Blog by the Cemetery

Mario Bava (1914-1980)

2006-04-25T00:40:00.000+01:00

I´m reviving this thing.
Today is a portuguese national holiday, but I would like to take the chance to pay tribute to Mario Bava, since it has been 26 years since the disapearance of one of the greteast italian masters.

post halloween blues

2005-11-02T12:12:00.000Z

Hope everybody had a nice Halloween. Let´s see what´s up...
A project about remaking Night of the Living Dead in 3-D, which sounds remotely interesting. check the official site .
My new found thing with silent films led me to this great site about everything related with the silent era (including dvd releases). (thanks to the sidebar of Cinematógrafo )
Also, Bloody-Disgusting is gonna make us horror geeks spend money.

Sunrise - A Song of Two Humans (1927)

2005-10-30T21:30:00.000Z

I recently had a chance to see this silent-era classic film by F.W. Murnau on the big screen and I was amazed by it´s stunning quality. The direction of this film is almost perfect and I loved the fact that the story (even if the plot is a bit simple: the classic love triangle) is mainly told through visuals.
Murnau is able to create every kind of emotion during the picture: drama, comedy, joy, fear... And you definitly feel that words, and sound for that matter, are almost unnecessary.
The acting is almost flawless. George O´ Brien manages to transfigure himself throughout the story and Janet Gaynor (who looks a lot like Drew Barrymore) also puts on a very strong performance.
For a lot of reasons Nosferatu (1922) is my favorite Murnau film. But this amazing "song of two humans" left me dazzled by it´s beautiful and "ahead of it´s time" visuals.
Highly recomended if you are into silent films or if you plan to start checking them out.

butchered classic?

2005-10-28T18:05:00.000+01:00

ouch

I remember halloween

2005-10-01T20:47:00.000+01:00

It´s October, the coolest month of the year. So let´s kick it off nicely...

Twitch has posted some amazing stuff the last few days, including the trailer for the new Takeshi Kitano film Takeshis and a review for the R1 release of Sex & Fury. Thanks to them for all the great asian cinema info.

I found another great site about italian movie posters. (the link directs you to the italian section of the site, which is the one that interested me the most, but as you will see there are other good sections as well)

Now, for a bit of comedy, check out this trailer of one of the scariest (or not) horror movies of all time.

revival post

2005-09-27T22:20:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone... the blog lives!!! even if sometimes it lurks in small comas.
Well, if things haven´t been to heavy on news, one has to focus on the past. A nice dvd recomendation, and probably one of the coolest (definitly my favorite) dracula films of all time: Dracula has Risen From the Grave. Hammer Studios has usually, deliver and the great Christopher Lee never looked better as the good old Count.
There is not really much that I can say about this film, except that it just... works. The creepy sets, the blood, the cinematography, Lee´s brilliant interpretation of Count Dracula... all of this contributes to the great atmosphere of this (and many other Hammer classics). So, for the few of you who haven´t seen it, do yourselves a favour.
Favorite part: the final sequence. That amazing final sequence.

So, what else is new? Oh yeah, the documentary Inside Deep Throat that just hit the theaters in Portugal. Yes, it shows fellatio. And no, it is not the best documentary I ever seen. But still, I thought it gave a pretty nice image of an era, and it should be pretty interesting for anyone interested in some cultural aspects of the 70´s. I also think the film made a nice point on the effect of sexuality in the 70´s society and how some of those issue still stands up (no pun intended) to this day. The editing of the old footage is also well achieved.

That´s all for now and I hope I´m not another two weeks without updating.

QT, 80´s horror and movie posters

2005-09-13T12:46:00.000+01:00

this should be good if you are a Tarantino and horror fan. QT hosts an 80´s horror marathon.
and, if, like me, you love movie posters, this is for you. published by Bello Publico . a great site with tons of b-movie posters. (thanks to Cinematógrafo )
Also in movie posters, you have this amazing german blog (that has been on my sidebar for a few days) completly dedicated to the subject. Enjoy.

Trailer-o-Rama

2005-09-10T20:15:00.000+01:00

The theatrical trailer for Saw II has been posted ( thanks to Horror Channel )
Also, check out this awarded trailer for Worst Case Scenario, and here for the australian Wolf Creek (thanks to friend and fellow blogger Sotokai).

Land of the Dead (2005)

2005-09-07T11:59:00.000+01:00

Decisions, decisions… I saw this film five days ago and I still don’t know what to make of it. So, let’s just start from the beginning… this film, obviously, carries a lot of baggage. I mean, it’s a zombie movie… by Romero… the undisputed Master of zombies.
Was it impossible for this fourth chapter to the Dead series to rise to expectations? Yes, it was…

Romero always liked to experience with the concept of zombies and make his films almost a fictional documentary of the chaotic situation that would be an invasion of the living dead. This time, the zombies have taken the earth a long, long time ago, causing the living to be the minority and are forced to live in colonies. Here we find the first political commentary in the film (something that was always present in the series) because the people who live in the colonies are divided between the rich and the poor. All in the search for survival from the undead menace.
We also see that the zombies are getting smarter (as they were on Day of the Dead), mainly through Big Daddy. You know… the one from the posters.

There is one thing I can´t let pass in this movie: the cheesy dialogue. I felt like I was watching Missing in Action or something and if I heard another “let´s lock and load” I would snap.
However, there are a lot of good things in this film. The zombies are great (although, I think the character of Big Daddy could have used some more work), and Romero treats them like nobody. Especially, in a time when everyone thinks zombies should run.

Does it rise to expectations? Of course not, but only because they were so high… However, when you see it for what it is, you probably find a pretty fun zombie movie.

Links for the whole family

2005-08-26T11:15:00.000+01:00

Ain´t it Cool has posted this interview with Fernando Meireles, about his upcoming project The Constant Gardner. Worth checking out...

And now... zombies. Lots of zombies. Info and photos on Boy Eats Girl over here and the trailer to The South Will Rise Again over here (thanks to o zombie )

Walk the Line

2005-08-25T12:17:00.000+01:00

twitch has posted a review of this film about the life of Johnny Cash.
The trailer also looks pretty neat. I´m very curious about this.

best. picture. ever.

2005-08-23T19:18:00.000+01:00

I seem to be watching a lot of spaghetti westerns recently (some of them I will review here, eventually). until there here is this amazing photo of Clint Eastwood.

Tim Burton pretty much rules

2005-08-21T11:31:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone. Back from one of the coolest summer festivals in portugal (PAREDES DE COURA?!?), but didn´t got there before watching Tim Burton´s new flick Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I thought, was pretty good.

On the subject of Burton, check
out the trailer for his upcoming animation Corpse Bride.

Keep enjoying your summer.

on holidays

2005-08-15T11:57:00.000+01:00

as you can see, the blog has been stopped, and so it will be for another week. have a nice summer.

John Carpenter´s Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

2005-07-29T15:36:00.000+01:00

I love films which take place on small/isolated places, where it is created a very tense situation. That makes me a fan of films like Romero´s Dead Triology, Polansky´s Death and the Maiden, The Telephone (the first part of Bava´s horror anthology Black Sabbath) and... John Carpenter´s Assault on Precinct 13.

The film takes place in a semi-abandoned police station, where the cops on guard and some death row convicts have to unite against a gang that has taken the place under siege.

This is one of Carpenter´s earlier films, and maybe the rawest. You can definitly see the Carpenter trademarks here: the slow-paced scenes, the score, the use of light (or lack of it)... it is all here.
The plot is extremily simple, but also efective and I certanitly felt very interested as it unfolded. This is for most part because the caracters are well introduced and well constructed. High rates for Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) which can be considered as an early sketch for Snake Plissken, and Leigh, which is supremly interperted by Laurie Zimmer.
This takes me to my favorite aspect in the film: atmosphere. the very tense situation (ex: the gang using silenced rifles in the dark) is extremly well phtographed with the use of very dark colors. The main set (the police station) fits the film very well.
The score is typical Carpenter (so you can guess I like it), composed mainly by synths, very high-pintched in the moments of the story when the adrenaline flows faster, opposing to the slower moments where it is mainly composed by bass lines.

Most memorable scenes: the shooting of the little girl can be shocking and probably wouldn´t make it in modern hollywood films.
Then you have the whole action packed last 45 minutes.

the curse of the remakes

2005-07-29T00:12:00.000+01:00

some bad news about remakes:

creature from the black lagoon

suspiria

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

phantasm box set news

2005-07-28T15:32:00.000+01:00

how cool is this? check out the pics for the upcoming anchor bay uk release of the phantasm box-set
here

Sonny Chiba - The Street Fighter box-set

2005-07-27T21:18:00.000+01:00

ok, so this was released in january 2005 but only now did I found it. idiot me.
martial-arts extraordinaire sonny chiba stars in these three entries to the Street Fighter series. just for the first one alone (The Street Fighter) this is a great purchase for any of you who like hyper-violent kung-fu movies. we get to see chiba as takuma tsurugi, which is one of the coolest badasses in the history of kung-fu cinema.
the set also includes Return of the Street Fighter and The Street Fighter Last Revenge (my second favorite in the series).
as for the dvds, don´t expect extras, except for the trailers of all three films and some more trailers of other titles from optimum releasing. the image transfer is a bit grainy here and there, but still not bad.
definitly worth buying if you find it and like this type of films.

b-movie archive

2005-07-27T21:06:00.000+01:00

as most of you might have seen already, internet archive has a wide selection of b-movies that a lot of you may find interesting. classics like the Giant Gila Monster, Plan 9 From Outer Space or Night of the Living Dead can now be dowloaded legally and for free.
here, you can find the horror seleccion from the site:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject:%22horror%22

Lovecraft

2005-07-13T00:51:00.000+01:00

hello back and sorry for the lack of updates in the last couple of weeks.
a nice link for those of you who can´t afford, or simply don´t want to purchase H.P. Lovecraft´s works. a nice link here: http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/index.html
enjoy

(some dvd reviews in the next few days)

Rue Morgue Radio

2005-06-24T00:06:00.000+01:00

as some of you might know, LAND OF THE DEAD, premieres tomorrow in theaters in america (us europeans have to wait, BLIMEY!!!)...
anyways, check out Rue Morgue´s radio show this week and listen to an interview with the man, George A. Romero, and a review to the film...
the link is on your right, so piss off, cause I´m not typing it...

The Fog (2005)

2005-06-18T13:04:00.000+01:00

And the next remake is....The Fog. According to... well, every movie site in the internet, british director Rupert Wainwright (Stigmata) has already started shooting his version of the classic 1980 John Carpenter film. Carpenter is actually a producer in this film, which, according to himself means he will get payed a lot of money to see one of his old films remade.
Cast will include actors like Tom Welling and Maggie Grace.

Lucio Fulci

2005-06-17T19:38:00.000+01:00

and today we celebrate the birthday of the late Lucio Fulci (1927 - 1996). If you don´t have a clue who I am talking about, Fulci was a film director, responsible for horror masterpieces such as "Zombie", "The Gates of Hell", "The Beyond" and "The House by the Cemetery". These films, known by their graphic content, granted Mr. Fulci the nickname of "The Godfather of Gore".

Iron Maiden

2005-06-17T19:30:00.000+01:00

still on top of the heavy metal buisness...
SCREAM FOR ME LISBON!!!

jackson walks

2005-06-14T00:52:00.000+01:00

children, lay low...

and for those of your who don´t like sport...

2005-06-12T20:29:00.000+01:00

...there is sport

...and now there is sport

2005-06-12T12:48:00.000+01:00

And congratulations for Real Betis for winning the spanish Copa Del Rey for the second time in the history of the club.
Betis 2 - 1 Osasuna

Sin City (2005)

2005-06-12T12:08:00.000+01:00

So, do we really need another stylish action movie based on a comic book? if it is this good we really do... Sin City is one of the best films coming out to theather in the last few years... it is brilliantly shot,mostly in black and white (which creates a very dark atmosphere to the film, very similiar to the original comics). There is a lot of CGI effects but these actually make the shots look good instead of making the film look like a video game.
To top this (shock of the shocks) the cast is actually good and does a really amazing job. Especially Bruce Willis, Benicio del Toro and the latest hollywood cuttie Jessica Alba (well, at least this one can act).
One think that helped was the fact that the script was written by Frank Miller himself, the author of the original comics, a man who understands the Sin City world better than anyone. So you take that, and add the incisive and technical style of directing by Robert Rodriguez, and you have yourself one hell of a movie.
If you were unaware of the comic books and liked the film, they are also highly recomended.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/

Spaced (TV-Series 1999-2001)

2005-06-12T00:29:00.000+01:00

so, how about opening up with a little dvd recomendation? Spaced is just one of the many brilliant comedies that came out of britain.
Tim (Simon Pegg) is a low-life who works in a comic-book shop and Daisy (Jessica Stevenson) is a lazy journalist wanna-be... These are forced to divide an apartment and the result of two people that are so different living together has moments of pure gold.
Expect great situation comedy, with beautifully shot references to many great films like Reservoir Dogs, The Shinning, Star Wars, Evil Dead, etc... If you saw Shaun of the Dead and liked it, then this is for you
Note the two great caracters that are Brian and Mike...

As for the best dvd release of the series: try the 3 disc collectors´s edition available at Amazon.co.uk

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187664/

and I´m out...

the gut

2005-06-12T00:09:00.000+01:00

hello and welcome to this thing. although I´m portuguese I shall be writing in english just because it as a wider range (not because it looks cooler, cof cof)...
so, this is supposed to be just a place to write some stuff, that you may find interesting about simple things that mark me in a way or another...
enjoy and come back
the reaper