Ils/Them

Being a fan of horror cinema, most of the time you're shaking your head at the current shite which passes for "horror" in the cinema today; the so-called sub-genre of "torture porn" and director's such has Eli Roth or insepid remakes courtesy of so-called directors like Jan de Bont or Joel Schumacher.

Then, you come across Them (or "Ils" in the original French) which I watched last night in suitable surroundings: 1am, in bed and with a variable amount of alcohol in one's blood-stream, and I have to say it scared the living shit out of me.

Seriously; I cannot remember jumping so much, feeling so much tension whilst watching a film at home... actually, yes I can - The Haunting.

Essentially, the story of Them is apparently inspired by true events (though this is no Hallmark video-travesty) about a young French couple - a teacher and a writer - who live in a secluded house in Romania and one night they're terrorised by the "them" of the title; persons unknown and with little motive for why.

This is serious old-school horror film-making - no gratuitous violence nor gore (if at all); just bloody good tension and shocks that will make you jump.

The only down-side is that Hollywood will inevitably discover it and someone like Michael Bay will decide to remake it (be very afraid that he's due to produce a remake of The Birds...)

Anyway, if you get a chance rent this out and watch it - you will thank me. :-)

I also watched Notes on a Scandal which, despite some queer changes in character and story continuity, is a bloody good film with out-standing performances from Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, not to mention a sublime soundtrack from Philip Glass.

Oh, and Rocky Balboa is also very good fun; don't expect high-art, but it's Rocky returning to his roots - I haven't seen the previous flick, pretty tired of Rocky after his fight with Dolph Lundgren - so I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was. Stallone, it has to be said, looks good at 60 and the fight at end - though quite short - packs a mean punch with some effective digital colouring going on (think Sin City).

Again, well worth watching.

(And there's me thinking I should really have done some writing...)