Talk About Movies: Part 4

That’s always been my opinion of A Serbian Film as well. I found Martyrs fascinating more than disturbing but Salo made me actually throw up. And I watched that one during the pandemic just to cross it off of the list. Irreversible is probably my pick for what got to me the most. And Enter The Void is probably what turned me off from seeking out those kind of films at all. I’ll watch some that are strongly recommended but I tend to stay from most of them now. I feel like I’ve seen all of the main ones you’re supposed to see. If something new comes out that blows minds, I’ll probably check it out just because of how rare it is to surprise me anymore

Do you just mean they don't look like real apes? Or you really can't get it out of your head that they are CGI? They aren't really supposed to look like modern apes.

I enjoy all iterations of Planet Of The Apes, even though they obviously aren't real. But I have had big problems with what I found to be the very fake looking CGI in movies from 20 years or so ago. One in particular was the Lord Of The Rings movies, which everyone else seemed to love. I had many problems with them, but a big one was that all the CGI characters looked fake, especially in the way they moved. The modern CGI is so much better, especially in the ape films where they film human actors then feed that into the computer.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Washed up piano player Warren Oates traverses through Mexico to deliver the fly-covered head of a dead gigolo who impregnated the daughter of a vengeful kingpin in this sweaty and slightly surreal thriller. This is Peckinpah at his sleaziest and I gotta say no decade does grittiness quite like those bad old 70s.

Quest for Fire (1981)
Everett McGill and Ron Perlman's Neanderthal tribe go on an odyssey across the neolithic landscape in their quest for a fire source in this absorbing film from the director of The Name of the Rose. Also has an unrecognisable Rae Dawn Chong, who I had quite the crush on as a kid.

The Rape Squad aka Act of Vengeance (1974)
Earnest feminist exploitationer in which a group of rape victims form The Rape Squad and cruise about in a scooby doo style Mystery Machine van, to mete out justice to various pimps, misogynists and other low lives, all the while hunting down their serial rapist, a really vile pos who not only makes his victims say "Thank you for choosing me, Mr Rapist", he also makes them sing Jingle Bells, 😵 when he's not strolling around in broad daylight in orange overalls and a hockey mask.
Has some homophobia and priceless dialogue too, such as "I've rung more bells than a cathethral and I'm about to ring yours!" and a sleazy male heckler of a woman putting up anti rape flyers who exclaims "Stop rape?! But that's my favourite sport!".
This one won't be getting the remake treatment any time soon.

Yeah Henry is a good one and has aged very well, proof positive that you can have a low budget and still make a very effective horror film. I was also a teen when I saw Christiane F, you should check out Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) by the same director if you haven't seen yet, it's also pretty bleak but really quite good, with a decent cast too.
I've heard his Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008) is also great, but haven't seen it yet.

I just googled Quest for Fire and after seeing the first image of Perlman that popped up I'm sold. Will be watching.

I gotta say I thought A Serbian Film was great and one of the few extreme horrors which lived up to its hype. Surprisingly good production values too.

A Serbian Film, Salo, Irreversible and Cannibal Holocaust were all legit disturbing for me. I thought Sweet Movie was crap and didn't find the likes of Hostel, Teeth or The Woman disturbing at all.

It's on youtube and worth checking out, be interested in your thoughts on it whenever you get to see it,. 😉

This is also Hubert Selby Jr, my favorite novel of his.

I haven't read it but isn't it from the 60s? If the film is anything to go by, the novel must have been quite a shocker for its time.

Originally published in three pieces in the late 50s, early 60s. Yeah, there were some obscenity trials about it and the book was banned in Italy. I’d recommend anyone check it out just to sample Selby Jr’s prose, his writing style is raw and unique. He’s more refined in Requiem for a Dream, but still brutal as hell.

The CGI apes in the modern day Planet of the Apes series looks way more real than that trash they had in the original.

Better story and acting too.

I feel obligated to point out that, over in P&S, that is proof that "they" have genetically modified apes, and are creating an army of them to take over.

I really don't understand why anyone would ever watch saló or defend it's artistic merit it's just nonsense and pure fantasy porn I don't buy the social commentary BS at all and I'm the last one to suggest censoring the arts.

I have no problem with someone being allowed to make that movie I just don't get why anyone would ever want to watch it and I really don't buy for a second that the writer/director isn't super ****ed up and sick in the head.

I do understand it's based on 120 days of sodom but guess what the Marquis was also just absolutely sick and twisted and got off on all that sick **** he wasn't making some deep commentary on french society he was a perverted ******* who got his rocks off sexually abusing everyone he could his entire life and 120 days of sodom wasn't some amazing artistic inspiration it was just all the sick **** he wished he could do he was literally writing his own porn.

and I'm the furthest person from some religious fanatic screaming about pornography I don't care at all that he wrote it but if you think it was some deep social satire or whatever you just haven't read at all about who he actually was and his life.

the pretentiousness in academia and art world can be hilarious and 100% the critics who gave de sade and his writings acclaim and serious analysis many years after his death were absolutely just as sick and twisted and absolutely got off on that **** and so wanted it to be taken seriously.

trying to read some serious critique of 120 of sodom and it's importance is actually really hilarious.

again I'm not some prude who's offended and wants to ban any of this stuff I have no problem with ppl being sick and twisted just don't try and pretend there is some deeper meaning to your ****ed up porn.

oh ya what I do have a problem with is all the horrific pedophile **** that's indefensible and I don't know how anyone can live with knowing a bunch of pedos are getting off on horrendously ****ed up depictions of sexual assault against kids **** all you and hope you burn in a grease fire. slowly.

+1 to all the praise given here to the lovely understated film Perfect Days.

Pretty sure I agree with all of this and it’s the only movie I genuinely regret watching. I knew it was “on the list” but I had no idea it would go as far it did. I’m not a smart dude so I don’t know **** about the source material. I wouldn’t have bothered if I knew anything about it at all. At least I’d like to think so….. lol

I can't say I liked it, but I think Salo is an important film. Actually, I hated it. Still think it's important.

I saw it a long time ago and can't remember it too well. I was pretty unimpressed though not outraged and found it quite dull.

Been going through a long list of new stuff and rewatches. Did Little Miss Sunshine last night, and forgot how enjoyable it was. The casting was fantastic yet having said that, it was even better than the sum of all its parts. Great movie.

Never saw it...no interest in seeing it

That's harsh, man. She's just a kid.

hey, if she had quit eating so much ice cream, she coulda won

Little Miss Sunshine is great

I didnt find Salo (1975) "disturbing" since it seemed so unreal. It had little or no rationale. It was hard to imagine why something like that could be happening.

Requiem for a Dream (2000) ,I think, is a great film. If you've ever been around someone with an addiction disorder who ruined their life you know the film is realistic and tragic. Back before 2000, our society didn't have much understanding of how to deal with substance abuse , not that we are great at it now.

If people are interested, there are other very "disturbing" films around that people don't mention much. I unearthed some out of curiousity over the years. For example,
Liberté (2019)
The Innocents (2021)

Those kinds of film make me appericate a silly, light, nonsensical comedic film like Unfrosted (2024).