble upon it on demand.

Say what you will about being the last man on earth but being able to walk into a car dealership and choose whatever car you want and drive away with it gratis is a plus any day. lol lol

 

[Feraud]

Have to admit I hated WWZ with a passion. As a literary translation it was an insult to the text. I hope the author was paid enough to stomach what Pitt & Co did to his story.
As a zombie flick it was atrocious. This is what happens when an A List actor attaches himself to a zombie movie. We get this sanitized, derivative action film starring whatever Hollywood actor who needs to save his ____ (insert family, world, whatever) before blah, blah, it doesn't really matter because our hero will come through in the end. No matter how far around the world our hero travels no one in these other countries can find a solution like our Hollywood Man.
For the cost of a buck at Redbox I feel slightly less robbed than if I had paid any more to see this.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Twilight New Moon, the Rifftrax version.

 

[C44Antelope]

"Murder Over New York" Charlie Chan goes to New York City to attend a police conference and SURPRISE, somebody get's killed and it's up to him to help Donald MacBride find the killer. I went to a conference once, and the wind blew my ball-cap away when I got out of a cab. I was glad I wasn't wearing a nice hat. I believe on that trip I murdered a delivered pizza, but that's best saved for a different post.

Movie has a small bit-part for Shemp Howard. And although Jimmy Chan has come to New York to see the World's Fair, they don't include any stock footage from the fair. It didn't fit into the plot, but I'm not sure that matters.

All told, an enjoyable 65 minutes.

 

[jamespowers]

"Murder Over New York" Charlie Chan goes to New York City to attend a police conference and SURPRISE, somebody get's killed and it's up to him to help Donald MacBride find the killer. I went to a conference once, and the wind blew my ball-cap away when I got out of a cab. I was glad I wasn't wearing a nice hat. I believe on that trip I murdered a delivered pizza, but that's best saved for a different post.

Movie has a small bit-part for Shemp Howard. And although Jimmy Chan has come to New York to see the World's Fair, they don't include any stock footage from the fair. It didn't fit into the plot, but I'm not sure that matters.

All told, an enjoyable 65 minutes.

That was a good one to me as well.

 

[jamespowers]

Two to mention: