Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In) (2008)

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This is not a horror movie. It is not a vampire movie. At least, neither of those are the defining words I'd use to describe the essence of the film. It's about the mess of adolescence. It's an against-the-odds love story. It's about surviving in this world, doing what must be done. All classic, timeless templates, only in this instance told against a unique backdrop. See, then maybe it's a vampire film, or a horror film.
It is slow, sad, dark, and cold, punctuated by both harshness and happiness, the dynamics of a haunting melody. It is blurry and distant, until Eli and Oskar, the two main characters, come together. Their interactions are close and intimate.
The performances of the two main kids are remarkable, fully consumed by not only their roles, but by the world created in the film. Especially Lina Leandersson, who plays Eli (the vampire), truly looks far older than her years.
The Dalai Lama once talked about every person being the center of his or her respective universe, and we get that in Oskar and Eli's world. From their prospective, together they create one universe, trying to omit the extraneous, not caring to question each other beyond traditional childish things. And that's really what it comes down to with this film.
Any complaints I may have had were rendered negligible by the end. I mean that in two ways: by the end of the film, I no longer cared about those parts; and by the way the film ended, I no longer cared about those parts. (Possible SPOILER) The finale is truly the most virtuosic part about the film, we finally get to see Oskar and Eli trim all the excess from their universe.

All in all, it's a truly wonderful film; one of the very best of 2008.

Highly, highly recommended to everyone here I usually recommend movies to (i.e. V, Alky, NE, Flayed, Return, Des), and to also everyone else.

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

http://www.firstshowing.net/img/Syne...-cannes-03.jpg

This is fiction at its most elegant.
Very, very highly recommended.

Just caught this last night. Amazing. One of the most legitimately romantic movies I've ever seen. Gory, beautiful, just all around brilliant.

V - I just noticed the indexed list you made in the first post - Thanks!

...

I need to make an official recommendation for...

The Signal (2007)

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The Signal was by far one of the best movies of 2007. The concept is simple but effective: A mysterious signal is emitted over all television and radio waves which causes everyone to become violent, paranoid, murderous, and insane. Everyone is a threat.

Essentially, it's widespread insanity; with a delightfully absurd touch.

The first third of the movie is quite possibly some of the most gritty, realistic, and horrifying pieces of horror that I have ever seen. The direction is raw, honest, and brutal and the acting power of these little-knowns is believable and incredibly well-done. The second third of the movie takes a turn to the dark, black comedy and does so with brilliant transitions and comic timing of the crew.

Funny, horrifying, gripping, and satisfying. This is a brilliant, bloody horror film that everyone has to see.

Wanted to add a couple that I've pimped endlessly around here already...just wanted to add 'em here officially:

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Dark Heritage - The Final Descendant

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My review from Unsung Top 100: From a critical point of view, this really isn’t a great movie by any stretch of the imagination. The actors are some of the worst that I have ever witnessed; the script is just as bad, and the budget makes Evil Dead look like the new King Kong.

“If it’s so bad, why do you like it so much?” you’re asking. Well despite its flaws, Dark Heritage has a sort of magic to it that would be the envy of even Ed Wood.

The story, based loosely on Lovecraft’s “Lurking Fear”, centers around a newspaper reporter named Clint Harrison and his quest to solve a strain of mysterious, brutal murders. The mystery leads him and his co-workers to an abandoned mansion deep in the woods…a mansion with a terrible, violent past and a shocking secret.

Even though he might be the only person involved that knows anything about filmmaking, the director is actually fairly competent (David McCormick, who amusingly enough was also an editor on the recent Wallace & Gromit film). If nothing else he creates some great atmosphere in many of the scenes, especially the tunnel sequences and the grisly spectacle near the end. Furthermore, the sepia toned dream sequence mid-film is one of the most memorable dream sequences since Hitchcock’s Vertigo.

Go into this movie with an open mind. By the typical definitions it might not be great filmmaking, but I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.

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Dungeon of Harrow

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My review from Unsung Top 100: “How many times have I stood before this symbol of my family's greatness? And now this crest and I are dying together. In another time and another place, I might have brought honor and glory to the Fallon family, but instead I shall leave a legacy of decay and unspeakable horror.”

Just try and tell me that that isn’t one heck of an awesome way to start a horror movie. A little overdramatic perhaps, but in a film like Dungeon of Harrow you should never expect anything less.

At first the plot is really nothing new or exciting, but it soon progresses into incredibly bizarre and original territory. The lone survivors of a shipwreck, the son of a wealthy Englishman and the captain of his ship find themselves on the Isle de Sade, home to a more-than-slightly off his rocker Count. They are found and welcomed into his castle, but soon discover that not everything is as it seems. To reveal more would be to spoil the plot, but suffice to say I bet you can’t guess where it’s going to go from here.

