Poppysma Reviews

The Walking Dead: Last Day on Earth (2016) Season 6, Episode 16

Sewer Age of TV and Cinema

[2/10 · 25 March 2022]

I like zombies. They were never great like Classic Movie Vampires, not even near, but the zombie movies had their moments of style, atmosphere and entertainment.

Cannibals, however, living or dead, are different thing. Not being a horror fan, I safely skipped all this cannibal corpse crap - Romero, Fulci and others.

At least TWD doesn't pollute the word zombie.

Negan made his first (?) appearance in this episode. A leader of sadistic human garbage, he made the useless, corrupted protagonists seem almost benevolent. Well, almost. Let's not waste a bullet to end the suffering of a tortured, dying man. I know, I know - this is "character development". What would be a series without a whole cast of unlikeable trauma sociopaths?

Zero atmosphere, of course, just that ugly, flat/murky digital crap. There's some attempt to kind of eerie thrills... but close up of Rick's shocked face - really? Your star has limited acting ability. This is turning to unintentional comedy.

Hey, there's Michonne - wasn't she the Action Chick whose sick antics included dragging mutilating corpses with her and even killing a dementia praecox case so they could feed his corpse to the horde? Is her last name Dahmer or something?

Then... Negan. THIS is your major villain? This... "Peeing in pants, ma!" That's.. um, dialogue. No, children, I was not expecting Dracula, the Prince of Darkness to land in this gross unsanitary mess. And this testosterone-slimed coprolaliac with slimy laughter and, shall I say, coprophagic grin of the school bully is... apt hero for Dung Age of Hollywood and TV.

Sleepwalkers (1992)

Cats, candles and coprolalia

[6/10 · 18 March 2022]

Sleazy, trashy and silly but with entertaining Gothic touches - graveyard, candle-lit house, occassionally eerie score. And the real hero is the cat Clovis!

B-movie fun.

The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)

Who will win?

[6/10 · 11 March 2022]

Franco's Spain. Susan, a young, possibly lesbian bride, imagines/hallucinates that her new husband is a rapist. Rather extreme wedding night jitters? She's not wrong, though - he's a testosterone-slimed mucho macho, whose wedding dress-tearing echoes the rapist from Susan's fears, later he "playfully" drags Susan from hair, rapes her orally in the forest, and never sees anything odd in his behaviour. She eventually locks herself in the cage.

Then Mircala Karnstein, a woman who killed HER sexually perverted husband, raises from earth - now as a lesbian vampire, traumatized into misandry.

Cinematography is decent, and there are some gorgeous images - autumnal scenery and flowers, Mircala in her lavender (!) dress. While the film is not extremely graphic, there's a sleazy, slimy feeling throughout - the aforementioned forced oral, some gore, and the torture killing of the real, trapped fox.

Do the feminazis get what they deserve? Or will Susan and Mircala win? Watch out!

Mama Dracula (1980)

Gorgeously shot "comedy"

[6/10 · 10 March 2022]

This begins with the portrait of Countess Bathory (Louise Fletcher); the opening credits are presented in the form of florid booklet found in the menu; the mob with torches and pitchforks tries to attack the limousine carrying Bathory through the rural scenery to her castle. Bathory herself is icily elegant with her gorgeous red chignon and stylish make-up.

Too bad the comedy is either dull or embarrassing. Lowlights include Bathory's memories about torturing people to death. Hilarious?

Nurse Edith Cavell (1939)

Beautifully filmed - and what a cast of characters!

[8/10 · 10 March 2022]

Beautifully shot (if you find decent print) and reasonably accurate - unlike Cinderella Man, Quills, Hurricane and other despicable "biography" junk. What is the most surprising that the story is not "sexed up": the main heroes are mostly middle-aged or elderly women - Edna May Olivier as the Countess steals the whole show!

Carmilla (2014–2016)

Carmilla

[3/10 · 10 March 2022]

Good: Casting of Carmilla and Laura is perfect.

Bad: Replaces Gothic atmosphere - so great in LeFanu's novella - with a script both dull AND sleazy: "Mama made me do it" excuse is straight from antifeminist scumbag's handbook, but with the window dressing of progressive feminism.

Vampire Killers (2009)

Lads VS Lesbians

[6/10 · 2 March 2022]

Often fun, often just disgusting. Some of the characters are entertainingly over-the-top - the vampire-fighting vicar and especially Lotte, a fit Swedish virgin with glasses, pure and sweet and braver than neither of the men. And, thanks to the Hammer influece, the sets and scenery are often excellent, with nods to Karnstein trilogy and even Dracula (1958), with the ending sunlight and chirping birds.

