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Reviews
Judex (1963)
"Judex" is so much more than an adventure/mystery film!
What a strange and wonderful film this is. If you find yourself bored beyond belief during the early moments, hang in there for about 13 or 14 minutes and your patience will be amply rewarded. From that point on, I caught myself saying "Wow!", over and over again! Some of the imagery is just fantastic. It reminded me in places of some of the Dr. Mabuse films from the 60s. I have a sub-titled version and the story was very easy to follow.
It is not the greatest film ever made, but "Judex" has become a permanent part of my collection, because it is so different and quite enjoyable. I got my copy from Sinister Cinema and their print is not as pristine as it could be, but it is certainly better than good.
Las garras de Lorelei (1973)
Ossorio does a great job again!
I'd like to start by saying that the print available from Sinister Cinema is in great shape and is in widescreen. The color is very vibrant and most of the night scenes are easy to see. I cannot imagine there ever being a better print than this. It does not have the flashing red screen warnings that are on some of the other releases of the film. That was certainly a plus, for me.
The Loreley's Grasp is quite dreamlike, as are so many Euro horror films, from the time period. I enjoyed it very much, for its excesses and its simplicities. A little of the continuity is lost in the dubbing to English, but the viewer will totally understand what is happening, through the entire film. It is quite violent and should not be seen by younger viewers, without an adult first checking it out.
I purchased my copy from Sinister Cinema, via Amazon. The price was $8.99 and, after viewing, I would have been happy to pay more. If you are the kind of collector who likes to make his own covers for releases like this, be prepared to have some trouble finding any decent posters or lobby cards from the film. They are out there, but it sure takes a bit of a search.
This is the only film by Ossorio that I have seen, besides the Blind Dead series. I love the Blind Dead films (number 2 less than the others) and I loved The Loreley's Grasp. I will be checking out some more of Ossorio's titles, in the future.
Latin Quarter (1945)
Ending must have been a surprise in the 40s!
Spoiler Alert!! This is a strange little movie, that I really couldn't recommend to everyone. It is very slow moving, even for 1940s' British cinema. Sinister Cinema states that this is "Highly Recommended" and this is the first of their highly recommended films that I didn't feel the same way about. It is indeed creepy in some places, but you have to wade through a lot of tedious moments to get to those creepy scenes.
But ... most importantly ... If you have seen Roger Corman's "Bucket Of Blood", there will be no real surprise as to what has happened to the sculptor's wife. I knew what happened, as soon as she disappeared. The cinematographer went to great lengths to keep the viewer from remembering something that was in the sculptor's studio. I felt that it was really cheating the viewer, because there was little chance of figuring out what happened, if one rarely got to see the entire room.
I am a movie collector and picked up this title under the name of "Frenzy", from Sinister Cinema, by way of Amazon. I paid $8.99 for the title and would be a lot happier, now, with the film, if I had paid less than half of that. There is really no reason for me to keep it and I will trade it away.