The CHUD Film-of-the-Month Club : January - The Winter Theme

Being that it's cold as balls in NYC right now, I'm in the mood for some chilly flicks. Here's two that I've been meaning to rewatch!

First up is Larry Fessenden's The Last Winter. I'm an unrepentant Fessenden fanboy (Habit might be one of my favorite films about addiction ever made, and his role in I Sell the Dead is terrific) and really enjoyed this film the first time I saw it, but felt I needed to give it another shot to get my mind around it. Very bleak and feels almost like an homage to The Thing at points, which of course is never a bad thing.

Trailer here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY_BXNvbr8E

Easy ass Netflix Instant page here- http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Las...037?trkid=1660

Secondly we have the haunting black and white Curse of the Cat People. It's a sequel-in-name-only to The Cat People (it doesn't even have any cat people in it!), and is generally regarded as one of immortal producer Val Lewton's most underrated flicks. It's more of a chilling examination of a child with emotional problems than a suspense flick, and Lewton actually fought (unsuccessfully) to have the title changed.

Trailer here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O0hWTAyEXA

Easiest place to get it is probably through Netflix, although you really all should own the Val Lewton collection. If you've never seen any of his beautiful, stark films- you're in for a treat.

Anyway looking forward to the discussion, and to checking these out again myself!

The Last Winter is a good little movie. Depressing as shit though.

Might have to check more Fessenden movies. Guess I'll start with Habit.

These are very good picks.

Interesting choices, Alex.

Thanks. I thought these up on a whim, but they're good introductions into Fessenden and Lewton's bodies of work- two filmmakers everyone should know.

I just read in the other thread that we were supposed to pick movies we haven't seen before, so my apologies for that.

Habit contains one of the more realistic depictions of NYC nightlife on film. The characters and situations are very real, stuff I've encountered countless times... barring the whole vampire aspect, of course.

Is Curse of the Cat People set in NYC too? Because if not FUCK THESE PICKS.

Just put this on my Netflix queue. I'd love to participate this year, if I can keep up.

Very cool. And yeah, probably a smart idea. It's the kind of movie that will definitely surprise you...

No but if I remember correctly it's set in upstate NY! Close enough. Last Winter's set in the Artic, anyway.

I had The Last Winter sitting amongst the ever growing ranks of unwrapped/unwatched DVDs growing up the wall of my room. Upon watching the low budget Hammeresque charms of I Sell The Dead and seeing his name in the credits I cracked it a couple of months ago and found it to be a great atmospheric Horror film.

While it would be hard to argue against comparisons to The Thing, I felt that the one contrasting aspect in The Last Winter is in what it chose to imply rather than show, instead relying on creating a claustraphobic feeling of dread and hopelessness through some great use of sound and some top notch character acting.

In fact, it is precisely when it does choose to show you, explicitly, the cause of the horror in the film's climax that the film slips for me in any way. The idea is great but the low budget CGI does distract only in that it is finally seen so clearly.

I'd compare it in this way to another great low budget Horror film... The Burrowers. When the creatures are finally revealed and 'interact' with the humans, the computer effects are a bit off-putting but it is a testament to both of these films that by this point in the story I was so caught up in the characters, their situation and the story that this factor is very easy to forgive.

Desperately wanted to bag myself the Val Lewton Box Set this Chrimbo (knowing no-one would get it for me) but, alas, I will have to await fresh cash before I can get hold of it.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to finally start participating in these fucking things... So I'm in. Besides, I recently saw The Last Winter and feel compelled to see it again for a final evaluation. It was interesting, as I recall. The Thing comparisons are apt and I'm sure Fassenden did that deliberately.

One interesting tidbit is that it features Bolivian actor Pato Hoffmann... Something that always amuses me.

I've met the man in person and he never fails to mention two things at dinner parties: That he kissed Nicole Kidman on the mouth and he hates Bruce Willis.

Just finished both. Last winter is on Netflix instant, saw that last night. Curse of the Cat people came as the two films on one disk from Netflix with the Cat People.

I watched the Cat People and Curse of the Cat People back to back. Interesting how different the films are. Curse has a commentary from a dude named Greg Mank. Listened to the first 15 minutes. Seems interesting so far.

The Last Winter is a bleak film. The cinematography is pretty elegant in the minimalism of many of the shots. The clastrophobia is very apparent. There might be a few too many sweeping aerial shots for my taste. I really like thw schene of the camera going from window to window from outside the complex spying on what all the characters are up to. I loved the ghostly Wendigo effects.

Tati, I agree, I think the story would have been better had it been a bit more detailed on the true nature of the Wendigo. As it is, I took them to be halucinations inpired by the inuit legends. I don't really think they were real, although that image on the video camera is a problem for my theory.

Good film choices by the way Alex, what's up for February?