• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.
Can anyone tell me anything about this:

First film based on a paranormal podcast, apparently. Supposed to be funny, I think? Anyone any the wiser?

I'm assuming you've never listened to the Parapod podcast? The first two seasons are incredibly funny. Essentially one presenter is a believer in all things paranormal and the other isn't. The next season wasn't as good but still funny.

That's all you need to know.

I'd rate it as possibly the funniest podcast I have ever listened to. Due to the success of the podcast they decided to make a doco/film. I've not seen it myself yet
 
Not very different from the swathes of related material on Youtube already, where intentional and unintended laughs are impossible to distinguish.

Urban Explorers are reaching to the point that they declare up-front that they are not ghost-seers, as a seal of authenticity in their own niche! :pipe:

The podcast was hosted by two comedians. Unlike the crap on Youtube, it was very funny.
 
I'm assuming you've never listened to the Parapod podcast? The first two seasons are incredibly funny. Essentially one presenter is a believer in all things paranormal and the other isn't. The next season wasn't as good but still funny.

That's all you need to know.

I'd rate it as possibly the funniest podcast I have ever listened to. Due to the success of the podcast they decided to make a doco/film. I've not seen it myself yet

I apologise, I thought it was a found footage spoof, didn't realise it was "authentic". Might give it a go if you recommend it, then.
 
I apologise, I thought it was a found footage spoof, didn't realise it was "authentic". Might give it a go if you recommend it, then.
I've not seen the film yet, but I'd give season one and two ago of the podcast. You'll know if it's your cup of tea or not.
 
John Huston's late - 1979 - adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood has gone up on Youtube, for the picking!

An excursion into deep and weird Southern Gothic; Brad Dourif returns from war to institute his own religion of Christ-without-Christ. Or something like that.

Huston's pictures were funded by such arcane, tax-haven routes that ownership has not always been easy to establish.

Catch this one, while it's up for grabs. It won't be for all tastes but I think it's one of his very best! :)
 
Been trying to remember the name of/find a film I saw many years ago, it was a supernatural western starring (I think) William Fitchner, he played a revenant/ghost (similar to High Plains Drifter) and him main memorable idiosyncrasy was he burned gun powder to stimulate his senses as his senses were not good being a ghost and all. I think it involved him wanting revenge for the death of his family/wife. If anyone recognises this I would be grateful of a reminder of the title. Thanks
 
Oh, it's not too bad especially if you think of this as mainly a film for children.

The Addams Family: The animated Addams doesn't compare to the 1989 version but it's still good fun if you consider it as a kids film. Gomez and Morticia are being married in "the old country" when the wedding is disrupted by a torch and pitchfork wielding mob of villagers. Fleeing they decide to move to somewhere corrupt and horrible so they move to New Jersey, finding a nice haunted castle above a NJ swamp. They clash with a developer who has built a new town on the drained swamp. Plenty of horror film and other cultural references which do generate a few laughs with a nice sending up of the Woke in song lyrics : "It's nice to be all the same when you have no choice!" sung in the new town Assimilation . Don't over-analyse the film, just enjoy it. 7/10.

The Addams Family 2: The animated Addams are back! They go on a road trip around the US, starting with Niagra Falls which they traverse in barrels after Wednesday plays her voodoo doll tricks on Pugsley. But worse danger to family unity is afoot as a lawyer claims Wednesday was wrongly switched with another child at the maternity hospital. The road trip turns into a chase. Plenty of film references, Ma, Jaws, Carrie. Also song and dance numbers the best being Lurch playing the piano and singing I Will Survive. Wednesday splices octopus genes into Uncle Fester and he develops tentacles. There's a lot of gene-splicing going on in this film. Again, don't over analyse this feature, just enjoy it. 7/10.
 
There is an italian movie out called Freaks Out. It takes place during WWII, where it seems four freaks find themselves on their own in hostile territory. I don't know if there will be an english release.
 
John Huston's late - 1979 - adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood has gone up on Youtube, for the picking!

An excursion into deep and weird Southern Gothic; Brad Dourif returns from war to institute his own religion of Christ-without-Christ. Or something like that.

Huston's pictures were funded by such arcane, tax-haven routes that ownership has not always been easy to establish.

Catch this one, while it's up for grabs. It won't be for all tastes but I think it's one of his very best! :)
Just watched this - good quality upload, good cast & performances, small town weirdness, god fearing folk & religious quackery - it’s like a very black comedy. Never even heard of it before - thanks for posting.
 
Cryptozoo tells a simple tale of good versus evil through an animated world of mythical creatures

Dash Shaw’s adult animation follows the fate of fantastical ‘cryptid’ beasts and their keepers as they try to escape weaponisation by the U.S. military.