Coincidence? I think not! Look at Carmilla's portrait and her transparent, eye-catchingly nipplesome red robe: different colour nothwithtstanding, it's otherwise identical with the sheer black robe of Carmilla (Ingrid Pitt) in The Vampire Lovers.

On the negative side, the dialogue and gross-out comedy are just that - gross. Disgustingly foul-mouthed, brain-in-groins Fletch is constantly splashed with white slime, making it look that he is in porn set - apt, but disgusting. According to director, there's 15 year old inside all of us. He's not wrong, of course.

Benedetta (2021)

Nunsploitation! Sleaze for, um, male gaze

[2/10 · 25 February 2022]

You get a villainous abbedissa (art sleaze vet Charlotte Rampling), lesbian nuns (obviously modern actresses), blasphemy and toilet jokes. Sex scenes are without hardcore bits - sorry boys! - but otherwise this is nunsploitation ABC.

Vampyres (2015)

Remake loses atmosphere, gains... nothing

[3/10 · 19 February 2022]

Despite the quote from Theophile Gautier's La Morte Amoureuse, cameos by Caroline Munro and Lone Fleming, and the well-cast Vampyres, this remake is almost complete misfire. All the Gothic atmosphere is replaced with cheap and almost amateurish digi look, dull scenery and ugly setting where the vampettes live. Soft porn grinding is still there, so are the brutally bloody killings - sometimes even approaching torture porn territory.

Verdict: sadly goes to category Useless Remakes.

Stay Alive (2006)

Mostly wasted opportunity

[3/10 · 17 February 2022]

There's some great ideas in Stay Alive. Blood red roses protect from evil; the black carriage with black horses chase the victims; Elizabeth (sic) Bathory in her sumptuous red dress looks impressive. Unfortunately, all these Gothic touches are just that - fleeting glimpses.

There's no tension or excitement; most of the characters are doomed anyway, so when someone is chased or is in danger during the first three quarters of the movie, he/she will die. There's zero atmosphere, even New Orleans setting is pretty much wasted.

Horror of Dracula (1958)

A classic of British cinema

[10/10 · 1 February 2022]

Yes, some of melodrama is a bit heavy, even for Gothic genre (shenanigans between the female vampire and Jonathan can be over-the-top). And it hasn't much to do with Stoker's novel.

Still.

It is quickly paced, atmospheric and wonderfully entertaining.

Visuals deserve all the prase they have attracted. Colour is that rich, a bit soft, yet crystal clear glow of vintage colour, which sadly is long gone. There is a delicious mix between autumnal exteriors and the plush, bright interiors, especially the Holmwood house, a mix of English roses and rustic Mittelland wood. No ugly digi look, not squalor replacing atmosphere, nor - in the case of women - the kitschy-n-sleazy teen look.

Christopher Lee as Dracula appears only sporadically. I didn't notice it - Dracula's presence is felt, whether he was on the screen or not.

Fantastic film.

Les Misérables (2012)

Not without merit, but terribly directed and sung

[4/10 · 19 January 2022]

The worst musical I have ever heard, thanks to the odious direction and atrocious handling of the actual music and singing part. Anne Hathaway's death scene made me burst to laugh - not to her character, but the self-indulgent artsiness of this whole thing. Eddie Redmayne was terribly miscast. Hugh Jackman tries valiantly, but he sounds terrible. Russell Crowe as robot-Javert acts like he had been forced to participate with a gun.

Positives? The script at least tries to mix the novel and the stage show. Samantha Barks. Aaron Tveit and his beautiful red coat look dashing - too bad he didn't sound nearly as good! And while the stage-show Cosette wears spinsterish wardrobe to show purity and charity of the character, the movie-Cosette gets to wear the lovely flower-hat.

Nana (1955)

Gorgeous veneer of Nana

[7/10 · 15 January 2022]

This is definitely a fun film to look at: fantastic colour, sets and costumes, and the powdery, lipsticky glamour of 35-year-old Martine Carol, a blonde like Zola's Nana, but now sporting the red hair. She is, of course, too old for the role - in the novel Nana, like the Second Empire, is a filthy pubescent trollop, decadent and parasitic fly. To mis(quote) Hugo: in short, 15 years!

Eventually she dies in smallpox, her moral rot now the physical one, too.

Zola? Maybe not.