The actors are all deliciously over the top, especially William McNulty in the role of the Count. His hallucination scene near the first really sets the tone for the rest of the film: Strange, whacked out and a whole heaping load of fun. Take one spoonful of one of Roger Corman’s Poe movies, remove most of the budget and a lot of the talent involved, add a generous pinch of LSD for good measure and voila! Dungeon of Harrow, ready to serve. Best consumed with an open mind.

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Two of my all-time favourites. Just fun, cheesy horror - nothing fancy, but they make for a damn good viewing.

I'll second this one. I think I watched on your recommendation, actually, Chrono. It really caught me off guard with them jumping from style to style, but they pull it off. Definitely a true entertainer.

and

I must see this. Hearing so much about it from you has me super-curious.

EDIT: Number 1 on my Netflix queue now.

Awesome! :D

Enjoy it man - just don't expect high art. Sit back with a couple cold beers and hang on for the ride.

Okay, I'd like to preface this:

If you don't have a sense of humor and/or are easily offended, don't watch this film.

WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)

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Dušan Makavejev's darkly humorous film is a fanciful, bizarre collage of documentary footage, free-form fiction, found footage, narration, and musical numbers.
Starting off as a mocking, satiric (but real) documentary about controversial psychiatrist/philosopher Wilhelm Reich, the film begins to cross over into a fictional story about a young Yugoslavian revolutionary/Reich-follower's seduction of a Russian figure skater. Throughout the film, he also juxtaposes scenes from a Stalinist propaganda film, shots of performance artist Tuli Kupferberg in a solider's uniform stalking New Yorkers on the street, "plaster casting", transsexual monologues, and more. It sounds silly and outrageous, and it absolutely is, but it works. By making grotesque those things which keep us so serious (communism in Russia, sexual paradigm in America and human sexuality in general, psychology), Makavejev seems to hope for a better sense of humor about those things, important self-realization, and a greater flexibility of love and mind and body (and hopefully in this, a cure for what ails humanity). It is offensive, bold, funny, fascinating, and the work of a true anti-authoritarian.
The final result is truly a wonder.

A solid recommendation for, um...well, I'm not sure I could say.
Take a chance on it, I guess.

Alot of good recs, Ive seen a number of films based solely on whats been posted here. Thought Id throw my hat in the ring with a couple of my favourites not already listed.

Frailty (2001)
Bill Paxton stars and directs in a brilliant horror/thriller about 'The Gods Hand' Killer

Kolobos (1999)
An underrarted film, not a masterpiece by any stretch but a quality little headwrecker

Not horror, but Sci Fi

Silent Running (1972)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

The Good Life

http://www.popentertainment.com/goodlife.jpg

I thought this one was pretty cool and figured a few of you on here might dig it.
I hadn't heard much about it but it did quite well at a few festivals.

You can read my review here: http://dvdholocaust.com/review.php?id=389

Thank you SO much for this recommendation. Watched it last night on Netflix Instant on your word... And it was fantastic.

Starts off INCREDIBLY strong, definitely nodding to Lynch (I said to my boyfriend, "This is like Lynch Light... with humor). Part 2 was a little slow (but just could have used some editing), but the end was perfect.

If you're looking for an indie flick with a touch of the existential absurdity (that is honestly not pretentious at all), DEFINITELY watch this one.

4/5.

Hey - glad you liked it!

More people should check this one out...really well done little flick.

I recommend the recently IFC-distributed Home Movie (2008) Another fantastic handycam horror, a pastiche of shot-on-video "home movies" that weave an eerie story modeled on the notion that "the less you show the better."

Absolutely chilling. It falls apart a bit in the end (though the last shot is haunting), but fantastic nonetheless.

Agreed- Chrono, myself & Despare are all fans of this film.

49th Parallel (1941)

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My review for the film is in the Last Seen Movie thread. Probably a lot of you are pretty familiar with the work of Powell & Pressburger- here is one of their more underrated films. For those of you who have never seen a P&P film, why not start with this one?

I saw this recently. Very cool film. The scenes in the Hutterite community are powerful. The extras in the scene where the Nazi makes his speech to the farmers were played by actual German expatriots. Amazing melding of reality and reel-ity.

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

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It's been awhile since I last watched this one in full, but I just watched the last 20 minutes or so on Turner Classic Movies and was immediately refreshed on just how incredible this film is.

Anyone that considers themselves a fan of gangster flicks - if you haven't seen this already, do so immediately. Cagney gives one of his very best performances, and Bogart shows us his sleazy side in an atypical role.

A truly classic crime drama, deftly directed by Michael Curtiz, who manages to create some great tension throughout. One of the more overlooked classics that more people really should see. The ending alone is one of the most powerful scenes of the 1930's.

Always looked at that one but never picked it up. Have to give it a spin when I'm on a classic movie buzz.

