Wrong Turn 6: The Last Resort

I have a note that I watched this film. That's it. That's all I can remember. It was a few weeks ago I know but really this was a film that made absolutely no lasting impression on me. I've just read a Wikipedia article about it and it vaguely sounds familiar but that's about all. Dredging now but I recall a few sparse details, there seem to be too many deaths to be really believable and they are too frequent. It's one of those films that I think are made for fans of a franchise who find something appealing in having more films in the franchise, however I personally wish that in these situations they would just stop producing more films. I read a few reviews that suggested it wasn't the worst in the franchise but just remember the bar is set pretty low.

Collectormania 2008

My wife has an autograph collection, she writes off for them occasionally and we some good ones. Today we visited The Centre at Milton Keynes to go and see Collectormania. I've written about this event before and always enjoy visiting it. There is a marketplace (see photos below) and there is a whole section devoted to stars and their fans who queue up dressed in long black leather coats and other such attire, I love it. As a family with young children its quite frustrating when all you really want to do is go and queue and have your photo taken with Linda Blair but you can't because when you have children queueing is the last thing in the world that they understand and want to do. So on one hand it's a little disappointing but on the other, I just love seeing so much STUFF devoted to the TV shows and films I love. Its great to be with so many other people who share a love of horror and SF. It makes me want to go and watch some films now, bye bye film fans!

Night of the Living Dead

I don't think I've sat through all of this film before. It's always called a horror classic. I've seen lots of "zombie" films and they all unnerve me in some ways. However, with so many references to zombies in TV adverts, music videos, videogames and the like, my emotions are a bit dulled. However, I can still partially see through my preconceptions enough to understand that this film didn't explain the flesh eating living dead as zombies and at the time the film was made the idea was probably new and groundbreaking. A failed satellite probe from Venus has spread a new and powerful type of radiation that causes the recently deceased to get up and start craving for living flesh. There is no more real explanation in the film but the TV and radio footage shown is believable because even the authorities are unable to explain the phenomenon. Even when you hope events are over at the end of the film there is a shock, a bleak end to what is even now in today's world a bleak film. I don't care to analyse the film anymore and I'm sure others have put many interpretations on it. But the timing is perfect, the pace is wonderful and the acting is superb. How much better it would have been if it were shot in colour I can't say, maybe the black and white even adds to the films power. It's a horror classic and deserves a place high on the all time best list.

The Nanny (1965)

I watched another of the films in my Hammer Horror films box collection on Saturday night. It was a film from 1965 called The Nanny. There is something terrifying about stern old ladies. I don't know quite what it is. Perhaps its that I expect old ladies to be kind hearted and good spirited. And at first in this film you start to associate the stern facade of Bette Davis' nanny with a strict and proper authoritarian. During the film you come to think of the family she lives with as completely dysfunctional but towards the end a different thread emerges. I think its riveting stuff. The film has a few twists without any great surprises. The acting between Bette Davis and William Dix (who plays 10 year old Joey) is a large part of what makes this film so great. The film leaves you feeling disturbed rather than terrified. That's just about right for the period in which this film was made. The black and white also adds something to the film, not that you can tell by this image I found.