Look past its high concept action-fantasy plot and there’s a solemnity to Jane Samborski and Dash Shaw’s Cryptozoo. It’s a rare beast, an independently made, handcrafted animation, which treats its outlandish narrative and often absurd world with total sincerity, never winking to the camera with a knowing smirk, never acknowledging its occasional silliness.

► Cryptozoo is available to stream on Mubi now


https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...vil-through-animated-world-mythical-creatures
 
Just released film "Last Night in Soho," directed by Edgar Wright. Playing in cinemas :)D not just on TV!) Described as a thriller/ghost story.
Quotes from an interview with him on NPR:

"There was a point in the mid-'60s where London was leading the world in culture, in music and fashion and art and film and photography," he says. "The film is sort of about having nostalgia for a decade that you never lived in."
But in the movie, nostalgia is tinted with menace as Eloise's dreams become nightmares that haunt her waking hours. "It's tempting to just kind of think of [the '60s] as being the most exciting time," Wright says. "But sort of what the movie is about — is that you can't have the good without the bad."

And the bad sounds very bad!

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/01/1051086214/edgar-wright-last-night-in-soho
 
Just released film "Last Night in Soho," directed by Edgar Wright. Playing in cinemas :)D not just on TV!) Described as a thriller/ghost story.
Quotes from an interview with him on NPR:

"There was a point in the mid-'60s where London was leading the world in culture, in music and fashion and art and film and photography," he says. "The film is sort of about having nostalgia for a decade that you never lived in."
But in the movie, nostalgia is tinted with menace as Eloise's dreams become nightmares that haunt her waking hours. "It's tempting to just kind of think of [the '60s] as being the most exciting time," Wright says. "But sort of what the movie is about — is that you can't have the good without the bad."

And the bad sounds very bad!

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/01/1051086214/edgar-wright-last-night-in-soho

I've just seen "Last Night in Soho", it's got psychic links across time, or is it time travel? Ghosts, the past breaking through, and a mystery. A young woman Ellie (Eloise), from Cornwall, brought up by her grandparents, as Ellie's mother committed suicide when she was seven, moves up to London to study at the London College of Fashion, where she has trouble fitting in with the other students. Unhappy in the hall of residence, Ellie moves into a bedsit in Goodge Place owned by the elderly Miss Collins (Diana Rigg in her last film), seemingly your traditional old landlady (...no men in your room after 8pm). Ellie's obsessed with the music and fashions of the 60's which she's inherited from her granny, the room has a faded sixties ambience. She start's to have increasingly vivid dream about an aspiring young singer Sandy, who's trying to make her way in the seedy glamour of Soho "Night clubs", who's taken up by a roguish, apparently charming ,wide boy, Jack (Matt Smith showing he can really act), but who's vicious and manipulative. The dreams get darker, and the characters in them start to break through into the present day - ghosts, hallucinations? And what happened to Sandy, and was the room that Ellie's renting once Sandy's? The story twists and turns until the last. The sixties sequences (specifically 1965) recreate the period well, but with that hyper-realistic with occasional discordant elements feeling that you sometimes experience in dreams. Excellent cinematography.

It's described a as psychological horror film, which seems a bit inadequate as a description. It's worth seeing, but don't read the wiki article before you go - chockful of spoilers.
 
Memoria: A film which touches on many Fortean tropes. Tilda Swinton is a market gardener in Colombia, she visits her sister who is is suffering from an unexplained respiratory ailment, there is discussion as to whether it might be caused by the Elders of an isolated tribe called the Invisibles who allegedly put curses on their enemies. Swinton herself hears a noise, a loud bang, unheard by others. She tries to find out what is causng it, a sound engineer helps her but then he disappears, seems to have never existed. Other instances of the Mandela Syndrome also occur. An anthropologist shows Swinton 5,000 year old skeletons which have been discovered, one of which has been trepanned. Travelling to the mountains to visit the archaeological site results in more strange encounters. Noise, sound and it's absence is used to telling effect in Memoria, a bang coming out of nowhere is disturbing, even when it can be explained. Recurring bangs at a dinner table, heard only by Swinton is threatening at an existential level. Timeslips, memories recorded in stones which are later accessible add to the weirdness of the narrative. At no time does Swinton appear ranged even if she does seek sedatives at one stage. The meaning of this flm may be difficult to fathom and I am not at all sure that I've plumbed its depths. I'll be mulling this one over for a while. Written and Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. 8/10.

Limited release in cinemas.
 
I loved the replacement guy for the missing sound engineer who died for ten minutes as his party piece. I like to think Apichatpong found a guy who could keep his eyes open for ten minutes and just filmed him as he lay on the ground!

