Infofreak

Joined Aug 2000

Australian recluse born in the '60s with an unhealthy interest in the works of Philip K. Dick and Alan Moore.

http://www.philipkdick.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Moore

Infofreak is a prisoner of his CD, comic and book collections, and has watched way too many bad Dennis Hopper movies to be trusted!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000454/

Some movies I dig - Cool Hand Luke, Point Blank, The Maltese Falcon, Videodrome, Vertigo, Shadow Of A Doubt, The Great Silence, The Exterminating Angel, Ms. 45, Blade Runner, Kiss Me Deadly, Hana-bi, Performance, After Hours, Raging Bull, Midnight Cowboy, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul, This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse, The Shooting, The Searchers, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hustler, Frankenstein (1931), Bride Of Frankenstein, Son Of Frankenstein, Easy Rider, Boogie Nights, God Told Me To, Aguirre: The Wrath Of God, Even Dwarfs Started Small, Suicide Club, Peeping Tom, Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia, Repo Man, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Lost Highway, Wild At Heart, The Wild Bunch, Wild In The Streets, The Wild One, Lady Snowblood, M, Natural Born Killers, Blowup, Bedazzled, Out Of The Blue, Q The Winged Serpent, Taxidermia, Black Caesar, The Black Gestapo, Key Largo, The Day Of The Beast, Greetings, Hi,Mom!, The Curse Of Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein, Taxi Driver, Lady Terminator, Les Diabliques, Lips Of Blood, Vampyres, Jacob's Ladder, Death Rides A Horse, The Wolf Man (1941), The Blood Spattered Bride, Pickpocket, Suspiria, Inferno, Rashomon, The House With Laughing Windows, Blind Beast, Dressed To Kill, Phantom Of The Paradise, Cronos, Calvaire, Fingers, The Wages Of Fear, House Of Whipcord, High Sierra, Repulsion, Reservoir Dogs, Straw Dogs, Straight Time, The Seven Samurai, Scarlet Street, Double Indemnity, Dracula (1931), Viva la muerte, Escape From New York, Bug (2006), The Black Pit Of Dr.M, Man Bites Dog, The Big Sleep (1946), The Big Doll House, The Bird Bird Cage, Careful, El Topo, El Mariachi, Kill!, Kill Bill: Vol.1, Kill Bill: Vol.2, Two-Lane Blacktop, Opera, Tenebre, Fitzcarraldo, Mal�fique, The Thing From Another World, The Thing, Assault On Precinct 13 (1976), Three Kings, Enter The Dragon, Emperor Of The North, Le Trou, The Last Detail, The Last House On Dead End Street, The Last Man On Earth, The Last House On The Left, In A Lonely Place, No Country For Old Men, Shadow Of The Vampire, Lemora: A Child's Tale Of The Supernatural, Little Caesar, Touchez pas au grisbi, Shivers, The Brood, The Getaway (1972), Cache, Cure, Charisma, The Ox-Bow Incident, Heat (1995), I Stand Alone, Battle Royale, Lifeforce, White Zombie, Pulp Fiction, Oldboy, The Saddest Music In The World, Re-Animator, Wild Zero, Tetsuo, Vital, Electra Glide In Blue, Machine-Gun Kelly, The Ninth Configuration, The Ultimate Degenerate, Countess Dracula, Pink Flamingos, Cecil B. Demented, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, The Black Cat (1934), The Black Cat (1980), Session 9, Red Lion, Winter Kills, Sweet Movie, No Country For Old Men, Asylum, Once Upon A Time In The West, Once Upon A Time In America, Pretty Poison, Sin In The Suburbs, Swingers, Stacy, Slave Of The Cannibal God, Tracks, The Thrill Killers, Detour (1945), Marebito, May, Motel Hell, Naked Lunch, The Naked Kiss, The Big Clock, The Big Boss, The Chinese Connection, Pi, Mystery Train, Vanishing Point (1971), Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs, Whirlpool, Tokyo Drifter, Night Of The Living Dead (1968), Night Tide, Night Of The Comet, Night Of The Bloody Apes, Mickey One, Succubus, Vampyros Lesbos, The Deerhunter, The Proposition, Black Christmas (1974), Long Weekend, Dark City, Sin City, The Saragossa Manuscript, Rabid Dogs, Lisa And The Devil, Where The Sidwalk Ends, Who Can Kill A Child?, Who Is That Knocking At My Door?, Who Saw Her Die?, Don't Torture A Duckling, The Beyond, Pulse (2001), The Alligator People, Almost Human (1974), The Asphalt Jungle, Jungle Holocaust, Man From Deep River, House Of Bamboo, A Bell From Hell, Slither, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Prime Cut, Freaks, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, Rope, The Big Heat, Gun Crazy, Frightmare, Bad Taste, Viridiana, Sunset Blvd, Let's Scare Jessica To Death, Female Trouble, Blue Velvet, Blue Gardenia, The Flesh Eaters, The Driver, The