You're welcome, nice to see you enjoyed it

Extramuros - because I am nearing the end of my collection and the number of titles which are due to arrive in the mail are getting lower and lower, I recently started watching things which I just hadn't come around to watch, or simply forgot about. One of those was an old download of a Spanish film called "Extramuros", I knew it had nuns so I was assuming it was a nunsploitation like the (in)famous Italian films by Mattei and the like. An extra hurdle to watch this one was that it is in Spanish and the only subtitles I could find were in Spanish too. Moreover, the file was made from a VHS copy in which there were several hiccups in the tape, so the subs got desynced after 20 minutes and then again after 12 minutes, etc etc, so it was rather confusing. About 30 minutes before the final scenes the subs started to repeat themselves: they started over from the beginning so the lines from the lastscenes were missing. Since I know some Spanish I could sort of follow it with the subs and by the time I lost them I was in the story enough to make out where the plot was heading. Actually the story is not so spectacular: a nun in a 16 century cloister cuts herself in the hands so the wounds look like stigmata and she does it because she doesn't want to get relocated to a different cloister. In the one she's in she has an intimate friend among the sisters (they also kiss and fiddle around a bit with their hands but nothing shocking or over the top, almost no skin). Because the doctor suspects foul play the inquisition starts an investigation, which of course is extremely dangerous. Meanwhile the local populace and the other sisters in the cloister think she is a saint and start to worship her accordingly. The film lasts for almost two hours which is a bit long especially if you really need to pay attention in order to understand what's going on. There are some scenes which would totally fit a "normal" nunsploitation, like the one with the flagellants in which possessed people march by in a parade and some of them are jerking off and you can actually see the penises. That was out of the ordinary though, because most of the film is not so explicit at all. There is some subplot about a mother superior who wants her job back after she lost it to the "saint" and some political meddling by the local duke and his wife (or daughter, I missed that part). Unless you can find this with proper subs or a dub in a language which suits you, I'd say avoid this as it is not that special that you really need to go through the hassle of resynching the subs every so many minutes etc. English title is Beyond The Walls so maybe you can find it that way.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - a silent movie from 1920 with very artistic background sets, which give the movie a surreal touch. The story is about two friends going to a fair where there is a strange character called Dr Caligari who has a show with a somnambulist. The somnambulist of course wakes up and then tells the future. People start ending up dead and the police try to find the perpetrator. Is the somnambulist the urdeer or is something else at play? Typical silent movie acting with extreme expressions, the music is sometimes very fitting and other times not so much, there were some scenes with rising tension where the music was fading, didn't understand that. But the story is the best part of this film and the ending is surprising. Recommended!

Earth Star Voyager  - aka Disneyland: Earth Star Voyager Part 1. If this is really part 1, or part 2 or both parts is not really clear to me (when I go on the imdb description it was part 1 although that is supposedly 4 hours long while mine wasn't). What is clear is that I watched a scifi thing from 1988 and it lasted for two hours, and I only watched this part because it used to be an old VHS I bought decades ago and I digitized it in order to watch it someday and that day was last weekend. The story is about a spaceship exploring the universe to find an alternative planet to live on as earth has been polluted and pushed over the brink: humanity is about to be exterminated so the importance of the mission is evident. A group of young cadets is tasked with this mission and when their old hand who is supposed to guide them is lost, they have to fend for themselves. Not alone is the mission rather heavy for such a young crew, there are also some politics at play and they find out the mission is not as straightforward as they thought... Interesting scifi film, not sure whether this was a film or a miniseries now, but it doesn't really matter. This thing can be watched standalone without any trouble. The world is rather limited, most of the film takes place in the spaceship, but the acting is good enough and the story makes sense (already quite a feat in most scifis) so it is rather enjoyable. I had fun but I probably would not watch it again even though the sfx were pretty well done. I guess hardcore scifi fans will have a good time.