I get the impression this is a film that will be different to all those who see it: no two synopses will be the same.
 
I loved the replacement guy for the missing sound engineer who died for ten minutes as his party piece. I like to think Apichatpong found a guy who could keep his eyes open for ten minutes and just filmed him as he lay on the ground!

I get the impression this is a film that will be different to all those who see it: no two synopses will be the same.

Perhaps that might be a spoiler?
 
Well, it happens halfway through, so maybe or maybe not - unfortunately I can't edit my post to add spoiler tags!
 
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain - 2021, Dir. Will Sharpe.
(I questioned whether this belongs in this thread, but Wain's life and work certainly are tinged with Fortean elements, as is the film.)

I just saw this picture, in which Benedict Cumberbatch plays the artist, known for his cat paintings and drawings, whose work is often used (perhaps unfairly) to illustrate his supposed descent into schizophrenia.

Like all biopics, this one takes clear stances on matters such as Wain's mental states and the influence of his sisters on his life. Since the purpose of a film like this is to tell an interesting story, not be a staged documentary, that's fine. And tell an interesting story it does. If there's a major problem with the film, it's that it appears to have had a 3 or 4 hour rough cut, or at least a script that long; many elements seem inadequately explained or resolved. (I much prefer Hitchcock's goal of having the "editing" done before you start shooting, but that is a dying art.) Still, this sometimes works to the film's advantage, leaving a oddball sense of mystery that never overpowers the basic story. One interesting aspect is a refreshing approach to late Victorian repression: the primary characters are quite modern as individuals, but they are shaped by the expectations of society, sometimes leading to quirky behavior when these forces are at odds. Cumberbatch is particularly good at this type of thing.

I was also struck by the film's visual power. Much like Wain himself, the film has no single overriding style. It can be realistic, impressionistic, surrealistic, psychedelic, and for one brief segment wanders into1960s/70s sci-fi influenced pop art. Some of the artificially enhanced long shots are reminiscent of the old days of glass matte painting backgrounds - truly beautiful to behold.

All in all a good experience.
 
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain - 2021, Dir. Will Sharpe.
(I questioned whether this belongs in this thread, but Wain's life and work certainly are tinged with Fortean elements, as is the film.)

I just saw this picture, in which Benedict Cumberbatch plays the artist, known for his cat paintings and drawings, whose work is often used (perhaps unfairly) to illustrate his supposed descent into schizophrenia.

Like all biopics, this one takes clear stances on matters such as Wain's mental states and the influence of his sisters on his life. Since the purpose of a film like this is to tell an interesting story, not be a staged documentary, that's fine. And tell an interesting story it does. If there's a major problem with the film, it's that it appears to have had a 3 or 4 hour rough cut, or at least a script that long; many elements seem inadequately explained or resolved. (I much prefer Hitchcock's goal of having the "editing" done before you start shooting, but that is a dying art.) Still, this sometimes works to the film's advantage, leaving a oddball sense of mystery that never overpowers the basic story. One interesting aspect is a refreshing approach to late Victorian repression: the primary characters are quite modern as individuals, but they are shaped by the expectations of society, sometimes leading to quirky behavior when these forces are at odds. Cumberbatch is particularly good at this type of thing.

I was also struck by the film's visual power. Much like Wain himself, the film has no single overriding style. It can be realistic, impressionistic, surrealistic, psychedelic, and for one brief segment wanders into1960s/70s sci-fi influenced pop art. Some of the artificially enhanced long shots are reminiscent of the old days of glass matte painting backgrounds - truly beautiful to behold.

All in all a good experience.
I really want to see the film at some point.
 
I really want to see the film at some point.
It's on Amazon Prime - at least in the U.S.

One thing I forgot to mention is how the cats in the film were all wonderfully chosen to look and act like Wain's illustrations. They aren't a major part of it all, but there is a - dare I say it - electricity about them that totally harmonizes with the body of Wain's work.
 
It's on Amazon Prime - at least in the U.S.

One thing I forgot to mention is how the cats in the film were all wonderfully chosen to look and act like Wain's illustrations. They aren't a major part of it all, but there is a - dare I say it - electricity about them that totally harmonizes with the body of Wain's work.
Cats are amazing. I think it might not yet be available on amazon prime in the UK but I need to check.
 
I get the impression this is a film that will be different to all those who see it: no two synopses will be the same.

Indeed, just looked on imdb and of the people who left a vote on my review of Memoria, 8 out of 17 liked it.
 
Indeed, just looked on imdb and of the people who left a vote on my review of Memoria, 8 out of 17 liked it.