Warriors, The Tenant, The Man From Hong Kong, Robot Monster, True Romance, Lady From Shanghai, Carrie, Obsession, Cobra Verde, Sword Of Doom, Sex And Fury, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, In The Realm Of The Senses, Targets, Pickup On South Street, Rear Window, The Baby (1973), Them!, The Descent, The Host, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Bob Le Flambeur, The Big Combo, The Brain From Planet Arous, Killer Klowns From Outers Space, The Killing, Killers From Space, The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie, The Girl Can't Help It, Forbidden Planet, The Fury, High Plains Drifter, The Shining, Lolita, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Touch Of Evil, The Crawling Eye, Lady Vengeance, Thunder Road, Super Fly, The Blob (1958), Vertigo, The Tingler, La Dolce Vita, Born To Kill, Mill Of The Stone Women, In The Soup, King Of New York, The King Of Comedy, The Man Who Would Be King, Justine De Sade, Circus Of Horrors, One-Eyed Jacks, Lifeboat, I Confess, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Day The Earth Caught Fire, Jules And Jim, Thirst, The Manster, The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus, Eugenie... the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion, Dr. No, Criss Cross (1949), Five Easy Pieces, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Eegah, Slaughter, The Mack, Cape Fear (1962), Cape Fear (1991), The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), I Walked With A Zombie, I Wake Up Screaming, The Omega Man, The Candy Snatchers, Carnival Of Souls, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Miami Blues, Up!, Satan's Sadists, Asylum Of Satan, Rebel Without A Cause, The Rebel Rousers, The Losers, Ichi The Killer, Gozu, Shock Corridor, Kwaidan, The Knack...And How To Get It, Being John Malkovich, La Grande bouffe, The Acid Eaters, The Dunwich Horror, From Beyond, The Astro Zombies, Alphaville, Contempt, Twitch Of The Death Nerve, Black Sunday (1960), The Big Red One, Visitor Q, Audition, A Scanner Darkly, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, RoboCop, The Fourth Man, Sonatine, Violent Cop, The Plague Of The Zombies, Demons Of The Mind, Vampire Circus, Pale Rider, Mad Max, Mad Max 2, The Cincinatti Kid, Jackson County Jail, Alligator, Dog Day Afternoon, Baby Blood, Black Mama White Mama, The Wild Angels, The Diabolical Dr. Z, Vice Squad, Raw Meat, She Killed In Ecstasy, Fahrenheit 451, Django, Breaking The Waves, Mark Of The Devil, The Corpse Grinders, Branded To Kill, Belle De Jour, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Glen Or Glenda, Mesa Of Lost Women, The Honeymoon Killers, Swimming With Sharks, The Yazuza, Black Snake Moan, A Lizard In A Woman's Skin, Marquis De Sade's Justine, On Dangerous Ground, The Set-Up, Unforgiven, Women In Cages, Caged Heat, L.A. Confidential, Force Of Evil, Tommy, The Border, Nude For Satan, Nude On The Moon, Nightmare Detective, The Cars That Ate Paris, Le Samourai, Bonnie And Clyde, Point Blank, Chopper, Supervixens, Mantis In Lace, Ulzana's Raid, Tattooed Life, Tattoo, Murder My Sweet, Goodfellas, Mean Streets, 8 1/2, Nightmare Alley, A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, The Trouble With Harry, Frankenstein's Castle Of Freaks, Chained Heat, Beetlejuice, Breathless (1960), The Holy Mountain, Takeshis', Will Penny, Night Moves, Hercules In The Haunted World, The Whip And The Body, Planet Of The Vampires, Planet Terror, Planet Of The Apes (1968), Phantom Planet, Blacula, Rampo Noir, City Of Lost Souls, Izo, The White Dawn, Hellraiser, Gemini, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Dawn Of The Dead (1978), Day Of The Dead, Living In Oblivion, The Last Valley, The Last Goodbye, Dracula: Prince Of Darkness, Buffalo Bill And The Indians, Buffalo '66, Buffalo Soldiers, Bad Lieutenant, The Funeral, Fearless Freaks, Angels With Dirty Faces, Angel Heart, Altered States, The Lair Of The White Worm, Figures In A Landscape, Keoma, The Missouri Breaks, Rainy Dog, Stray Dog, Dogs Of War, Jackie Brown, The Curious Dr. Humpp, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Hannie Caulder, Hard Candy, Diner, A Fistful Of Dynamite, V For Vendetta, White Heat, Week End, Le Cercle Rouge, Eraserhead, Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, The Trial, The Crazies, Cannibal Holocaust, 4D Man, Badlands, Blood And Black Lace, Twins Of Evil, Thunderbolt And Lightfoot, Rififi, The Grifters, The Sweet Smell Of Success, Knife In The Water, and many, many more!