The Substance - a friend gave me the tip to watch this and since we have sort of the same taste when it comes to movies I gave it a try, especially after reading that it was a body horror. Well, it is indeed! The story is about Elizabeth Sparkles (Demi Moore) a filmstar and fitness idol, who is turning 50 and therefore being dumped rather bluntly by her boss (Dennis Quaid). Since she refuses to end her career just yet, she thinks about a plan and then she gets interested in "The Substance" after seeing a commercial about it. She then orders, and has to pick up her kit in a strange building. "You activate once, you stabilize every day, you switch every seven days without exception, remember: you are one", the manual says. She activates it and then, yes, a new and younger version of her appears (Margaret Qualley) and she becomes the new star very soon. She of course knows about the manual but when she is about to switch she is having such a great time that she tries to postpone the switch, just for a little while. This is the start of a series of events which include fame, lust, regret and more. The acting is great, the effects are very nicely done (no cgi as far as I could see) and the gore in the final scenes is great! If you like body horror you can't miss this one, I guess Cronenberg has a successor in Coralie Fargeat. Highly recommended!

Sex Is Crazy - the backside of the BR says "a delirious sex comedy that masquerades as a sci-fi farce" and that is actually a good description of what you will see when you are gonna watch this. It is a very strange film, it doesn't really have a story, it's more a string of short stories, with the same actors and actresses over and over again. This gets repetitive, because every time they see each other there is a little talk and then sex. The first time is the weirdest because they are all painted silver and they are portraying aliens coming to earth to procreate: this is a success because earth "pussy" can be fertilized and procreate in 7 seconds. This part of the "plot" drew me in, but it was a let down: all you see is the cast chanting an annoying and repetitive set of lines and silver painted men taking turns hanging over the earth woman imitating the act of sexual intercourse. The other little stories are more meant to be comedic, but like most "sex comedies" from the 60s-80s, this is unfunny at best. This movie will be added to my Jess France collection, but unless you really want to see everything he made I would skip this, as the jokes aren't funny, the sex is unerotic and there is no plot.

Heretic (2024): Saw a review of this on YT and found it interesting. It's about two young girls going around as missionaries advertising their church. They have a list of interested people they cover one by one and end up at the house of an older and very kind Mr. Reed. Since a storm is coming he invites them into his house where they start talking about religion. But soon the tables are turned as Mr. Reed has planned to convince the missionaries that their religion is a fraud. I really liked the first half of the movie and how the suspense is built up. Hugh Grant is great as the bad guy. There is some gore but not much. The concept of the movie was interesting and it even included some twists. I didn't really like the ending which seemed quite unrealistic (the girl suddenly figuring everything out and the other girl coming back for a final blow against the villain). Recommended if you like campy horror flicks.

The Haunted Mansion - I bought this one day thinking that I might use it to introduce horror to the next generation, but I forgot about it and it was gathering dust on the shelf next to The Addams Family Values. I finally gave it a spin yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised: I expected a children's horror, with cartoonish monsters and goofy characters, something along the lines of Ghostbusters and the like. Instead, I got a pretty cool haunted house film with great special effects and Eddy Murphy being funny and Marsha Thomason looking pretty. The story is about the Evers couple (Murphy and Thomason) going on a family weekend but on the way there, they stop by an old mansion of which the owner wants to sell: Jim Evers doesn't want to let this opportunity go by. They [plan to just do a quick visit ("20 minutes tops") but of course this is not gonna work. They find themselves on a wild ride with ghosts, zombies and a lovestory from the past. Acting is great, story is nice and like I said the sfx are good too. Recommended.

Scanners - this film was an enigma for me for a long time. I remembered a scene from it, but I could not remember if I had seen the entire film or not. So I gave it a spin and indeed: the opening scene in the restaurant was very familiar to me. After the scanner was brought to the doctor though, the film didn't seem so familiar to me anymore. The further into the film, the more certain I became that I hadn't seen the film in its entirety. My guess now is that I started watching it at one point, then finding out I could not finish it in one go because of the time of night, stopped watching it and then forgot about it for a while. Glad I did watch it, it's a nice scifi thriller about people with special mindskills, not so much bodyhorror as you might know from Cronenberg, but a good film nonetheless. Michael Ironside is one of my favourite actors and he is great in this one too. The ending was also to my liking, nicely in line with the somewhat tense atmosphere. I know several sequels were made, not sure if I want to see those, but at least this first one was good and I might watch it again someday. Recommended.