The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman (1971)

Uneven if watchable monster mash

[5/10 · 10 January 2022]

Despite the title Walpurgis Night and the scenario promising Gothic monster fun - the wolfman versus Bathory-like vampire - the potential is only partially realized. The story is good, and Wandessa in her black robes and veils makes an impressive vampire - Patty Shepard had no reason to regret this particular movie - but pretty much every scene is clumsily handled, shot and directed. The dull cinematography copies faithfully the less-than-scenic Mediterranean landscapes, there's a bit of filthy gore and grue, Gaby Fuchs as Elvira gets to sport some truly ugly 70 s fashions and one of the female characters shows that even red lipstick can be unbecoming...

The Mummy's Revenge (1975)

Paul Naschy goes Hammer... kinda

[6/10 · 4 January 2022]

... but unlike The Mummy (1959) or The Curse from the Mummy's Tomb, La Venganza de la Momia looks like all Naschy movies - flatly shot, cheaply made and clumsily staged, especially the Egyptian prologue. In Victorian London, some of the costumes and sets look better, though, and the story has nice feel of pulp Gothic. The cult favourite Helga Line as the villainess has screen presence sadly missed these days.

Cat People (1942)

There's a lot to admire in this cat lady

[7/10 · 21 December 2021]

When the American werewolf Larry Talbot prowled the Universal's Gothic sets, a Serbian cat lady Irena Dubrovna traveled to a contemporary New York. Nice symnetry. Despite much more banal setting, there's indeed a lot to admire here. The cinematography is atmospheric, and all those flowers are an inexpensive way to make sets and women's costumes look gorgeous. Irena, whether mentally ill or a were-panther - or both - is tragically cursed and sympathetic either way. The true villain is a sleazy, predatory shrink (more explicitly so in the DeWitt Bodeen's script), anticipating Bedlam (1946). (After the war, The Life magazine published the series of articles about the hellish conditions in the American mental institutions, thanks to the pacifist Christians sent to work there). Dialogue and imagery are sanitized by the Production Code, itself hypocritical and racist, but - ironically - helper to make what talented director Anna Biller called better art.

On the other hand, John Carpenter of all people had a point. Kinda. He wanted more monsters, not just hints. I can't believe that I agree but when a horror movie made in 1940's turns to be too tame, then it really is a more than bit dry!

Huntress: Spirit of the Night (1996)

Softcore in gorgeous Gothic trappings

[7/10 · 27 June 2021]

One of those Gothic Romances Full Moon made in 90's, like Meridian - Kiss of the Beast. Shot in Romania, it looks gorgeous - autumnal scenery, Gothic castles with flowers, lace curtains, old books in vitrine, etc. Red haired heroine looks pretty good, too, especially in her later, vintage looks. The plot has lot of promise, with the warnings, Torches and Pitchforks searching the Beast, all played entertainingly straight. There is no gore, quite a bit of nudity. Acting, staging and Welsh accents are often clumsy, too much time is wasted in soft core, and the ending is terrible - the story just ends! So... a mixed bag.

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)

Gorgeous, entertaining,

[8/10 · 23 April 2021]

This is my second favourite mummy film - just after Hammer's own 1959 classic - but for the most part it plays like a period drama/mystery. Gorgeous, richly atmospheric London, misty and oh so lushly coloured, is the real star of the film. There's also some good supporting performances - George Pastell is especially good as dignified and long- suffering Bey - but the hero is worse than a bull in china shop. Heroine (Jeanne Roland, dubbed with verrry Frrrench accent ) is at least decorative. When she starts to eye Terence Morgan's charm offensive, I couldn't care less about "betrayal".

Crimson Peak (2015)

Hampered by ugliness of modern cinema

[6/10 · 29 March 2021]

Acting is good - Tom Hiddleston and especially Jessica Chastain are excellent. Even Mia Wasikovska is OK. There's a lot of love to the Gothic genre. Guillermo del Toro was partly inspired by the vintage Hammer and Mario Bava - autumn leaves raining from the ceiling, for example, is borrowed from the classic Hammer.

Unfortunately, the lush vintage colour and even traditional film stock are replaced by ugly digital cinematography, and a Gothic mansion is just ugly dump. Some of the costumes show much needed imagination and beauty.

Plot like this would need much better visuals to carry it.

I hate to give this film a meagre 6, when it is already trashed by audiences with no even passing interest for Gothic genre. But it doesn't really work.

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)

Great silly fun

[8/10 · 25 March 2021]

This Abbot and Costello vehicle seems to be set in some kind of black and white theme park for the Universal Monsters! There's the misty studio streets, accompanied with the classic soundtrack of the Big Ben chimes and a fog horn; theatre where the suffragette heroine sings and dances, while stalked by the smitten villain; a wax museum with Dracula and Frankenstein's monster; Hyde(s) with some werewolf-like tendencies... It's quickly paced, childish and lot of fun!