I didn't love the film, but my goodness it keeps popping back into my mind ever since, appropriate because it seems to be partly about exploding head syndrome. It's like nothing else, a bit silly, but sinister too. There was nothing like the fish shagging scene of his earlier work, though, so obviously some are saying he's sold out to the cult of Tilda (!).
 
Giuseppe Andrews (Joey Murcia Jr.) is known for featuring in movies like Independence Day, Unstrung Heroes and Cabin Fever. He began making his own (extremely low budget and very bizarre) movies in 1999 starring alcoholics and homeless people he met around his trailer park. In 2015, he left his trailer to a homeless man who regularly featured in his movies, deactivated his website, abandoned his social media, and totally disappeared from the public eye.

 
Here Before: A young family moves in next door to a somewhat older settled couple. The new family have a young daughter Megan (Niamh Doran) who reminds Laura (Andrea Riseborough) next door of her deceased daughter Josie. Megan remembers events from Josie's past, at first mundane things but it moves on to specific strange memories. Megan recalls being in the graveyard, items in the playground which were removed years before. Laura's husband Brendan (Jonjo O’Neill) tries to get her to accept that Megan is not Josie, he still grieves over the loss but handles it better than Laura. Laura's obsession grows causing Megan's mother Marie (Eileen O'Higgins) to tell her to stay away from Megan. Megan however now claims that she is Josie. This would be a case of Dybbuk rather reincarnation as Megan is the age that Josie would be now. A sense of apprehension builds as the film unfolds, st on the semi-rural outskirts of Belfast the houses back on to a hill which is mist and rain covered much of the time. Indeed the rain is constant in this film adding to the bleak mood. The sound mixing is excellent as you hear trees creak over foreboding music adding to the eeriness of scenes. The intensity of Andrea Riseborough's portrayal of Laura is central to the narrative with great performances from Naimh Dornan and Lewis McAskie as Laura's son Tadgh who clashes with Megan. Maybe the script or direction wobbles a little with the denouement but this is an unsettling psychological thriller. Written and Directed by Stacey Gregg in her directorial debut. 8/10
 
Last edited:
The explanation in Here Before is about as believable as what Andrea thought was going on, but at least they had a proper ending. Spooky little thing, until it goes nutzoid (nothing wrong with that, there's been a few like that recently).
 
Woif: A film about Species Identity Disorder (SID) which morphs into One Flew Over The Parrot's Nest. Jacob believes that he is a wolf and after he attacks his brother is committed to an asylum specialising in SID. Other teens there believe themselves to be squirrels, bears, dogs, parrots. Dr Angeli generally uses milder therapies but even her laughter classes are weird, she also has a strange relationship with Wildcat/Cecile. Cecile is not quite a patient but isn't allowed to leave either, indeed is semi-institutionalised. Dr Mann/Zookeeper uses far harsher methods, some might be defensible - confronting patients with their inability to actually live like animals but his cruelty goes far beyond that. Cecille and Jacob form a relationship but it does appear doomed, even star-crossed . Paddy Considine is brilliant as Dr Mann, an anti-Dr Moreau, who in his zeal to cure patients of Species Dysphoria becomes savage and inhumane. The reality that patients will have to face in the real world though is illustrated by local thugs throwing a dead animal through a clinic window .George Mackay is good as the reflective Jacob but is too old for the role while Lilly-Rose Depp vividly portrays a girl caught between two worlds. A flawed but eminently watchable film about fantasy, love and freedom. Written and Directed by Nathalie Biancheri. 8/10.

In cinemas.
 
I think this qualifies.

Now restored and available in full for free.

La Cabina ("The Cabin"):


An ordinary citizen is trapped in a telephone booth. Despite the attempts of passers-by to help him, he cannot be freed. But things go to another level when the mysterious workers who installed the booth that morning take him away, device and all, to an unknown destination. On the way, the prisoner realizes that he is helpless in the hands of sinister forces that lead him to an inexplicable and atrocious destiny from which there seems to be no escape, and from which none of us can consider ourselves safe.

Aired December 13, 1972

 
I think this qualifies.

Now restored and available in full for free.

La Cabina ("The Cabin"):


An ordinary citizen is trapped in a telephone booth. Despite the attempts of passers-by to help him, he cannot be freed. But things go to another level when the mysterious workers who installed the booth that morning take him away, device and all, to an unknown destination. On the way, the prisoner realizes that he is helpless in the hands of sinister forces that lead him to an inexplicable and atrocious destiny from which there seems to be no escape, and from which none of us can consider ourselves safe.

Aired December 13, 1972


Truly terrifying.
 
Back
Top