Well you know, I might revisit Inferno and completely change my mind (it's happened before), but for the time being it just failed on too many levels for me to forgive it's few moments of beautiful imagery.

I should clarify that it's Me and Dan's bro who'll be chatting Techno bollocks. Dan, Ben and Jim are definitely not of the Techno ilk

I'm guessing suspiria don't do it for you either then as it's much like inferno! Now you said you enjoyed opera, i agree I think it's one of his better films but did you find the ending really dodgy? I think he should have ended it 10mins earlier to be fair. It does have some top class scenes in it tho! When Daria Nicolodi gets shot through the door is a highlight and the swooping crane shot over the audience when the birds are released is also breathtaking. When I saw Black Swan at the cinema Opera was the first film I thought of for obvious reasons.

P.s I'm writing this on my iPhone so apologies if it's poorly written haha

Frightfest Special Part Two is now available. Hope you enjoy and find it slightly more positive than Part One.

It can't be more negative than the first part! Maybe I was being harsh on you both, i'll have to listen again and see if you really were that negative! Phurious have you seen insidous? I've got it here and planning to watch it with the mrs soon! Want to know if it's a waste of time or not! I found Paranormal Activity a load of bollocks and insidious has had the same "hype" as that had

Hahaha Well, maybe we were a bit harsh, but you know I was still suffering a hangover and was tired - yadayadayada - blahblahblah
There was definitely two films in Part Two that were my highlights of the festival though, so that's more positive already!

Nope not seen Insidious been doing my best to avoid it. I quite liked the first Saw flick, but I didn't enjoy their follow ups Dead Silence and Death Sentence, so my hope's not out for Insidious. You can tell me what it's like instead

Really enjoyed your Fright Fest round up and loving the podcast in general. Glad you're keeping it regular with the schedule.

I checked out Skeletons the other day on your recommendation, it's great, I loved it. Jason Issacs steals every scene he's in.

Thanks very much. Great to hear you're liking it, even our not overly positive Frightfest round up (wink wink at Pardo ).

Yep, Skeletons is absolutely fantastic. More of that I say, the film, not the review

I listened to the second half Phurious of the Fright Fest podcast and you did so well about being positive and then you blew it right at the death when you said "If that was my first time I would be a little let down" or something along those lines haha. I know you're a fan of Adam & Joe so have you seen 'Attack The Block' yet? I have it here and plan to watch it in a few days along with 'Super 8' and 'Down Terrace'. Even if you say any of them are shit i'm still watching them along with 'Insidous' so I will give you my feedback on that as well

- Damn I was doing so well -

Alas I haven't seen Attack The Block yet, but that's going to be rectified very shortly and Super 8 hasn't really had me that excited to be honest, but I will definitely get round to watching it at some point.
Down Terrace absolutely superb. After that and Kill List, Ben Wheatley is definitely someone to keep an eye on.
Looking forward to your thoughts on Insidious - will it live up to it's name?

I've had Down Terrace to watch for well over a year now and I just haven't got round to watching it! It was first brought to my attention by Mondo Ben as he said he was friends with Ben Wheatley. I probably wouldn't have such a desire to watch it ahead of most things but Kill List coming out has pushed it right to the top of the pile! It's shit because I live in a small town called Hereford and have we fuck got any sort of cult/genre society around these parts! Kill List I will probably have to wait until it hits DVD. As for Insidious my older brother said he rather liked it but he hasn't watched half as much horror as I have so i'm holding my breath on that one! Super 8 was described by a friend of mine the other day as this decades "Goonies" which kind of got me excited for it

Hey Phurious I watched 'Attack The Block' this morning and having spent many a podcast hearing Joe Cornish slag off other film makers, he has now put his head out of the trenches into the firing line and I can say that this film was to me a bit dissapointing! For a start the chavs we are meant to be rooting for I didn't like! They are muggers and not nice kids. They also speak in that annoying slang talk, I understand this is the way chavs speak and it needed to be done like this for the film but I still found it really annoying. To make things worse I thought all the chav kids were pretty poor at acting except the leader 'Moses'. I also found this film full of cliches and there was nothing really new to be found it in! Don't get me wrong it's not terrible but it's not brilliant either, there are a few cool scenes in it. It's only 1hr 20mins running time so give it a watch and make up your own mind but just don't have high expectations for it. 6/10

I managed to sneak it in this week. And I must admit it's one of my faves of the year so far. A number of factors swayed me and that opening crane shot of Oval Station, which I cycle past every week on the way to work immediately imbued the film with a sense of familiarity (which I'ma sucker for. The same thing happened with Eastern Promises which opens on Broadway Market; a street that I know really well). I also liked the 'Wyndham' Towers naming of the block, a tipping of the hat to a great British sci-fi writer.