Trzecia czesc nocy (The Third Part of the Night) (1971)

http://www.secondrundvd.com/images/m...nels/tpotn.jpg

It starts out with a recitation from the book of Revelation. The end-times. Set in Poland during WWII, for its characters, these are the end-times. After a young Polish man loses his wife, mother, and son to German soldiers, he joins an underground rebellion group. Through this, he happens to meet a woman that looks exactly like his wife, and a strange, (as much as I hate this word, it's appropriate here->) Kafkaesque journey through life in war-torn Poland unravels onscreen. Writer/director Andrzej Zulawski (Possession, 1981) bases key points on the story of his father, and tells his story with a subversive, gritty touch, and it plays out like a fevered dream, shifting through reality, flashbacks, and visions.

Excellent, politically-charged, apocalyptic cinema.

ANVIL! The Story Of Anvil

Great documentary somewhat in the vein of American Movie. A very entertaining and moving watch of the Canadian metal band's last shot at fame. A great story of determination against adversity showing the downside of trying to make it big in the music industry. "METALLLL ON METALLLL!!!!!!!!" :cool:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Anvil_ver2.jpg

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1157605/

I remember watching a trailer for that some time ago, I've been meaning to check it out.

You should dude it's well worth your time. I was expecting some real life Spinal Tap kinda deal but it was totally different and I ended up really emphasizing with them and thought it was pretty accurate at showing what's its like being in a band: playing to empty rooms not making any money...

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3 stories of shattered dreams and broken hearts carefully intertwined to make this amazing film. really, give this one a watch, you will not be disappointed. (warning - this flick has some pretty brutal dog fighting scenes)

whereabouts did you see it, its not on dvd yet is it?

Got sent a copy. I think it came out on DVD last month or so... well in the States anyway. I'll put it in with the shit I'm sending which should be posted on Monday!

excellent, cant wait. good thing your sending them sooner than later cause I'm leaving NZ to go home July 19.

Yeh I saw you mentioned that and got my shit together ;)

Quite a few good ones in recent times...

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All recommended.
Alky, Return & Fortunato...watch them asap. I want to know what others think of these, especially the latter two.

Hm, I'm very interested now in checking out Knowing. It looked so silly and I haven't really heard much about it, but with a rec from you I'll definitely be queuing it.

Otoshiana (Pitfall) (1962)

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http://cyberpat.com/blog_gifs/pitfall.jpg

"When a miner leaves his employers and treks out with his young son to become a migrant worker, he finds himself moving from one eerie landscape to another, intermittently followed (and photographed) by an enigmatic man in a clean white suit, and eventually coming face to face with his inescapable destiny. Hiroshi Teshigahara’s debut feature and first collaboration with novelist Kobo Abe, Pitfall is many things: a mysterious, unsettling ghost story, a portrait of human alienation, and a compellingly surreal critique of soulless industry, shot in elegant black and white."
-From Criterion.com

A completely unique and deceptively complex work about many, many things that shifts between many, many different styles and moods and (even) genres, all the time feeling completely natural and never forced.

A damn impressive debut film from Hiroshi Teshigahara.

Highly recommended.

Sounds really cool, surely I'll give it a watch as soon as its dvd hits the local store.

I feel the same way...had no intention of watching it - looked like typical, big-budget, by-the-numbers Hollywood sci-fi trash - but with all the praise it's been getting around here I'm starting to get really intrigued. will look into very soon.

Good. I am really looking forward to your thoughts and opinions on it, especially about the ending.

i thought Knowing had some holes but it was nice to see Cage sink his teeth into something he obviously cared about. also the crash effects were mind numbingly realistic.

Outlander was goofy fun. decent effects .. irresistable aliens vs vikings story line ..

the first viking killed by the creature was the canadian i photographed twice ...

Just watched it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I put up a mini-review over in Last Seen Movie.

As for the ending...the religious overtones were a bit heavyhanded for my liking, but otherwise I thought it was brilliant. Not what you'd typically see in this kind of movie at all.

I am really, really glad you liked it, A.

Yes the ending was on the religious-moralistic and spiritual side (as opposed to the scientific feel of the entire flick), and TBH that was one of the aspects which had me slightly worried about the mass appeal of Knowing.

(and seeing how it fared at the BO made me more apprehensive about people appreciating it even more)

But I am happy that you saw beyond it and related with the final climactic ending of the flick. Its slightly tough to see beyond all those questions posed by the ending, and you came through that. But still, it has become one of my favorite flicks of recent times. Thanks for giving it a shot on my rec. :)

The Legend of 1900 (2003)

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Possession (1981)

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It's all gone Pete Tong

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Possession is awesome. I just watched another one of his movies recently, called The Third Part of the Night. It was also pretty awesome.
Seconded, for sure.

Oh yeah, I'd love to hear what you think about it.

:cool: I love andrzej zulawski.

possession is definitely my all-time favorite movie so I always try to get people I know to watch it and they never do. :(