Likes: The Sopranos, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Hitchcock, Jim Thompson, Jess Franco, The Illuminatus! trilogy, Salvador Dali, Family Guy, The Beach Boys, Borges, Film Noir, Marquee Moon, Mogwai, Pixies, Peckinpah, H.P. Lovecraft, Timothy Carey, The Byrds, The Invisibles, Syd Barrett, Buzzcocks, Chuck Palahniuk, Spacemen 3, Raymond Chandler, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Can, Kafka, Neil Young, Royal Trux, The Prisoner, Miles Davis, Charles Bukowski, Richard Hell, Alfred Bester, Devo, Kim Newman, Howlin' Wolf, Haruki Murakami, Jimi Hendrix, J.G. Ballard, Velvet Underground, Warren Ellis, Neu!, Bruce Sterling, Sun Ra, The Cramps, Iggy and The Stooges, Edgar Allan Poe.

Dislikes - Tolkien, Jackie Chan, Will Smith, Kevin Smith (though I did like Clerks), Good Charlotte, the Star Wars series, Paris Hilton, Born Again Christians, Eminem, Army Of Darkness, Damon Albarn, Harry Potter, Celine Dion, The Boondock Saints, Gwyneth Paltrow, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Quote: "The decline in American pride, patriotism, and piety can be directly attributed to the reading of so-called 'science fiction' by our young people"

Jerry Falwell.

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Reviews1.1K

Infofreak's rating

The Satanic Rites of Dracula

5.5

Aug 21, 2004

The final entry in Hammer's Dracula series, and the last pairing of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

'The Satanic Rites Of Dracula' was the last entry in Hammer's Dracula series which began with the terrific 'Dracula' (aka 'Horror Of Dracula') in 1958. It's supposedly a direct sequel to 'Dracula A.D. 1972', which for me was not only the weakest in the series, but possible the worst Hammer movie I've ever seen. I say "supposedly" because even though once again Peter Cushing plays Van Helsing's grandson Larimer, and his own granddaughter Jessica is featured (with Joanna Lumley replacing Stephanie Beacham), there's no explanation for Dracula's resurrection or any reference to the earlier movie. 'Satanic Rites...' is a definite improvement on '... 1972' though, which was the first Hammer Dracula movie set in the present day. Director Alan Gibson and writer Don Houghton seemed unsure of themselves in the previous film, not knowing whether to play it straight or as pure camp. This movie is more successful on that score and takes a new Bond-like direction which might have breathed new life into the series if given the chance. Christopher Lee was apparently fed up with playing Dracula by this stage, which is a shame as he's always great to watch, and arguably as good as Lugosi in the role. Lee unfortunately has very little screen time in this movie but really makes the most of what he's given, especially his few scenes with Cushing. Michael Coles (who had a bit part in 'Dracula A.D. 1972) and William Franklyn ('Quatermass 2') are reasonably effective heroes, Scotland Yard men investigating a secret cult of Satanists led by a mysterious recluse D.D. Denham (guess who), but Cushing steals the show, as does David Lynch regular Freddie Jones who plays an unbalanced scientist. Joanna Lumley, just two years from playing Purdey in 'The New Avengers', looks delicious but doesn't get to do all that much. Too bad there was more Lumley and Cushing (and Lee) and less Coles and Franklyn. As to the climax which many people seem to hate, well I won't spoil it, but I thought it was effective enough. If you're unfamiliar with Hammer's Dracula series I suggest you stick with the two best 'Dracula' and 'Dracula: Prince Of Darkness'. Unless like me you're mad for the Cushing and Lee team you can give 'The Satanic Rites Of Dracula' a miss. As an alternative I instead highly recommend the non-Hammer 'Horror Express'. Too bad that wasn't their final screen pairing not this!