I thought the photography and lighting were absolutely top notch. Again I know that estate where most of it was shot (same place as Harry Brown) and the way that Cornish and his DoP managed to make it look so atmospheric was really impressive.

Also I was really taken with the creature design. That sort of luminous blue mouth that shaped into eyes was used to great effect and the 'blacker than black' look (surely a nod to Disaster Area's spaceship in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams?) worked really well. I mean they weren't scary, but they were definitely menacing in a primal kind of way.

Regarding the kids/actors and overall performances I thought that everyone was solid. I've certainly seen a lot worse performances in films of a similar setting (Kid/Adulthood and whilst the whole 'sympathy' issue with the protagonist's could be an issue for some, I was fine with it. I think it's a brave move of Cornish to show young people as they are in that kind of environment - there's no Hollywood aggrandising these characters, they are who they are. I think the main problem for people is that 'we know' or are at the very least familiar with these types of kids and it's probably a bit close to home, but I'm sure many Britons don't have a problem siding or at least sympathising with the 'hoodz' in Boyz N The Hood or the kids in City Of God because they are problems that are far away from our own 'realities'. Anyway there are tips to the disenfranchised youth theory, but these aren't crammed down our throats. These kids are just going on instinct, they simply don't know any better, and there is a scene towards the end where they (well Moses) show some remorse to Sam for their first encounter (plus he risks his life).

Overall though I thought the pacing was spot on and it was go, pretty much from the offing and it barely let up, which is always good in my books (see Evil Dead II ) and most of all it was really funny. There's some superb one-liners and a great play with the slang that the kids use, unlike the serious 'issues' laden Kid/Adulthood, there was a celebration of the language and it genuinely showed the richness of a generation of young speakers who like countless generations before them are evolving and transforming the English language - a bastard mongrel of a language that shapes and shifts no matter how much it pains us (I reckon Stephen Fry would appreciate it immensely).

So, yeh, definitely one of my top three films of 2011 bruv.

Midnight Video 20 is up and ready to be downloaded from iTunes or the website. Loads of A-Z of Film through Midnight Video and an important(ish) announcement.

Films: Izo[b], Who?[/b] and On The Silver Globe

Enjoy!

Haha well there you go, just about a varied difference of opinion of 'Attack the block' as you can get! Like I said I didn't think it was terrible but it didn't grab me by the balls like I was hoping it would! I will defo give it a re-watch tho! See I didn't like the creature design either to be honest, like you said they weren't scary and as far as I could tell they were CGI! I know that's the norm these days but I've heard Joe Cornish slag CGI off himself so I was hoping for some good old fashioned latex creations (I'm just a sucker for practical FX's as of most people on this board)
You are right tho about the pacing, it's straight in with the action and does not let up for the whole running time. I thought the direction and lighting was impressive I have to say. The film has a good look to it, I like the cold, steel look to the block corridors. I still think the kids were pretty poor on their line delivery tho, especially the kid with the hat on who gets his leg bit! I found him annoying beyond belief! I did however watch 'Rise of the planet of the apes' yesterday and I found this to be hugely enjoyable and I think the bench mark for CGI! Have you seen this yet?

I think they used CGI and a guy in a suit sometimes for the creatures - not 100% sure though.

Nope not seen Rise yet. I will get round to it eventually I hope, it certainly sounds intriguing. I'm still pretty myeh on films that rely so much on CGI though. It's still the subtle and clever use of it that impresses me.

Haha - I thought the kid with the hat was funny, sorry jokes He's definitely an archetype of kids round where I live, so maybe that's why I totally bought him.

(Are you on the Cult-Lab forums? You should go on it. I only joined the other week and I'm totally hooked. Really cool bunch of knowledgable peeps on there).