Goldbeater

Quatermass is back, and he’s at the heart of the storyline this time. Once again, gruesome slimy aliens threaten to invade our planet (and look equally realistic). Here, however, they are bigger, more aggressive and closer to ruling the world. Bernard Quatermass becomes an action figure, and the whole film leads to a relatively explosive ending. For me, it’s a tad better than the first part.

A really chilling experience. The elegance of how Georgie manages to insinuate himself into the household of the unsuspecting family is delightful. And to follow where his efforts are leading to makes you hold your breath. Twisted Nerve is a British horror film which went almost unnoticed in our country (contrary to its notoriously famous and ingenious theme by Bernard Herrmann) and would definitely deserve more attention!

Inferno really has captivating visuals, and some scenes are so ‘beautiful’ they strongly imprint the viewer’s memory. The problem lies in the non-action. Here, a simple theme extends across several episodes, in which the characters are getting slaughtered throughout long and tortuous sequences. But the storyline doesn’t go anywhere. Compared to its predecessor, Inferno also lags behind in terms of actor performance and music. Still, it’s definitely worth seeing.

A fantastic and markedly militant allegory of the Cold War which, for some, may be excessively literal at times. Invaders from Mars is at a very neat technological level (imaginative and colourful stage set combined with brilliant camera work by John F. Seitz), but the alien design is plain funny – especially when they run. Otherwise, it’s a rather chilling flick, and, if seen by a child, an outright horror movie. One big regret: that the creators chose a fairytaly-safe way to end the story.

Naturally, The Long Riders are brought out by a unique cast – the James brothers are played by the authentic brothers James and Stacy Keach, the Younger clan, in turn, by Robert, Keith and David Carradine, then we have the Miller brothers with Randy and Dennis Quaid and, finally, the brothers Ford by Nicholas and Christopher Guest. This is such a realistic set! Apart from that, it’s a relatively conventional western with a bunch of rather tough scenes. Nothing to complain about.

At first sight, a relatively naive show – the only surviving astronaut from a space mission comes back with a mysterious infection, but he is not quarantined or monitored in any way, everyone touches him with bare hands and without gloves, and no one seems concerned about any potential threat. Beyond that, though, the film offers a somewhat realistic and uncomfortable character transformation into a space snail of sorts, which is, for the time of its release, quite a feat. Val Guest manages to coach drive the film to such heights that despite being naive at times, The Quatermass Xperiment avoids falling into stupidity. One of the most memorable Hammer films for sure.

At a time when our cinema offer, within the realm of Czech films, has reached a straight dead and shameful level, here’s what we get on Czech TV. Keep it up! I’m now going to drink on that.

If Captain America was the first avenger, then Black Panther is the first avenger without a pinch of charisma.

Weak, very weak. The film practically just feeds on the successful preceding part of the Dracula series. David Peel handles the villain’s role quite well and makes for a good opponent to Van Helsing, played by Peter Cushing. Nevertheless, the final battle somehow ends up before it even starts, seemingly vanishing into thin air. Too bad.

A simple sci-fi horror movie with a down-to-earth screenplay which, therefore, doesn’t slip into utter foolishness and does not offend the viewer. It takes time before the title character appears and, when she does, she doesn’t impress with her appearance, but the film has a soul, the recycled music by Fred Katz is pleasant and, in the end, the general feeling makes up for the low expectation.