Fast Company

5.4

Aug 18, 2004

Little more than an interesting curio for fans of Cronenberg and/or 70s exploitation movies.

A sentence with the words "David Cronenberg" and "car racing movie" isn't exactly something you hear every day, but yes, Cronenberg did in fact make one in the late 70s in between his horror classics 'Rabid' and 'The Brood'. Very few people outside of Canada have seen 'Fast Company', and as Cronenberg is my favourite contemporary director I've been intrigued about it for years. Now that Blue Underground have released a restored version on DVD we can all finally get to see it. Now I'd love to be able to say that's it's some kind of lost masterpiece and essential viewing for Cronenberg buffs, but to be honest it's just an enjoyable b-grade racing movie, the kind of flick AIP would have released without a blink of an eye. I seriously doubt that anyone who watched it not knowing who directed it would be able to guess that Cronenberg was involved. He himself regards it as an important movie in his career, as it was another step in his learning how to make "real" movies, and because he also met several key future collaborators. That historical interest aside it's by far the most "normal" and therefore least interesting movie he's made to date. The movie is helped immeasurably by having b-grade legends William Smith ('Run, Angel, Run', 'Invasion Of The Bee Girls', 'Boss N*gger', 'The Ultimate Warrior') and John Saxon ('Planet Of Blood', 'Enter The Dragon', 'Black Christmas', 'Cannibal Apocalypse') as leads. Smith plays Lonnie Johnson a racer under pressure from his sponsors, who are represented by the back stabbing Saxon. The two work well together and by the looks of the short interview included on the DVD seem like great buddies. The late Claudia Jennings (her final role) plays Smith's love interest Sammy, and Nicholas Campbell, who subsequently acted in Cronenberg's 'The Brood', 'The Dead Zone' and 'Naked Lunch', plays his cocky protege Billy "The Kid" Brocker. The main problem with the movie apart from the awful sub-Springsteen "rawk" score, is a dull script. With a bit more work the movie really could have been something special , but as it stands 'Fast Company' is little more than an interesting curio for fans of Cronenberg and/or 70s exploitation movies.

Cockfighter

6.9

Aug 15, 2004

One of the most extraordinary movies of the 1970s, and further proof that Monte Hellman is one of the most underrated directors of all time.

Being a major fan of American movies of the 1970s 'Cockfighter' has been like a Holy Grail for me for as long as I can remember. When I finally got a hold of a copy I'm happy to say it more than lived up to my expectations. I think it's one of the most extraordinary movies of the decade, and further proof that Monte Hellman is one of the most underrated directors of all time. Hellman, like many other film makers, got his first big break working for Roger Corman, directing 'Beast From Haunted Cave' in the 1950s. He then went on to work on Corman's 'The Terror' alongside Coppola and Jack Hill, and edited the biker classic 'The Wild Angels'. Hellman never became a Hollywood legend like Coppola, or a much loved exploitation cult hero like Jack Hill, and has always had difficulties getting his movies made. Why, I really don't know, just watch 'The Shooting', 'Two-Lane Blacktop' and 'Cockfighter' back to back and tell me that he isn't a major talent. After going their separate ways for some time Corman and Hellman reunited for 'Cockfighter'. Apparently Corman hated the ending and the movie is supposedly one of the very few that lost him money, but I think it's an amazing achievement. The controversial bird fighting sequences are very brutal and very beautiful. Animal lovers will abhor the movie for this reason. The morality of filming them is very problematic, even Hellman admits he was disgusted doing it. Aside from that can of worms 'Cockfighter' features a superb performance from Warren Oates, one of his very best ever, so if you are an Oates fan you MUST try and see this movie! Hellman and Oates worked on four movies altogether, and the supporting cast also includes Harry Dean Stanton and Millie Perkins, who had three Hellman movies apiece, and Laurie Bird who co-starred in 'Two-Lane Blacktop'. On top of that you have some strong performances by a whole bunch of character actors like Warren Finnerty ('Cool Hand Luke'), Ed Begley Jr, Steve Railsback (in one of my favourite scenes) and - one of the biggest surprises - Troy Donahue, who has a memorable cameo as Oates alcoholic brother. Richard B. Shull is great as Oates' partner, as is Patricia Pearcy who plays his love interest. Even Charles Willeford who wrote both the movie script and the original novel it was based on has a great bit as a fight official. 'Cockfighter's explicit fight sequences will repel most people but if you persevere you'll witness some brilliant acting, especially from Warren Oates. 'Cockfighter' has immediately rocketed into my all time favourite movies list.

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