Stevieboy666

Back in the 1980's my mum started watching this new Australian soap called "Neighbours" on BBC daytime TV. I was on educational holiday at the time and it caught my eye in a curious way. Despite not seeing the first episode at the time I was instantly hooked. Now thanks to DVD and online streaming I have watched episode 1 countless times to the point where I now know much of the dialogue by heart! This one starts off like a scene from a horror movie (I am a HUGE horror fan) when teenager Dan Ramsay is having a nightmare, great stuff! I especially liked his father Max, a right Aussie bloke! I watched the show religiously until around 2000 when I then dropped out until it was announced that the show was getting axed in 2022, tuning back in to watch the "final" episodes. Thankfully it was soon resurrected by Amazon and they did a great job, again I was hooked but it has now sadly been announced that the show will stop again in 2025. Over the years it has featured many characters, some far more likeable than others, and the opening titles and incredibly catchy theme tune has been reworked with mixed results. However nothing beats the early years, Neighbours looks like it is going to end (again) this year but I'll be re-watching the classic episodes over and over on my DVDs.

Four prisoners escape over what looks like quite an unconvincing prison wall. Two get away in an old Ford Escort van. Leaving convicts Joe Blake and Terry Sladden to escape on foot. Blake has suffered a nasty leg injury which slows the pair down considerably. They come across a farm and when they see the farmer, his eldest daughter and his wife head off to market they break into the farmhouse and take the three children there hostage, hence the title. The kids fight back by playing tricks and mind games on their captors. I watched this Children's Film Foundation short movie on the excellent Talking Pictures TV, at an hour in length I found it to be a very enjoyable watch. Robin Askwith plays Sladden. I have been watching the "Confessions" movies recently where he strips off every 15 minutes or so, I have also watched him in several British horror movies. Naturally he keeps his clothes on here though he does play a nasty character for a change and he gets physically rough with the kids. In fact I would go as far as to say that very young children may find a few scenes upsetting, it really is quite gritty at times. No spoilers but the film ends with a tense car chase with the police in pursuit of a stolen Land Rover, this was impressively shot.

"This isn't a devil hunt Inspector, I'm working for the BBC!" Widowed TV documentary maker Michael Williams (Richard Johnson) travels to Italy to investigate some Satanic art, taking his young daughter Emily and her governess Jill with him. I had not come across this Italian supernatural horror movie before but found it whilst browsing Arrow DVDs for sale online, I promptly bought myself a copy. The plot starts off in London with some nice shots of the city centre, which includes the Houses of Parliament and BBC Television Centre. Then it's off to the small Italian city of Spoleto for the bulk of the film. I wasn't terribly impressed with this movie to be honest. There are some nice filming locations and the cinematography is good but a ghostly figure caught on film looks more like a cartoonish Casper. The soundtrack features some very effective music but it is overused and repeated far too often. I especially hate it when scenes of dialogue get drowned out by unnecessary music, as happens here. As a horror movie there is not much to get excited about, the most shocking scene has a woman pushed off a cliff to her death in the river below. The ending is quite grim though predictable. It was nice seeing the old cool cars (Citroen, Fiat, Renault, etc), plus characters drinking the obligatory J&B whisky. I watched the English language version but occasionally characters break into Italian then back into English, which was a bit of a blemish. Richard Johnson was a fine English actor and I liked seeing redhead child star Nicoletta Elmi as young Emily. She appeared in numerous Italian horror movies, 10 years later she would play a hot cinema usherette in one of my favourites, "Demons". I may well watch The Cursed Medallion again but in Italian, it was alright but it is far from being an Italian horror classic.